Diversity

This article was downloaded by: [Hood, Made Mantle] On: 21 June 2010 Access details: Access Details:
[subscription number 922967650] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Musicology Australia
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t912833808
Gamelan Gong Gede: Negotiating Musical Diversity in Bali's Highlands

Made Mantle Hooda a Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Online publication date: 10 June 2010
To cite this Article Hood, Made Mantle(2010) 'Gamelan Gong Gede: Negotiating Musical Diversity in Bali's Highlands',
Musicology Australia, 32: 1, 69 93 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/08145851003794000 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08145851003794000
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Musicology Australia Vol. 32, No. 1, July 2010, 6993
Gamelan Gong Gede: Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands

MADE MANTLE HOOD
Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010
There are several communities in the highlands of Bali in Indonesia that still maintain large antique orchestras of bronze gongs and metallophones called gamelan gong gede. These gamelan have been preserved as essential implements of local ritual-music associations that have protected them from change for generations. In contrast, much of the rest of the island abandoned gong gede in the early twentieth century in favor of modern gamelan. Inseparable from its highland ritual context, gong gede endure in Balis remote highlands because they are inseparable from ritual context, which has resulted in musical diversity within the broader ecosystem of Balinese music. This diversity simultaneously marginalizes communities to some degree from mainstream musical innovation. However, it also empowers local ritual music associations within sophisticated social networks that play a major role in protecting and preserving these ancient antique orchestras. Using a pluralism of musical structures as an analytical framework for discussing musical diversity, this article looks at how highland communities protect and maintain gong gede as living traditions by examining their history, social context and musical style to see what keeps local traditions from succumbing to mainstream musical trends.
Introduction
The concern over the disappearance of particular cultural practices, including musical and dance genres, is widespread in both printed and oral discourse in Indonesia. The need to strive for preservation (pelestarian) of Indonesias countless indigenous cultural practices is stated explicitly as one important reason for the publication of inventories of traditional songs, musical pieces, dance choreographies, architecture, folk games, and the like . . . Among the many musicians I studied under or interviewed in Central and East Java and in South Sulawesi, the belief that their cherished traditions were threatened with severe compromise, if not outright extinction, due to the forces of globalization (arus globalisasi), was shared almost universally.1
The loss of musical traditions keeps many local cultural practitioners and international academics on full alert when warnings of severe compromise or even complete extinction of artistic practice loom. It may be that Indonesias cultural diversity, as Sutton points out above, is now beginning to submerge under the waves of globalization pounding at its shores. However, in the 1930s Colin McPhee was already expressing his concern that Balis largest ritual orchestra of bronze gongs and metallophones called gamelan gong gede was disappearing rapidly with the rise in popularity of modern gamelan. Indeed his monograph,
1 R. Anderson Sutton, Tradition Serving Modernity? The Musical Lives of a Makassarese Drummer, Asian Music 37.1 (2006), 123; 19. R. Anderson Sutton is an ethnomusicologist at University of WisconsinMadison. ISSN 0814-5857 print/ISSN 1949-453X online 2010 Musicological Society of Australia DOI: 10.1080/08145851003794000 http://www.informaworld.com
70 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010
Music in Bali,2 echoes the sentiments of todays South Sulawesi and Central Javanese musicians noted above, who see a tremendous need for the publication of inventories of traditional songs. Today the gong gede orchestras that McPhee documented have almost completely vanished from Balis musical landscape save for several stalwart communities in the highlands. It is here in the mountainous regions of the northern Gianyar and Bangli districts that local communities continue to use these orchestras as the principal medium for their indigenous cultural practice. Gamelan gong gede is the largest orchestra of bronze gongs and metallophones on the island.3 The term itself distinguishes this orchestra from the more than twenty-ve other Balinese ensembles that vary in size, function and instrumentation.4 Gamelan refers to a collection of instruments of the same tuning; gong refers to the large vertically suspended bronze gong; and gede means large, majestic or grand.5 There are several families of instruments in an orchestra; a gong gede has up to twenty-four single-octave metallophones requiring as many musicians; three sets of kettlegong rows; a set of large and small hanging gongs; and a battery of percussion including a pair of double-headed conical drums and crash cymbals. Together, more than forty musicians gather under open-air pavilions to play these orchestras, which are often housed within the walls of a temple compound. Prior to performing, instruments are consecrated with offerings and holy water so that, when played, they produce upakara munyi-munyian or musical offerings. Here the sonic phenomenon of music is not unlike the stacks of fruit and ower arrangements or burning incense dedicated during HinduBalinese ceremony. Just as incense smoke is believed to transport the prayers of worshippers, gong gede music envelopes ritual spaces as a sonic offering to the pantheon of Hindu deities. Musicians accompany ritual dancers, who are also essential in the performance of these musical offerings, for each temple festival. Negotiating musical diversity among Balis highlands means identifying these rmly established attitudes and beliefs about gong gede music as part of Balis cultural diversity. UNESCO and the International Music Council dene musical diversity in part as a pluralism of musical structures.6 This suggests that pluralism means there exists a multiplicity of genres, styles and repertoires in a given culture. It also implies a healthy musical ecosystem that allows for numerous musics to coexist. Using a pluralism of
2 Colin McPhee, Music in Bali: A Study in Form and Instrumental Organization in Balinese Orchestral Music (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966). 3 Throughout this article I use gamelan and orchestra interchangeably. I use gong gede in the singular and plural. I also use gong gede and not gamelan gong to refer to ensembles with single-octave resting keys. 4 For a more detailed discussion of instrumentation and musical forms for Balinese ensembles, see McPhee, Music in Bali. 5 Ru diger Schumacher, Aji Ghurnita: Eine Balinesische Musiklehre, Jahrbuch fu r musikalische Volks- und Vo lkerkunde (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Haertel, 1985), 1349. 6 Richard Letts (Principal Investigator), The Protection and Promotion of Musical Diversity, UNESCO and the International Music Council, June 2006 (Accessed 15 June 2007), www.unesco.org/imc/programmes/ imc_diversity_report.pdf. Support for research into musical diversity is increasing in Australia through the recent award of an Australian Research Council Linkage project entitled Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: Towards Anecology of Musical Diversity. The project is in collaboration with the International Music Council and nine other partners with the goal of providing . . . insights and instruments that will empower communities across the world to forge musical futures on their own terms, http:// www.grifth.edu.au/music/queensland-conservatorium-research-centre/news-and-events (Accessed 31 May 2009).
