Bali Travel News

Balinese gamelan music is an intricate blend of sonorities, created in a densely patterned, contrapuntal web of sound. Enhanced by the tremolo effect of the paired tuning system, the music shifts and vibrates rapidly — some have compared it to the nightly choruses of crickets and frogs in the Balinese riceflelds.

Working in an oral tradition (no notation is used), musicians have evolved a complex language based on the concept of kotekan or interlocking parts. In this system, the intricate melodic figuration of the music is never played by a single musician, but is divided instead into two complementary parts (called sangsih and polos). When played together the two dovetail to form the composite figuration.

Aside from the sheer sonic complexity that kotekan patterning gives the music, it also allows the orchestra to play at dazzling tempos — enough to defy even the most nimble-fingered classical pianist. Adding to the contrapuntual richness of the music is the fact that several kinds of interlocking parts may be played simultaneously in the various families of the orchestra. All of these parts relate directly to a central or core melody (pokok) around which they are woven.

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The term gamelan refers not only to the instruments but also to the groups of musicians who play them. People participate in these groups from a very young age, and one is often surprised to hear intricate pieces being performed by children’s groups in which the average age is only 12 years. In the villages, such groups may be formed for special festivals only to be disbanded as soon as the festival is over. Most groups play together for a long time, however  some for as long as 40 or 50 years with unchanged membership. Some groups even outlive their original membership and continue to exist as autonomous village institutions for hundreds of years.

Organizationally, music and dance troupes in Bali are deeply rooted in the banjar — the fundamental unit of community within the Balinese village or town. Its guiding principle and philosophy is that any group must strive to exist as a coherent unit rather than as a collection of individuals. In Balinese music, this attitude of cooperation is essential, and individual virtuosity is always far overshadowed by the ideal of unity and perfect synchronization of the various parts. Much more so than in Western music, a single part or musician cannot stand alone, but is integral to the whole. For this reason, solo performance is nonexistent in Bali.

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