Gamelan Council non-partisan consulting firm created under the aegis of Global Student Response (GSR) and focused on supporting international development efforts which has since been disbanded. As GCG’s efforts became more geographically focused on the Asia-Pacific region and thematically focused on microfinance and public health developmental issues, the Gamelan Council formed to focus specifically on these areas. The name of the organization is a combination of the Indonesian word referring to a music ensemble, ‘Gamelan,’ and an English word referring to a Native American, community-fostering ritual, ‘Council’ (the same term used to refer commonly to a group of individuals providing advice and
Gamelan in Central Javanese villages. Gamelan is also related to the Filipino "kulintang" ensemble. The variety of gamelan can befound in over 25 countries outside Indonesia, presenting both traditional and experimental repertoire. In oral Javanese culture distinctions are made between complete or incomplete, archaic and modern, and large standard and small village gamelan. The various archaic ensembles are distinguished by their unique combinations of instruments and possession of obsolete instruments such as the bell-tree ("byong") in the 3-toned "gamelan kodhok ngorek". Regionally variable village gamelan are often distinguished from standard gamelan (which have the "rebab" as the main melodic instrument) by