M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 71
musical structures as an analytical framework for discussing musical diversity, I identify gong gede orchestras as one type of musical structure. My use of plurality here is limited to diversity between genres; namely, gong gede as a different form of gamelan from the majority of kebyar orchestras on the island.7 So, in this sense, structures refer to orchestras. Recent works on Balinese music have provided comprehensive studies of gong gedes twentieth-century successor, gong kebyar,8 and related ritual orchestras from the neighboring island of Lombok.9 However, aside from Colin McPhees monograph and notated collections of repertoire,10 few sources go beyond glossing gong gede as a relic of feudal Balis court ensembles. From one perspective, gong gede practitioners are a musical minority who exist on the periphery of a much larger Balinese music scene. Therefore I am interested in bringing into relief a clearer depiction of the communities that embrace gong gede as central to their religious activity.11 In this article, I rst evaluate historical documents, oral narratives and early photographic evidence to determine to what extent gong gede were prevalent throughout the island prior to McPhees rst encounter. Then the cultural context of gong gede is discussed by looking at local preservation methods established by tight-knit inter-village networks where orchestras are integral to ritual as living tradition. I then examine the extent to which these networks help or hinder tradition as it passes to inheriting generations. Finally, I propose there is a preference of simplicity over complexity in the musical style of gong gede groups, a further distinction that sets these groups apart from the rest of the islands ritual music. History The history of the communities and temples that utilize gong gede orchestras is long, but, like the highlands themselves, is shrouded in a patchy mist of intersubjective oral narratives interspersed with written historical documents. Navigating through these resources helps partially to reconstruct gong gedes history and pave the way for new perspectives on its past.
7 Suttons use of the term plurality in his study of three Central Javanese gamelan styles indicates diversity of regional varieties within a single genre, which is also applicable, although to a lesser extent, to the variety of gong gede styles. R. Anderson Sutton, Musical Pluralism in Java: Three Local Traditions, Ethnomusicology 21/1 (1985), 5685. 8 Michael Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-century Balinese Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). 9 David Harnish, Bridges to the Ancestors: Music, Myth and Cultural Politics at an Indonesian Festival (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006). 10 Nyoman Rembang, Hasil Pendokumentasian Notasi Gending-Gending Lelambatan Klasik Pegongan Daerah Bali (Denpasar: Proyek Pengembangan Kesenian Bali, Departmen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 198485). 11 The discipline of Asian Studies has only recently looked back at its publication history to nd only a modest number of articles that concern the non-dominant peoples (often termed ethnic minorities) of Asia and diversity within Asian statesa subject that has been largely overlooked until recently by Asian studies scholars. Over 60 years of Asian Studies publications has resulted in a total of 1402 articles of which 85, or just over 6%, address periphery ethnicities in the Asian region. Charles F. Keys (ed.), On the Margins of Asia: Diversity in Asian States (Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Asian Studies Inc., 2006), 2. This publication represents an increase in seeking out and engaging in discourse with diverse forms of cultural expression in the greater Southeast Asian region.
Court Chronicle In the seventeenth century, the rst scribes of the northern Balinese court of the King of Buleleng, I Gusti Anglurah Panji Sakti (15991680), began writing down the court genealogy or Babad Buleleng of one of Balis most powerful dynasties. This genealogy provides the earliest known written account of a gong gede-like orchestra with vivid descriptions of principal musical instruments and their sound quality. The various versions of this text are best described as compilations of several writers because each time manuscripts were recopied on perishable palm leaf (borassus abellifer) to preserve documents, writing style and content were often modied. The result is both a subjective portrayal of history combined with factual rst-hand accounts of events in chronological time. Scribes were known to take poetic liberty to further amplify the prestige of the royal orchestra and the name and supremacy of Saktis family line. In the passage that follows, descriptions of individual instruments sound quality are reminiscent of contemporary gong gede orchestras active in the highlands today:
Lets us speak of how the king had a state orchestra made. It contained a complete set of instruments. The tarompong [kettlegong row] in front and behind were called Juruh Satukad because their sound was the ultimate in melliuence and sweetness, like a stream of sugar, enough it seemed to ll a river. The two padahi [gongs] together were called Bentar Kadaton, because, when they were beaten, it seemed as if the kingdom was tearing asunder. They made a droning sound. Further, the kala [cymbals] were called Ki Gagak Ora because they sounded like the shrieking of thousands of kites[?].12 The petuk-kajar [kettlegong] were famed under the name of Ki Tundung Musuh because their sound chilled the heart and certainly caused the enemy to retreat. Further the beri [small gong?], the sound of which was famous, were called Glagah Katunwan. They sounded like dry pawuk-puk glagah [burning grass] that was burning. Their sound was ear splitting and inhuman in the extreme. Further, the gubar [drums] boomed loudly, roaring like the thunder and so they were called Gelap Kasangka because it seemed that they sounded like successive peals of thunder in the month of Cetra. Such is the account of Sri Angrurah Panji Saktis state instruments. Clearly he caused great anguish to evil people who dared not look upon his valor. We shall say no more about this now.13
The seventeenth-century passage above identies musical instruments by name, reecting an enduring mystical and spiritual reverence held by writers centuries ago and that Balinese still have today for nature, ora and fauna. The mystical names serve both to venerate Panji Sakti and simultaneously ascribe culture-specic organological interpretations to the Kings instruments. For example, for any reader of this manuscript it becomes clear that struck bronze gongs, deafening crash cymbals and thundering double-headed drums are emblematic of the power and might of their esteemed owner. The words chosen by the author to describe aspects of sound quality have enduring meanings for contemporary Balinese musicians. Babad Bulelengs descriptions from the past
12 In keeping with the musical instruments sound quality being associated with nature, Wayan Simpen translates this sentence as Suaranja sebagai suara gagak berribu-ribu or its sound is that of thousands of screaming crows, a more likely poetic metaphor than kites in Sejarah Perkembangan Gong gede (Unpublished Manuscript, Denpasar, 19 December 1979). 13 P.J. Worsley, Babad Buleleng: A Balinese Dynastic Genealogy (The Hague: Nijhoff /KITLV, 1972), 1513.
