Balinese music fills the air at Brand Library

The traditional sounds of Balinese percussion instruments enveloped the outdoor plaza of Brand Library and Art Center last Friday, thanks to a dozen local musicians.

Twelve members of the Sanggar Tujunga played songs from a genre known as gamelan, which blends various gongs, kettles, drums, bamboo flutes and metallophones.

The style the group plays is known as gong kebyar, which musician Hirotaka Inuzuka called fast, with interlocking melodies and tempo changes. While he also noted performances are flashy, his group’s isn’t.

“Our music is a little more subtle,” Inuzuka said. “We play a little bit older style of music. I would describe it as kind of mysterious, the tuning is a little bit dark.”

Inuzuka himself plays the kendang, a two-headed hand drum. He’s also a professional musician as are other members of the group, while some are music students from schools like Cal Poly Pomona.

All instruments used from the group are authentic and come from Bali, an Indonesian island.

Sanggar Tujunga gets together every Thursday to practice and welcomes people to come play along.

Tonight at 7 p.m., the library’s outdoor plaza welcomes the Zetz Klezmer Ensemble, which bases its music in the classic klezmer traditions of Eastern European Jews.