About
Bilawa Ade Respati is a musician and performing artist based in Berlin. He performs on the Javanese Gamelan and the guitar, composing music for both instruments. In his practice, he incorporated elements of electronic music and algorithmic music composition. Aside performing as a soloist, his broad artistic interest is channeled into various collaborations.
Formally trained in Engineering Physics, he specializes in acoustic signal processing and music information retrieval, especially on the analysis of Javanese gamelan music. Parallel to his formal training as an engineer, he is also learning classical guitar, Javanese gamelan, and music composition, from various teachers as well as autodidacticaly.
In his works, he takes a syncretic approach drawing from his various backgrounds: from engineering to performing art, from European music tradition to the art of Javanese Karawitan. This leads to a broad artistic outputs, ranging from music for live performance, web sound installation, to music theater and the performing arts. His current artistic interest lies in the dialectic between tradition and innovation, as well as the revaluation of traditional values in contemporary life.
His current collaborations includes the company rubarb dance & art, under the direction of the choreographer Ruben Reniers, the visual artist and lighting designer Emese Csornai, and the puppeteer Lisa Björkstrom. Respati performed the gamelan with the gamelan ensemble Arum Sih (Überseemuseum Bremen), Sekar Kenanga (Elbphilharmonie Hamburg), and Lindhu Raras (Haus der Indonesischen Kulturen, Berlin).