KONTRA-GAPI ON FIRST WORLD TOUR

KONTRA-GAPI celebrated its return to UP Diliman from their first world concert tour with an open- air concert held on November 28 at the UP Lagoon. The Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino embarked on a concert tour of Europe and North America from April 2 to November 1997.

The gamelan, the quintessential Southeast Asian orchestra, is composed of gongs, drums and assorted percussion of metal, bamboo and wood, stringed and wind instruments and human voices for singing and emotive vocables. Popularly known by the acronym KONTRA-GAPI, the Resident Gamelan or Ethnic Music and Dance Ensemble of the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. KONTRA-GAPI was founded in 1989 by Art Studies Professor Pedro R. Abraham, Jr.

The 30-week tour itinerary included performances, workshops, lectures and other activities in over 75 cities and towns in The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Germany in Europe, the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia in Canada, and the states of Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming Washington, Oregon and California in the United States.