depict amplitude or carrying power that roars like thunder; elements of timbre are likened to burning grass (pawuk-puk glagah); and stylistic execution of melody is equated to the melliuence of a owing stream. While the extra-musical meanings found in the passage about the kings revered instruments and their sonic quality carry similar connotations of gong gede music expressed locally by contemporary practitioners, these diachronic associations between historical and contemporary practice are subjective interpretations and reveal few details of actual historical musical practice.14 Comparable, and possibly related to Javanese gamelan evolution, Panji Saktis ensemble may nevertheless be the predecessor of todays gong gede.15 Saktis single row kettlegong pair called tarompong mentioned in the Babad Buleleng passage above is reminiscent of an archaic gamelan type on the neighboring island of Java thought to originate from around the fourteenth century. Archaic orchestras housed at the Yogyakarta Kraton are thought to be forbearers of contemporary Central Javanese orchestras. Panji Saktis instrument was perhaps a larger predecessor to the contemporary terompong kettlegong row. Evolutionary evidence from Java points to signicant changes over the centuries in size and construction. For example, some argue the large-sized Kraton instruments of the three-tone kodok ngorek gamelan called K.K. Maesaganggang (Fighting Buffalo) housed in the Yogyakarta palace are relics from well before the fourteenth-century Majapahit Kingdom (12931527).16 Originally this Fighting Buffalo did not have bronze key metallophones so typical of modern-day gamelan. This is particularly compelling because the Babad Buleleng paragraph describes a complete set of instruments, yet there is no mention of the bronze-keyed metallophones that are so characteristic of contemporary orchestras. Palace Legend In 1630, Kiyayi Jambe Pole established a royal house in Southern Bali that would eventually become Puri Pemecutan royal palace. According to palace legend, Jambe Pole fought in a military campaign against the eastern Javanese Kingdom of Blambangan near present-day Banyuwangi in the seventeenth century.17 In this battle, Pemecutans royal house was given an entire gong gede orchestra either as a gift or peace offering. Whether or not the orchestra was a gift or perhaps conscated as spoils of war, if it is the same orchestra housed and still used at the Puri Pemecutan in Denpasar then it is Balis oldest orchestra of this type and, more signicantly, remains the only complete gong gede orchestra on the island to be under the direct control and management of a single royal family. What is interesting to note about the instruments themselves that further differentiates them from other ensembles, therefore adding to the pluralism of musical structures under discussion here, is the shape and contour of its kettlegongs. The upper register kettlegongs
14 Sarah Weiss, Listening to an Earlier Java: Aesthetics, Gender, and the Music of Wayang in Central Java (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2006). 15 For a discussion of Javanese gamelan evolution, see Made Mantle Hood, The Evolution of Javanese Gamelan: Book II The Legacy of the Roaring Sea (Wilhelmshaven, New York: Heinrichshofen 1984). 16 http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/mus/gamelans/index.html (Accessed 6 June 2009). 17 The liner notes of Schaareman and Mack state that the orchestra was used during a military campaign against the eastern Javanese kingdom of Blambangan [present-day Banyuwangi] in the seventeenth century but, according to my informants, the orchestra was acquired as a result of the military conict. Danker Schaareman and Dieter Mack, Ritual Music from Bali IV: The Gong gede from Pamecutan (LP notes, Institute for Musicology, University of Basle, 1986).
are larger and egg-shaped with high rims on the surface below the central boss, an organological construction unlike any other on the island. There is another oral narrative from Puri Pemecutan that places gong gede in the seventeenth century. The year 1651 marked a turbulent time of island-wide civil unrest when the highly contested title Susuhnan or Spiritual Leader of Bali and the neighboring island of Lombok passed from one king to another. According to Pemecutans narrative, their entire orchestra was carried on the backs of servants from present-day Denpasar more than 40 kilometers to Klungkung, the regency of the newly enthroned Susuhnan, Dalem Di Made. Although there is some discrepancy as to the exact dates of Di Mades reign and succession, princedoms throughout the island with ties to this central polity must have honored their obligation to the Susuhnan and attended the state function. Part of their obligation was for princedoms such as Pemecutan to provide ngayah ritual service in the form of upakara munyi-munyian or ritual music offerings for a coronation or a state funeral. Both the continuity of ritual service and the customary obligation to political and economic centers of power has, remarkably, continued into the twentieth century. There are several examples of gong gede being carried long distances to attend important state functions such as Baturs attendance at a 1964 cremation in the royal house of Klungkung and Sulahans long standing service to the Klungkung court.18 Musical Manuscript Both the orchestra and its repertoire are described in detail among philosophical teachings and aesthetics found in a text called Prakempa, a manuscript about Balinese music. Similar to the Babad category of texts mentioned above, Prakempas language style and literary conventions suggest it is the work of late-eighteenth-century or early-nineteenth-century Balinese court scribes. The name of the texts author, Bhagawan Gottama, is curiously familiar. However, it refers neither to the Ramayana priest from the illustrious Hindu epic nor Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism. Rather, the name is probably a pseudonym chosen by a well-educated religious teacher associated with a royal court from the 1700s.19 This teacher, who is apparently a practising musician, seems to have transcribed and amended the Prakempa for his pupils. The manuscripts contents are abstract and theoretical, probing the interdependency between gamelan musical praxis and related elds such as aesthetics, performance technique, philosophy and ethics. Few practising musicians throughout history would have read this obscure text, which was intended as a study resource for Gottamas pupils who would probably have disseminated its contents aurally to their own students. The passage on gong gede suggests its repertoire is, by the late eighteenth century, fairly widespread throughout the island.20 The manuscript is useful because it articulates in lofty prose what many of todays lay musicians know and intuit about their gong gede orchestras. For example, it describes all
18 Made Mantle Hood, Triguna: a HinduBalinese Philosophy for Gamelan Gong Gede Music (Dissertation, Universitaet zu Koeln, 2004). 19 I Made Bandem, Prakempa: Sebuah Lontar Gamelan Bali (Denpasar: Akademi Seni Tari Indonesia, 1986), 9. As with Babad Buleleng, there are also several versions of Prakempa in circulation among private collectors. 20 Two compositions mentioned in the Prakempa manuscript, Tabuh Pat Semarandana and Tabuh Nem Galang Kangin, are found in most groups repertoire throughout the island and, save for minor stylistic variations, share the same structural and melodic features.
