Electric Junkyard Gamelan

Electric Junkyard Gamelan is the brainchild of band leader, composer and instrument builder Terry Dame. Performing her original groove-driven music on self-invented instruments this unique band has a distinct voice that is at once both old and new. EJG performs at venues ranging from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to elementary schools in Iowa, arts centers large and small to music festivals, underground raves and even a wedding. The list is ever growing.

Originally inspired by the interlocking rhythms of traditional Gamelan music from Bali, today the group's music is influenced by a diverse range of sounds from eastern modal music to funk, klezmer to hip hop. They perform on Dame's innovative instruments such as the Rubarp and Big Barp (electric rubber band harps), the Sitello (an electric cello/sitar combo), the Terraphone (copper pipe horn), the Clayrimba (a three octave tuned clay pot "marimba") and an arsenal of percussion instruments fashioned from old farm equipment, turntable platters, saw blades, and truck springs. The result is a super original sound with lilting modal melodies, syncopated strings, funky bass lines and layers of dance-able interlocking rhythms that ride over clashes of metal on metal and colorful harmonic washes. Audiences are transfixed by the beauty and strangeness of the unusual collection of instruments on stage and the amazing array of sounds they produce.

The musicians in EJG hail from diverse musical backgrounds. Dame, a saxophonist and composer by training has studied music from around the world including Indonesia, the Middle East, the Balkans, India and Brazil. She has been living and working in New York City since 1985, composing and performing for film, video, theater, dance, and concerts.