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The Music of Bali,
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...
is an Indonesian island that shares in the
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
and other Indonesian musical styles. Bali, however, has its own techniques and styles, including
kecak ''Kecak'' (pronounced ("kechak"), alternate spellings: ''kechak'' and ''ketjak''), known in Indonesian as ''tari kecakilolahhe'', is a form of Balinese Hindu dance and music drama that was developed in the 1930s in Bali, Indonesia. Since it ...
, a form of singing that imitates the sound of
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
s. In addition, the island is home to several unique kinds of gamelan, including the
gamelan jegog Jegog is a form of gamelan music indigenous to Bali, Indonesia, played on instruments made of bamboo. The tradition of jegog is centered in Jembrana, a region in Western Bali. In recent years jegog has started to become popular in other regions ...
, gamelan gong gede,
gamelan gambang The ''gamelan gambang'' is a type of gamelan ensemble in Bali which uses four ''gambangs'', a wooden xylophone-like instrument (as opposed to most gamelan instruments, which are made of bronze), as well as two '' sarons''. It is considered an anc ...
,
gamelan selunding ''Gamelan selunding'' (also spelled ''selonding'') is a sacred ensemble of gamelan music from Bali, Indonesia. The ''selunding'' ensemble is from Tenganan, a village in east Bali; the ensemble is rare. Selunding means "great" or "large". ''Selon ...
and gamelan semar pegulingan, the cremation music
angklung The ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument from the Sundanese people in Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, similar ...
and the processional music bebonangan. Modern popular styles include gamelan gong kebyar,
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
which developed during the Dutch occupation and 1950s era joged bumbung, another popular dance style. In Balinese music you can also hear metallophones, gongs and xylophones.


Characteristics

More than 50 people must be dancing during the music. Balinese music can be compared to
Javanese music As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia ( id, Musik Indonesia) itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a r ...
, especially that of the pre-
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
ic period. During that time, Javanese tonal systems were imported to Bali. Balinese
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
, a form of Indonesian classical music, is louder, swifter and more aggressive than Sundanese and Javanese music. Balinese gamelan also features more archaic instrumentation than modern Sundanese and Javanese gamelans. Balinese instruments include
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
and
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, b ...
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in th ...
s.
Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
s and a number of
gong chime A gong chime is a generic term for a set of small, high-pitched bossed pot gongs. The gongs are ordinarily placed in order of pitch, with the boss upward on cords held in a low wooden frame. The frames can be rectangular or circular (the latter ar ...
s, are used, such as the solo instrument trompong, and a variety of
percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
s like
cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s,
bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
s, drums and the anklung (a bamboo rattle). There are two sizes of bamboo
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s, both used in theatrical music, and a
rebab The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via I ...
(two-stringed
spike fiddle Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...
). Modern forms of Balinese gamelan include kebyar, an energetic style played by clubs, which generally compose their own music. An extensive study of gamelan gong kebyar is found in ''Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music'' (2000) by Michael Tenzer, and .


See also

*
Music of Indonesia As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia ( id, Musik Indonesia) itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a r ...
*
Music of Java The Music of Java embraces a wide variety of styles, both traditional and contemporary, reflecting the diversity of the island and its lengthy history. Apart from traditional forms that maintain connections to musical styles many centuries old, ...
* Music of Sumatra


References


Encyclopedia.com
*''Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music'' (2000) by Michael Tenzer, and {{ISBN, 0-226-79283-8.


External links



by Michael Tenzer
Triguna: A Hindu-Balinese Philosophy for Gamelan Gong Gede Music
by Made Mantle Hood