principal instruments in great detail and even explains melodic and structural concepts such as proper tonal pairings for instrumental musical forms. In addition to instrumental music, the manuscript prescribes that gong gede plays an essential role for accompanying baris and rejang ritual dances. It designates specic offerings to be made and dedicated prior to performance. In several of its verses, it also emphasizes the appropriateness of the music for accompanying state functions, visits of guests and dignitaries, as well as royal family lifecycle rituals such as palace shrine anniversaries (odalan) and weddings for royal family members. From an historical perspective, Prakempa locates gong gede more than 200 years in Balis past as a functioning state orchestra embraced both in the palace and the community level. It also offers evidence of temporal continuity between past and present descriptions of gong gedes instrumentation, practice and ritual associations. Beyond this obscure philosophical text, however, how do local oral narratives from gong gede practitioners themselves contribute to evaluating the degree to which gong gede was prevalent in Balis past?
Oral Narrative While historical manuscripts such as Prakempa provide commentaries on orchestral instrumentation and ritual function, contemporary oral narratives from individual communities recount more specic details surrounding a gamelans origin stories. These often include myths and local legends. One gamelan narrative set in the nineteenth century attests to the mysterious origins of the orchestras principal instruments, the large pair of hanging bronze knobbed gongs. This narrative was recited to me in 2002 by Wayan Nakti, senior musician of the gong gede group from the village of Sebatu in northern Gianyar (see Figure 1). The seventy-year-old Nakti rst heard the narrative as a child, and has told and retold it many times to his community members who take pride in knowing one of their ancestors bought a magical pair of gongs from an equally magical gong merchant:
Around the middle of the 19th century, one of Sebatus ancestors who was a leading musician in our group, traveled to the upland country on his way to the well-known Batur temple in the sub-district called Kintanmani. There he came across a gentleman sitting underneath a sacred tree dressed in ne clothing. From one of the lower limbs of this tree were suspended two large bronze gongs. Our ancestor approached the gentleman and enquired as to whether the gongs were for sale. The nely dressed man said yes and demonstrated the sound of the gongs for him. The Sebatu man was so impressed with the sound he immediately offered to purchase the pair for his group and the two men agreed on a price. When he looked away into his money belt to take out the correct amount, the seller had vanished. The gongs did not vanish and it was taken as a sign that the gongs were destined for Sebatu. This was interpreted as the way God delivered the instruments to our group.21
21 My translation from an interview with I Wayan Nakti on 22 June 2002: Pertengahan abad 19, seorang leluhur kami dari Sebatu yaitu seniman utama dalam seka gong sedang berjalan ke tempat suci terkenal Pura Batur di daerah pegunungan Kintamani. Disitulah ia ketemu seorang pria berpakaian rapi duduk dibawa pohon sakral dan juga ada sepasang gong megantung dari cabangnya yang cukup rendah. Leluhur kami mendekati pria ini dan tanyak apakah dijual gongnya. Ya jawabnya pria berpakaian rapi lalu di coba pukul gongnya. Leluhur kami senang sekali dengan suaranya minta beli langsung buat sekanya lalu mereka sepakat harganya. Begitu leluhur melihat kedalam sakunya untuk hitung uang pas, dagang gong itu tiba-tiba hilang
Each recitation of a story like this about the origin of gongs should be viewed as a tentative consensus reached at a particular time and place rather than a monolithic text.22 However, ethnographic accounts of oral narratives such as this one are valuable as products of living interaction. As Nakti mentions, when the narrative is repeated over time with variations by senior gures in the community, it comes to life as a symbol. As a product of living interaction the symbol reinforces the instruments semantic value, a value that community members perceive as an element of sacredness or tenget. Sebatus large bronze gongs purchased by Naktis ancestor still hanging next to the communitys orchestra, suspended majestically under the music pavilion of the village temple courtyard. Respect and reverence for the antiquity and mystical origins of these gongs may be a tentative consensus, but the narratives are told with heartfelt sincerity. Narratives reect the views and opinions of the community members who claim its ownership. When asked about the tenget sacredness of their ensemble, many members of the Sebatu community boast modestly about the timelessness and magical power of their instruments. In this way the narrative seems to safeguard against abrupt changes in attitude towards the gamelan from generation to generation. Sebatu residents also comment that mischievous beings of supernatural origin abound and offerings to the gongs must be routinely made.23 Whether supernatural or
Figure 1. Map of Bali Illustrating the Location of Gong Gede by District and Community.
begitu saja tapi gongnya tetap. Jadi ini dianggap sebagai tanda dari Ida Sang Hyang sudah nasibnya gong itu tujuannya ke Sebatu. 22 Thomas Reuter, Custodians of the Sacred Mountains: Culture and Society in the Highlands of Bali (Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2002), 43. 23 According to one account, there had been several months of inactivity at the temple and no one had remembered to make offerings to the gamelan. As the community prepared the outer courtyard one evening in anticipation of an upcoming temple ceremony, within the wall of the temple could be heard the distinct sound of the gong sounding by itself.
