Music and Creative Producing
I am a musician and creative producer, and I specialise in creating radically inclusive spaces for intergenerational, and intercultural collaboration.
I perform at, and create shows for small to major festivals and venues from The Tote to the Melbourne Recital Centre, and manage creative projects supported by a wide range of funders.
I regularly perform in genres from children’s punk, to koplo, to gamelan, and love to work across cultures.
My active projects include:
Gamelan DanAnda (treasurer/creative producer/performer) | Balinese gamelan orchestra based in Darebin
Yarra Irama (bass) | Dangdut/koplo comes to Melbourne
Riot Baby (guitar/vocals) | Intergenerational punk band
Sekar Kidul (kacapi) | Sundanese kecapi suling music
Family Jams (creator/promoter) | Bringing the best of Melbourne's original live music scene to kids and elders
A few examples of my work
In 2025 I secured funding from Creative Australia to commission Balinese master musician/composer Yande King’s (Pande Gde Eka Mardiana) and dancer/choreographer Putu Ayu Lestari to create a new work for Gamelan DanAnda and Sanggar Lestari, which became Tari Puspa Banksia.
The work was premiered at the Collingwood Town Hall on 14 September 2025.
In 2025 I was Creative Producer for the Gathering of the Gamelans 2025, bringing over 1000 attendees to enjoy performances by 11 traditional Indonesian arts groups with over 100 performers.
I raised funding from Creative Australia, the City of Yarra and the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
In 2024 I worked with Gamelan DanAnda, Komang, dancer Yazzy Middleton and sax player Will Morrissey to create a show bringing together Komang’s neo-soul bangers and ambient soundscapes with the deep traditions of Balinese gamelan.
This show has been presented at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2024 and at the State Library of Victoria as a part of Now or Never Festival 2025.
In 2023 I created Saudara Sound System for OzAsia Festival, bringing together Australian, Australian-Indonesian and Indonesian artists together, bringing hip hop, electronic beats and soulful vocals together with traditional Balinese gamelan percussion orchestra and hypnotic Balinese dance. Artists included Joelistics, Ria Soemardjo, Komang, Yande King’s and more.
This video profile by SEA News is of the Brunswick Music Festival 2024 restaging, which engaged our full multigenerational 30-piece community orchestra as part of the show bringing together Gamelan DanAnda’s community and its professional practice.
In 2023 I brought the Gathering of Gamelans back to Melbourne after a decade-long hiatus, bringing together 8 Victorian groups representing traditions from 5 parts of Indonesia. Over 100 performers appeared, and over 1000 people attended the free, day-long event, funded by the Victorian government’s Multicultural Festivals and Events Program.
This video is a profile of the event by SEA News.
In 2023 I brought together Gamelan DanAnda, Mahindra Bali and jazz fusion band Firetail to created a series of collaborative works exploring the place of multicultural music in Melbourne’s contemporary music scene.
The results fused the sounds, timbres and techniques of Balinese gamelan with the electro-jazz-fusion sounds of Firetail. We performed at the National Folk Festival, the Melbourne Recital Centre and more. We received a 4 star review in The Age and a feature on ABC Radio National’s The Music Show. We received funding from Creative Victoria and the Melbourne Recital Centre to document the collaboration, and a vinyl album will be launched in 2025.
This video is a showreel from our first performance.
Selected Discography
Bad Decisions - Riot Baby (Bandcamp | Streaming) - A dance-punk confession booth and safe(-ish) space for owning up to bad decisions made by kids and parents, and the predictable consequences we all endure.
John Cheong-Holdaway - Guitars, lead and backing vocals, additional engineering, project management.
2025 - Anglayang - Gamelan DanAnda x Firetail (Bandcamp | Streaming | Nglayang film clip ft. Alfira O'Sullivan, Yazzy Middleton and more) - Melbourne-based Balinese gamelan orchestra Gamelan DanAnda meet Carnatic-jazz-fusion band Firetail
John Cheong-Holdaway - Gangsa, ceng-ceng, vocals, creative producer.
2025 - Zanda Funerea - False Place (Bandcamp, Streaming) - a debut collection of tracks mixing distinctly Australian field recordings with loops, textured synths, spare vocals and instruments ranging from Indonesian kacapi to the French horn, to a haunted hundred-year-old German piano in a Tootgarook beach house.
John Cheong-Holdaway - Guitars, kacapi, vocals, synths
2024 - Listen to Your Mum - Riot Baby (Bandcamp) - A primal scream by and for mothers and all caregivers. The song is inspired by the challenges of being a parent in Melbourne's inner north through toddlerhood, pandemics, climate disasters, big feelings (kids' and parents'), and late-stage capitalism.
John Cheong-Holdaway - guitars, backing vocals
2024 - Did You Bring Your Jumper - Riot Baby (Streaming) - A punk banger from the perspective of a parent desperately attempting to ensure their children are appropriately clothed for the oncoming Melbourne winter.
John Cheong-Holdaway - guitars, backing vocals
2023 - Isolated Continents: The Forgotten Music of Felix Ookean Vol. III - The Cambrian Explosion (Bandcamp) - an instrumental concept album recreating the soundtrack to a 1977 documentary series produced by eccentric Australian nature documentary maker and composer, Felix Ookean. An eclectic trip through late-20th century Australiana and musical esoterica, the album covers a huge amount of stylistic ground, incorporating nods to early synthesiser pioneers, Balinese gamelan, world-music facsimiles, field recordings, and spoken word.
John Cheong-Holdaway - bass, guitar, keyboards.
2023 - Saudara - Joelistics x Komang x Gamelan DanAnda (Bandcamp) - The result of Joelistics’ 2022 residency with Gamelan DanAnda, and a development trip to Bali. The EP bringing together Joel’s production with vocals from Balinese-Australian neo-soul singer Komang and Gamelan DanAnda’s community orchestra.
John Cheong-Holdaway - Creative Producer
2022 - Echoes of Australis: The Forgotten Music of Felix Ookean Vol. II - The Cambrian Explosion (Bandcamp) - Recreates the soundtrack to a fictional 1977 documentary series produced by eccentric nature documentary maker and composer, Felix Ookean. An eclectic trip through late-20th century Australiana and musical esoterica, the album weaves a tapestry of wide-ranging influences, genres and timbres. Nods to 20th century minimalists, Enya-esque synthscapes, world music facsimiles, field recordings, and spoken word conjure a portrait of an artist hellbent on leaving no sonic niche unexplored.
John Cheong-Holdaway - bass, guitar, keyboards.
2011 - The Forgotten Music of Felix Ookean - The Cambrian Explosion (Bandcamp) - A tribute to fictional Australian 1970s nature documentary maker/composer Felix Ookean.
John Cheong-Holdaway - guitar, keyboards, didjeribone, theremin
Upcoming events
-
Riot Baby teach Punk Ensemble @ Turramurra Folk Music Camp
10 to 13 April 2026 - Riot Baby are bringing punk to the folk scene! Learn two songs by Naarm-based bands and learn to write your very own punk song.