About us
Naga Mas is a community group open to anyone interested in gamelan music and associated artforms, active in Glasgow since the arrival of the ‘Spirit of Hope’ instruments here in 1991. We meet weekly on a Thursday evening at Commonwheel’s premises in the grounds of Gartnaval Hospital, where the pélog instruments are currently housed. If you’re interested in learning to play gamelan, please get in touch: we run six-week beginners workshops several times a year.
What kind of music do you play?
Most of the music we are playing today is drawn from the traditional repertoire of Central Java and Bali. Each instrument in the gamelan has a definite role; some of the instruments only play the central melody of the piece, the balungan. Other instruments have the job of elaborating this melody with faster and/or higher notes, whilst another group of instruments, lower in pitch and slower moving, mark the rhythmic structure of the piece. A special importance is given to the ‘big gong’, as it is affectionately known; this slowest-moving of all the instruments is one of the most important, marking as it does the endings of melodic sections and entire pieces. Also important are the drums, which set the tempo and give signals to the players, functioning almost as a conductor.
Although the tradition of gamelan stretches back thousands of years, it is far from being a dead art-form. Gamelan music has spread all over the world, having an important influence on many Western classical composers. New music is being written for the gamelan all the time by members of the Naga Mas group, some of it drawing on traditional styles and some of it developing in new directions. This spirit of openness and experimentation is very much in accord with the approach to gamelan taken by the Javanese themselves.
Maps and Travel
The gamelan instruments are currently housed in Campbell House, Gartnavel Royal Hospital.
Campbell House
Gartnavel Royal Hospital
1055 Great Western Road
Glasgow G12 0XH
Visit Traveline Scotland for bus and train timetables.
Public Transport
The nearest train station is Hyndland. You can take the train to Hyndland from Glasgow Queen Street station or Glasgow Central station.
Bus service number 20 or 66 will stop at Gartnavel Hospital on Great Western Road. Campbell House is about 10-15 minutes walk from the train station or bus stop.
Directions
Coming soon!
Gamelan Naga Mas Data Protection Policy
Gamelan Naga Mas hold and process personal data on individuals under two categories: members of the association, and individuals who choose to subscribe to our mailing list.
Members
Personal data held on members is limited to full names and email addresses. These are stored on an encrypted and password protected cloud platform, only accessible to committee members. This data is held solely for the purposes of communicating within the group, and is not passed on to third parties. The membership list is updated annually at the time of the annual general meeting, and names and emails of individuals who are no longer members deleted at that time. A member may request that their personal data be deleted at any time by emailing info@nagamas.co.uk.
In the case of members who choose to pay subscriptions by standing order to our bank account, the Treasurer will also by implication have access to sort codes and account numbers. These are not stored or processed directly by us, being held only on the secure platform provided by our bank.
Mailing list
Personal data is held on individuals who have explicitly chosen to sign up to our mailing list. This is by default limited to the email address itself, but where the individual has also given a name this will also be recorded. This data is stored on an encrypted and password protected cloud platform, only accessible to committee members. The data held solely for the purposes of communicating the activities of the group to interested individuals, and is never passed on to third parties. All emails sent from the mailing list offer an ‘unsubscribe’ option, that will have the effect of deleting the data of the individual concerned. Any individual on the mailing list may also request at any time that their personal data be deleted by emailing info@nagamas.co.uk.