Gamelan slower, more meditative quality than the gamelan music of Bali. Javanese gamelan can be made from iron or brass; instruments made of cast bronze are considered the best quality. Outside the main core on Java and Bali, gamelan has spread through migration and cultural interest, new styles sometimes resulting as well. Malay Gamelan comes from the Javanese tradition through Riau-Lingga which later formed its own distinct identity, using fewer instruments tuned in a near-equidistant "slendro", and often using a western B or C as a tuning basis. Javanese emigrants to Suriname play gamelan in a style close to that found
American Gamelan Institute around the world. The directories for North America (Canada and the U.S.), are maintained by Barbara Benary. In the early 1990s, AGI produced three gamelan festivals called "Planet Gamelan." The American Gamelan Institute is the publisher of all gamelan works by the American composer Lou Harrison, who built gamelan instruments with his partner William Colvig. American Gamelan Institute The American Gamelan Institute (AGI) is an organization devoted to promoting and documenting all forms of gamelan, the performing arts of Indonesia, and their international counterparts. The Institute was founded in Berkeley, California in 1981; the office moved to New Hampshire in