On July 15, 2025, Professor I Made Lasmawan (Music and Asian Studies) received the Adibrata Nugraha Kridha Sanggita award from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Surakarta, Java, Indonesia (ISI Surakarta) for his devotion and work as a teacher of Indonesian performing arts in the United States. This award was presented at the 61st Anniversary Ceremony of ISI Surakarta, in celebration of the “Harmoni Tradisi dan Inovasi” (the Harmony of Tradition and Innovation) for Lasmawan’s contributions as a teacher of Balinese and Javanese gamelan in the U.S.

Lasmawan, a graduate of ISI Surakarta, came to the U.S. in 1990 to teach Balinese gamelan at San Diego State University. In 1993, after relocating to Colorado with his family, he became Artist-in-Residence for Denver’s Gamelan Tunas Mekar community-based ensemble and began directing Colorado College’s Gamelan Tunjung Sari. At CC, Professor Emeritus Victoria Lindsay Levine assisted Lasmawan in developing course offerings in Indonesian music, including Performing the Hindu Epics (Block 2), Music in Culture: Indonesia (Block 4), Music and Dance in Bali (Block 8), and The Arts and Culture of Bali (taught as a Summer Block Abroad). Today, Lasmawan and his wife, Professor Ni Ketut Marni (Dance), oversee the CC Indonesian music and dance program.

As a master drummer, composer, and pedagogue, Lasmawan has helped found and develop multiple gamelan ensembles around the country, developed his own teaching approach (Panca Guru/Meguru, or his five teaching strategies), and composed new pieces for student ensembles. In summer 2025, Gamelan Tunas Mekar (under Lasmawan’s leadership) performed a headlining concert at the first Los Angeles Gamelan Festival, students in his co-taught study abroad block in Bali performed a full concert of music and dance in his home village, and Lasmawan returned to ISI Surakarta to receive his award and meet with faculty about ways CC can partner with the Institute of the Arts to benefit students across both institutions.

In Bali, terraced rice fields are watered through an intricate subak (water irrigation) system in which water is shared and dispersed. Lasmawan likens the running water (air mengalir) that floods Bali’s rice fields to the spread of knowledge that flows from teacher to student, in harmony with tradition and innovation. This prestigious award recognizes not only his many contributions to gamelan in the U.S. but also honors his approach to teaching and the ways he has impacted his students.