Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) Gamelan Group Sanggar Kirana was established in February 2002 with the aim of promoting traditional Malay culture, developing music and rendering the art and music among varsity students. The literal translation of Sanggar Kirana is "illuminating house". Back before the establishment of UTP's Gamelan Group, the team basically consisted of students coming from gamelans’ co-curriculum classes. With the establishment of Sanggar Kirana and its mission to inspire, motivate, influence, educate and communicate with thousands of notes, Sanggar Kirana envisaged to be an elegant gamelan group that produces encouraging sound and vibes that moved people towards the excellence of performance. 

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Dedicated to its vision of becoming an elegant gamelan group, it brings the colorful world of traditional Malay music for all walks of life and building new audiences besides allowing individuals from other races to appreciate the essence of gamelan music.

 

Sanggar Kirana is united in its commitment to launch their expansion plan and looks forward to creating a new identity and genre of traditional Malay music which portrays the diversity of Malaysian culture encompassing a myriad of ethnic races. With a contemporary momentum and spirit it aims to strive for the peak in music and attain the status of a well-established gamelan group that will be the pride of the university. 

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Since its inception, the team has been continually involved in performances for the university and PETRONAS events, state government occasions, national competition, and also international showcases in Jakarta (2006), Bandung (2011) and United Kingdom (2015). 

 

The ensemble's first music album, Gatra Pertama, was launched in 2013 with the full support from the management of UTP, marking it as the first ever Gamelan album produced in Malaysia by university students.