generational forces are at work, the retelling of oral narratives has helped to insure gong gedes survival throughout its history. First Photographs Early photographs from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century indicate that gong gede were found from the northern, eastern and central regions to the southern most parts of the island. Until recently, Colin McPhees black-and-white photographs from the mid 1930s provided the only published illustrations of gong gede orchestras. Today, archival images are available through the online photographic research materials section of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) website. As early as 1865, Dutch photographer Isidore van Kinsbergen (1821 1905) posed and photographed two northern Balinese ritual warrior dancers (baris demang) traditionally accompanied by gong gede from the Buleleng regency.24 This photo-shoot provides the earliest evidence of ritual dancers who would have been accompanied by the orchestra. The earliest photograph of an actual orchestra dates from 1890 when P. de Roo de la Faille photographed gamelan gong gede musicians from the crater-lake village of Batur in the central mountainous region of Bangli. The orchestra appears distant in the background while more than fteen military lance dancers (baris tombak) are lined up in rows ready for action.25 In the 1927 photograph in Figure 2, a complete orchestra is in full view of the camera lens. The orchestra sits in front of a large temple apparently in the region of Denpasar.26 The photograph itself is one of hundreds taken during the partnership between celebrated Indian poet and scholar Rabindranath Tagore (18611941) and early ethnomusicologist Arnold Adriaan Bake (18991963), who together, perhaps haphazardly, took some of the earliest photographs evidencing the existence of gong gede in Southern Bali.27 During this trip with Tagore, he shot several photographs of orchestras that have now completely disappeared from the Denpasar region. Bakes camera fortuitously captured conceivably one of the orchestras last performances before it was perhaps melted down to forge another ensemble or sold to a local blacksmith. Despite the loss of this orchestra and others like it in the Denpasar area, Bake and Tagores efforts to explore and document diverse forms of musical expression in their travels through Southeast Asia contribute to a body of evidence of gong gede orchestras in Southern Bali. Other early photographs come from Dutch colonial government representatives on diplomatic missions who gathered information to further their administrations political and economic agendas. During some of these assignments they photographed cultural
24 Image Code #4396 (Accessed 1 June 2009), http://kitlv.pictura-dp.nl/index.php?optioncom_memorix& Itemid28&taskresult. 25 Although it is likely Baturs own village orchestra and dancers appear in Image #2914 (Accessed 1 June 2009), http://kitlv.pictura-dp.nl/index.php?optioncom_memorix&Itemid28&taskresult, other communities in Baturs ritual domain such as Bayung Gede village share religious duties in their ritual calendar and may be the subjects of this early-nineteenth-century photograph. 26 Image Code #17618 (Accessed 1 June 2009), http://kitlv.pictura-dp.nl/index.php?optioncom_memorix& Itemid28&taskresult, was cropped to focus on the orchestra. The unedited original includes the greater expanse of the temple compound and the hills behind it. 27 Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, The First Restudy of Arnold Bakes Fieldwork in India, in Bruno Nettl and Philip Bohlman (eds.), Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music: Essays on the History of Ethnomusicology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 21027.
forms of religious and artistic expression throughout much of Indonesia. One such mission of diplomacy, led by the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies in 1925, resulted in the only known photograph of an early twentieth-century gong gede from East Bali.28 This is particularly signicant because, today, only one of perhaps tens of gamelan that used to occupy Karangasem remains in this part of the island.29 From 3 to 17 April 1925, Governor General Jonkheer Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graff (18721957) met with various dignitaries in colonial outposts throughout the island of Bali, including the central indigenous polity of the regency of Karangasem. During de Graffs expedition, his photographer snapped a black-and-white photograph of musicians seated behind an exceptional example of a complete palace-sized set of gong gede instruments. In the photograph, musicians and instruments are set beneath a sprawling banyan tree and take full advantage of its shady leaves that shield them from Aprils hot summer sun. Judging from the size and quality of the gongs, metallophones and kettlegong rows and their ornately carved casings, the set probably belonged to a local puri royal house that called upon its supporters to perform welcoming music for de Graff and his retinue. This performance would have been part of a formal greeting, not unlike Gottamas descriptions of gong gedes ofcial role to entertain guests as described in the eighteenthcentury Prakempa manuscript above.
Figure 2. A.A. Bakes photograph of a Gamelan Gong Gede taken in at a Denpasar Temple Courtyard in 1927. Image code #17618, reproduced with permission from the Collection of the KITLV, Leiden.
28 Image Code #78800 from Album #171 with the title Governor-Generals travels through different Islands (Accessed 1 June 2009), http://kitlv.pictura-dp.nl/index.php?optioncom_memorix&Itemid28&task result. 29 The only other gong gede of similar antiquity is from BanjarKayu Putih in the district of Karangasem, while Besakih temple houses a new gong gede made by the senior gongsmith, I Wayan Beratha of Belaluan, Denpasar.
Unfortunately, as with the Denpasar orchestra depicted in Figure 2, these instruments have not survived and no longer serve a royal house entertaining diplomatic expeditions. Because of dramatic societal revolts by Balis commoner majority rebelling against Dutch occupation and state corruption, orchestras such as this one suffered at the hands of a revolution with both political and musical implications for the diversity of musics on the island. By the 1930s, the gong gede orchestra began to rapidly disappear from Balis musical landscape. Blacksmiths were busy lling orders from local music clubs for the new orchestra called gong kebyar. Clubs salvaged bronze keys and gongs from the gong gede and other orchestras and instruments of bronze such as gender wayang and semar pagulingan.30 Kebyar swept the island also because of outstanding debt and corruption in the royal kingdoms. Many local village wards exercised their newfound independence from their feudal lords by conscating their gong gede instruments. The royal bronze metal was melted down to forge kebyar. Kebyars music was rebellious and dynamic, rhythmically aggressive, reecting the socio-political situation on the island, a time when Balinese guerilla soldiers were ghting a war against their Dutch colonial oppressors. Colin McPhee had already noted at this time that gong gede was being overshadowed by the growing popularity of kebyar. Later in the 1960s Ruby Ornstein observed that:
