Paul Gutama Soegijo

Paul Gutama Soegijo (29 January 1934 – 7 January 2019) was an Indonesian composer and musician, active in Berlin. Born in Yogyakarta on the island of Java, Soegijo studied composition with Boris Blacher at Berlin’s . He began his compositional career in the experimental Neue Musik style but later transitioned to using elements of Indonesian music in his works, particularly the gamelan percussion instruments. He visited Indonesia between 1977 and 1985 to study the gamelan instruments, and in his later works he often combined Western influences with the gamelan traditions that he learned. Early life and education Soegijo was born on 29 January 1934 in Yogyakarta on the island of Java, then a part of the Dutch East Indies. After studying the violin at the Indonesian College of Music, at 19 years old he was awarded a scholarship from the Catholic Mission to attend the in Amsterdam from 1957 to 1962. He then moved to Berlin in 1964 to study musical composition with the German composer Boris Blacher at the (now the Berlin University of the Arts). From 1968, Soegijo’s compositions were published by Bote & Bock and played throughout Europe. During this time, Soegijo began a transition to a