The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) from USA is scheduled to show their performance in the 30th Bali Art Festival, on Friday, June 20th 2008. The show will include 25 artists which will take about 2 hours starting from 20.00 local time. The group consists of 17 students and 8 lecturers, out of which are 4 UIUC professors  on jazz, percussion, composition, and gamelan. The group called Eka Sruti Illinois will mark the first US involvement in Bali Arts Festival.

Composition performed shall include stylish Balinese dance like Tari Sekar Taman which normally performed as welcoming dance, continued by Gong Kebyar Ding, classical Bali music performance from 1930. Following will be Western musical performance, 3 of which are the creation of student composers and 2 are created by the lecturers titled Tari Putri Salju and Rang Gam Jazz, collaboration between jazz and gamelan.

Instruments include gamelan Semaradana in collaboration between Balinese traditional gamelan, jazz, computer-electronics, and Western percussion instruments. An Indonesian lecturer on traditional gamelan I Ketut Gede Astawa, M.A. said that the group was previously named East and West Ensemble.  The old name is still reflected in their performance format which combines Balinese traditional and Western musical instruments. There are currently about 20 sets of gamelan from various area if Indonesia including Bali, scattered in US universities, reflecting that gamelan is among the most attracting Indonesian traditional instrument in the country.

Indonesian especially Balinese should take a lesson from this performance by giving better appreciation and paying effort to sustain the heritage of traditional arts.

The same performance is also scheduled to be held at Puputan Badung on June 21st 2008, 18.00 local time, at Banjar Kaliungu Kaja on June 22nd 2008, and in Ubud. The performances are expected to initiate positive interaction between Indonesian and US artists.