without the steady ow of taxes paid by Balinese peasants, princely treasuries were gradually depleted and the lack of funds weakened the nobilitys support of the arts. The , for example, was taken over [by] the villagers and, although reduced gamelan gong gede in size, continued to play ceremonial music until the 1930s, when it was eclipsed by the kebjar ensemble.31
Clearly this was the fate of many gong gede such as the one belonging to Tabanan prince Anak Agung Ngurah in 1915, which was donated to the local community of Pangkung and subsequently melted down to forge a kebyar ensemble.32 During gong gedes fall from popularity, Balinese musicians increasingly identied with kebyar as music of the rebellion, and as a result many lost interest in gong gedes sacred and meditative musical aesthetic. Until today the gong gede reportoire is the most widespread ritual music on the island. However, that music is performed on kebyar instruments in a style quite different from gong gede. The twentieth century passed, kebyar music dominated, and no one was really sure how many gong gede orchestras were left on the island. Locating Gong Gede Based on a preliminary survey conducted in 1999, I conducted a detailed survey of gong gede groups to reveal only ve of Balis eight districts have any gong gede remaining within their borders (see Figure 1).33 In the East, Karangasem District has just two gong gede, one
30 Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar, 9. 31 Ruby Ornstein, Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Development of a Balinese Musical Tradition (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles 1971), 18. 32 Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar, 91. 33 Pande Gede Mustika, Laporan Penelitian: Identikasi Barungan Gamelan Gong Gede di Bali (Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Tinggi, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia, 1999). This survey of gong gede orchestras served as a guide for my independent survey of groups on the island for my doctoral dissertation. Mustika has recently completed his masters thesis on the gong gede orchestra of
of which is a replica made by gongsmith Wayan Beratha housed at the state temple of Besakih. The other from Banjar Kayu Putih probably dates from the mid-nineteenth century and is playable but lies in a state of disrepair. During my last visit in 2004 to this remote village, several metallophones were missing, drumheads were cracked, and kettlegongs were out of tune. Local village ofcials were considering either a major overhaul to refurbish these instruments or selling them. Either way, pressure was mounting to take action because Kayu Putihs gong kuna or old-timers orchestra, as younger musicians referred to it, was rapidly becoming unpopular among those interested in learning new repertoire. Learning this new repertoire would require new instruments, but this in itself was not going to be easily achieved because of the rising costs of bronze and hardwood gamelan materials. The efforts of these elders show their resolve to maintain and preserve this gong gede, the only one of its kind in East Bali. But their efforts also bring to the surface more realistic nancial and generational issues contested from one generation of musicians to another. My eld research identied a total of six gong gede in Gianyar district and just four in the city of Denpasar, three of which were made within the past twenty years as replicas for students (see Figure 1). As mentioned above, the most exceptional gong gede in Denpasar, and indeed one of the oldest and most historically signicant on the island, belongs to the royal house of Puri Pemecutan. Mostly inactive save for ceremonies at the royal house such as weddings and household shrine anniversaries, Pemecutans gong gede has weathered the twentieth-centurys Dutch colonial occupation, Indonesian independence and the global tourist industry that has brought a regular stream of curious backpackers staying at the palace since the 1970s. According to my research in the northern district of Buleleng, all gong gede were dismantled or melted down in the past century as kebyars popularity overwhelmed local groups. Today there is just one new ensemble shared amongst several communities belonging to Singarajas principal regional temple complex, Pura Penataran Jagat Nata. No gong gede are found in the western districts of Tabanan and Negara nor are there any remaining in the once powerful district of Klungkung. However, gong gede has enjoyed a very different fate in the highland communities of Bangli District. There are at least thirty-six gamelan gong gede in the district of Bangli (see Figure 3).34 More orchestras are found within a six-kilometer radius of its city center than in all of Balis other districts combined. Here are found the legendary orchestras that have gained a reputation throughout the island as musical icons of Hinduism through their centrality in state ritual, such as the gong gede of Batur temple and the historical orchestra from Banjar Sulahan rst revealed in the early black-and-white illustrations published in Colin McPhees monograph. Why do Bangli communities still hold on to their antique instruments even though much of the rest of the island has changed over to more innovative and contemporary ensembles? Was Bangli not able to catch the kebyar wave that swept the rest of the island beginning in the early decades of the twentieth century?
Pura Batur. There are still more mountainous communities in highland villages to include in this survey, and further research will probably reveal northern Badung and Tabanan also having gong gede. 34 This map represents my ndings from a 2002 survey. In 2007 Banjar Alisbintang was identied during my eldwork as a gong gede community. It is located in the village of Sulahan in the Bangli district.
RuralUrban Dichotomy It may be that Banglis high unemployment rate, its dwindling male populace, and its farming-and-agriculture-dependent economy directly affect the nancial capabilities of music associations. Few groups acquire new ensembles, with the result that old-fashioned gong gede instruments still take up space at local music halls and temple compounds. In 2005 Bangli District had the highest unemployment rate on the island at 29.91%, more than twice the islands overall average. The district itself is considerable in size and occupies 520 km2, making it more than four times that of the metropolitan city of Denpasar. Yet there are only around 50,000 heads of household, less than one-half the number in Denpasar. Banglis male population is declining rapidly. Banglis disproportionate femaleto-male ratio may weaken its ability to diversify its workforce. More than 53% of the population work in agriculture related industries. Many of Banglis young talented males in search of employment leave to join other migrant workers in Gianyar and Denpasar where almost 40% of their residents work in tourism, restaurants and trade.35 However, the dichotomy between rural and urban economies is problematic considering the amount of artistic exchange between city centers and highland villages through visiting artists, media and television. Several indications show Bangli residents are not isolated from centers of cultural inuence at all. There is, in fact, signicant artistic interaction and exchange between Banglis musicians and contemporary composers, conservatory trained
Figure 3. Locations of 36 Gamelan Gong Gede in the Highland District of Bangli in Balis Central Mountainous Region by Village (Desa) and Community (Banjar or Br.).
