DEWA ALIT

Born to a family of artists in Pengosekan village in Bali, Dewa Alit grew up surrounded by Balinese gamelan music from early childhood. His father Dewa Nyoman Sura and his oldest brother Dewa Putu Berata were the most influential teachers for gamelan in his life. He began performing at age 11, and by age 13 was playing in adult groups in his area. He was one of the first members of Gamelan Semara Ratih of Ubud village and played and toured internationally until 1995.

A year before graduating from Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts in Denpasar (STSI Denpasar) in 1997, Dewa Alit and his brothers founded a gamelan group Çudamani.  Çudamani was immediately acknowledged as one of the best gamelan groups in Bali and went on their own international tours from 2002 on. 

Dewa Alit left Çudamani in the hands of his brothers and founded his own group Gamelan Salukat in 2007, seeking a wider path for expressing his approach to new music in gamelan and performing on a new set of instruments of Alit’s own tuning and design.  Gamelan Salukat has been active in presenting Alit’s new compositions in both recordings and performances worldwide.

As a composer, Dewa Alit is acknowledged as a major force in contemporary Indonesian music, presenting his work extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America. 

His early works include “Geregel” (2000) which was subject of a music analysis by Wayne Vitalle in the Perspectives on New Music.  His “Semara Wisaya” for the Boston-base Gamelan Galak Tika was performed at New York Carnegie in 2004 and “Pelog Slendro” at Bang on a Can Marathon in June 2006.

In 2014 Dewa was chosen for Ruang Suara project by Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt, Germany, in which he wrote a piece using only western classical instruments. It was highly praised by both the musicians and audience.

His other compositions for non-gamelan ensembles include music for MIT's Gamelan Electrika, Talujon Percussion, NY, and some piano and percussion solos. 

"Chasing the Phantom", Dewa’s second album released from the label Black Truffle, was included in the lists for The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: July 2022, the Wire magazine’s Best Releases of 2022 list and The Best Contemporary Classical of 2022.  “Likad” from this album was chosen for one of 25 the New York Times' Best Classical Music Tracks of 2022.