35 Bali Dalam Angka (Denpasar: Badan Pusat Statistik Propinsi Bali, 2006).
choreographers, and especially touring theater troupes such as arja, drama gong and the new popular shadow puppet theater called wayang cenk blonk.36 Media inuence on urban and rural exchange is immense, especially since post-Suharto reforms in television and radio and increased commercialization and privatization of recording, broadcast and promotion.37 Certainly local economic factors have hindered musical change, but this in itself does not account for Banglis prevalence of gong gede orchestras. So if Bangli musicians are exposed to and interact with modern and innovative musicians and dancers, why are their ritual musics still performed on antique orchestras in a style that has seen relatively little change or innovation over the past two centuries? How have Banglis orchestras not only survived but also thrived in the highlands while much of the rest of the island has converted to kebyar? Banua Ritual Domains Unlike other externally administered programs for the arts or government initiatives such an Intangible Cultural Heritage scheme, these gamelan have not directly beneted from what Nettl refers to as isolated preservationism.38 Perhaps the most signicant reason for the prevalence of highland gong gede in Bangli is because orchestras and their communities are intricately interconnected through pre-Hindu ritual domains called banua. Banua, tight-knit ritual domains that operate through a hierarchy of status, are generally established through origin narratives in which one village ranks higher than another according to its proximity to ancestral villages of origin.39 The closer a village can claim its origins in relation to a founding member of a banua, the higher its status within the ritual economy. Thomas Reuters research into banua status economies ranks Bayung Gede and Batur as being among the most inuential mountain communities on the regional map (see gure 3).40 Both villages function as ritual centers, have revered gong gede orchestras, and have numerous supporting villages in their respective banua. It is within this ritual framework that gong gede operates as an enduring implement of religious ritual. Important to the discussion here is that each gong gede in the highlands is used according to inter-village and/or inter-regional alliances. These alliances dictate when and where gong gede music is performed, at what frequency and for which occasions. Because highland gong gede orchestras are a part of banua ritual domains, and each member is dependent upon members both above and below throughout the ritual hierarchy, it makes it extremely difcult for a single group to act on its own and abandon their orchestra in favor of another. As an illustration, if Banjar Buungan had a more subordinate ritual relationship to its more senior banua partner, Banjar Lumbuan (see Figure 3), this
36 This cutting-edge style of wayang is controversial among conservatives and just what was needed for the dwindling art form, according to its biggest fans who not only ock to performances from all parts of the island but log on internationally to view Cenk blonks latest uploaded excerpts on YouTube (Accessed 15 July 15 2009), http://www.youtube.com/watch?vD2LKAl3tfXg&featurerelated. 37 A good example of recent media innovations is Bali TVs Kidung Interaktiv program televised live. In the program, viewers from throughout the island telephone the station to sing and recite poems with guest artists appearing on the program. This has inspired regional styles to be put on display, largely for comparative reasons, as viewers identify themselves according to which region of the island they come from. 38 Bruno Nettl, The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), 351. 39 Reuter, Custodians of the Sacred Mountains. 40 Ibid.
relationship would be temporarily strained if Banjar Buungan proposed to sell their orchestra and purchase a gong kebyar. In this instance, the Lumbuan community would either accept the new musical style as suitable for their musical offerings or sever ties with Buungan and seek out another ritual partner to assist with providing ritual music for its ceremonies. In this way, the consequences of abandoning gong gede, its style, and intervillage networkings are much too severe for Buungan to jeopardize being exiled from its banua membership. The various networks that make up the participants in a ritual economy form an interdependent system for assisting one another in the preparation of ritual offerings. Through these and other means, gong gede have survived inuences from lowland urban modernization, uctuating trends in musical tastes and turbulent internal politics of gong gede membership. Gamelan Gong Gede and Religiosity
There are basic religious approaches to music and ritual in the highlands that are different from much of the rest of the island. One of these approaches discussed below is a particular method of gamelan storage. Understanding these approaches and their signicance contributes to the diversity of Balinese musics. In the context of offering ceremonies (yadnya), gong gede orchestras resist conventional musicological labeling and must rst be understood not as a collection of instruments organized into categories of drums, gongs and percussion instruments, but rather as an essential implement, an indispensable religious tool to provide sonic offerings (upakara munyi-munyian) for communal temple festivals and religious prayer worship. As Bandem writes:
The consideration of gamelan as music or musical instruments cannot be separated from the concept of human beings in harmony with God, the concept of human beings in harmony with Nature, and the concept of human beings in harmony with one another. These three concepts together are called Tri Hita Karana. For the Balinese, wherever they are and whatever they do, this concept of living life in harmony will be the basis of their behavior.41
Gamelan gong gede are perceived not so much as a collection of orchestral instruments, but as religious implements not unlike a holy water vessel or priests bell reserved for HinduBalinese religious services. In preparation for mantra recitation, a priest removes a genta bell from its gilded box, unwraps it from a spiritually protective white cloth, and ritually cleanses it with holy water, sacred incantations, and fragrant incense smoke before use. Like the gong gede orchestra, genta are reserved for a particular purpose. Gong gede in the context of worship are used only in specic sacred spaces (desa), during auspicious times (kala) and amenable conditions (patra) governed by codied religious dictates. It is important to understand that in this way most highland gamelan gong gede I encountered during my eldwork are governed by religious doctrines venerated by devout communities who preside over when and where they will be brought out to serve (ngayah) ceremony within the protective walls of a village temple. For several communities, part of this veneration includes a peculiar method of gamelan storage called madalan. Most Balinese village, origin and funeral temples (pura desa, puseh,
41 Authors translation from Bandem, Prakempa, 11.
and dalem respectively) lie dormant for much of the calendar year, only coming to life through elaborate offering ceremonies (yadnya) or anniversaries (odalan) celebrated when calendar cycles align with an auspicious full or new moon. Like temples, gong gede too lie dormant for most of the Balinese year and require storage. Orchestras in several highland villages including Bayung Gede as well as Alisbintang and Yangapi in Banglis northeastern region are often housed in a combined village/origin temple called pura bale agung. One by one, bronze keys and kettlegongs are removed from their cases, individually wrapped in white cloth, and carefully placed among other ritual objects. In most communal temples in the mountainous regions of highland Bali, space and at land are limited. In some instances it is physically not possible to house the entire orchestra within the protective walls of a temples inner sanctum.42 The bronze keys and gongs are often positioned in the immediate vicinity of the batara gede spiritual protector. Here the gamelan is safe under the watchful guard of batara gede manifest in the form of a mythical creature such as an elephant (barong gadjah) or mythical lion (barong ket) or some other protective spirit.43 Housing gamelan in a temple is not uncommon in the lowlands of southern Bali. However, here in Balis highlands, it is how the instruments are stored that is peculiar to gong gede and represents a local preservation method of musical diversity in gamelan praxis.44 Structure versus Function Both structuralist and functionalist arguments are expressed among several gong gede groups with regards to preserving their heirloom orchestras. Structuralist arguments support keeping the orchestra and resisting pressure to sell it to buy more modern gamelan. Functionalist views see the various socio-religious contexts in which their gong gede function as the principal determinant of their use or abandonment. In either case, both views play out in a negotiation of tradition, not as a xed doctrine handed down from forebears but contested and reinvented according to the specic needs and demands of particular contexts. Tradition is negotiated through musical self-awareness, which plays a signicant role in gong gede preservation. Protecting and preserving have been on the agendas of many groups who consciously choose to resist change and innovation rather than being passive recipients of protection programs or conservatory research programs.45 Former village head, Dewa Made Daging (born 1927) of Banjar Sulahan, northeast of the Bangli city center (see Figure 3), comments their group has actively engaged in protecting their gong gede against change by embracing it. Daging and the Sulahan community have embraced new musical styles by investing in more popular forms of gamelan. In Sulahans case, pressure to
42 One notable exception is the gong gede orchestra that serves Pura Ulundanu in the village of Batur. 43 On 21 April 1926, Mount Batur erupted and demolished the former community of Kalang Anyar (presentday community of Mount Batur) when lava spewed from its caldron, destroying residential houses, covering village roads, and taking the lives of more than 1500 residents. With assistance from Bayung Gede and other surrounding villages, community members rescued what was most dear to them under the circumstances: their gamelan and batara gede protective spirit in the form of a barong. 44 Other instruments considered sacred and worthy of temple storage are selonding in Karangasem and other ensembles including the keys of old court orchestras such as pelegongan and semar pagulingan. For further information see Pande Wayan Tusan, Selonding: Tinjauan Gamelan Bali Kuna Abad XXIV (Citra Lekha Sanggraha, Karangasem, 2002). 45 Researchers from ISI Denpasar have suggested implementing Intangible Cultural Heritage programs to help protect and sustain many of Balis performing arts, but opinions are divided on the degree to which exterior inuence will supplant existing local support networks such as banua.
conform to lowland ritual music styles motivated village council to invest in an additional gamelan for younger musicians who were demanding to play contemporary gamelan styles. In the 1980s, the council purchased a gamelan gong kebyar and the more modern style quickly became popular amongst Sulahan residents. However, Daging emphasizes that the two different styles, kebyar and gong gede, served different sacred and secular functions and therefore different performance contexts. The kebyar style was deemed more appropriate for secular performance functions such as tari lepas or dance entertainment and a select number of sacred performances in profane realms such as the temple of the dead or in designated spaces such as the less sacred outer courtyard of a temple. The temple of the dead can be spiritually contaminating to an orchestra and, prior to the kebyar orchestra, Sulahans gong gede orchestra went through several cleansing rituals after being played there, always running the risk of bringing negative forces with it to the village temple. Since the purchase of the kebyar orchestra, it has carried the burden of performing in profane places. By contrast, when musical offerings or upakara munyi-munyian are directed towards the gods, gong gede is used and represents a more spiritually pure form of ensemble reserved exclusively for Sulahans inner courtyard sacred temple performances. Sulahan articulates its means of musical preservation through the use of two different orchestras, negotiating tradition by catering to changing musical tastes and observing context-driven choices between the two styles. The Orchestra Gong gede instruments are larger in size and number than any other ensemble on the island. For example, Figure 4 shows the largest metallophone called jegogan that stands 130 centimeters. Its longest bronze key measures forty-ve centimeters. Its ornately carved jackfruit wood cases feature iconographic images of anthropomorphic symbols of power and protection such as the ruthless but benevolent Boma, with its fanged facial expression and bulging eyes.46 One pair of jegogan anks either side of an orchestra, providing punctuating bass tones for the gamelan. However, Alisbintang has two pairs; and when the second pair was made, not every aspect of instrument design and proportion was maintained. Instead artisans maintained an instrument case design and sizing that is specic to this region of Bali.47 Figure 4 illustrates a pair of jegogan in the foreground and other hanging keyed metallophones. Together there are six metallophone instrument cases decreasing in size and giving the illusion through physical appearance of six distinct octaves. In fact there are just three. In the gure, the rst instrument case is larger than the second, but the pair is
46 For more on iconographic representations in Balinese gamelan instrument case carvings, see S.C. DeVale and Wayan Dibia, Sekar Anyar: An Exploration of Meaning in Balinese Gamelan, in Max Peter Bauman (ed.), The World of Music, International Institute for Traditional Music, vol 33, no. 1 (Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofens Verlag, 1991), 551. 47 Many highland gong gede are renowned for their sheer size and number of instruments in the orchestra. McPhee was the rst to make an extensive photographic documentation of a large gong gede that appears in the appendix section of his book (Music in Bali, no# 821). Schaareman and Mack in Ritual Music from Bali note the opposite arrangement in Denpasar for the historic gong gede at Puri Pemecutan. This arrangement is found generally in southern gamelan set ups, with the lowest octave metallophone (jegogan) placed in the rear of the orchestra followed by increasingly smaller and higher single octave instrument pairs including jublag, penyacah and occasionally curing.
tuned to the same octave, the bamboo resonators are also the same length. This is also true of the second and the third pair as the row retreats towards the background of the photograph. The result is an aesthetically pleasing descending line from the front to rear of the orchestra. This architectural design is specic to highland gong gede in the Bangli region, is a hallmark of orchestras of this type, and is found in few other places on the island. Gong gede are also renowned for a row of tuned kettlegongs called terompong described earlier in the seventeenth-century Babad Buleleng passage as a melliuence of a owing stream. A soloist who is the melodic leader for the rest of the gamelan performs this instrument. The terompong player holds a padded mallet in each hand and guides metallophones and supporting percussion through long, complex instrumental compositions. McPhee was most impressed with the idiomatic realization of terompong melodies and transcribed numerous traditional compositions in minute detail, documenting techniques of elaboration, syncopation and agogic and melodic functions as well as regional playing styles.48 The terompong is so vital to temple music performance that it was carried over from gong gede into gong kebyar, and most groups throughout the island maintain this instrument for temple ceremony music performance. Balinese musicians distinguish between two types of single-octave metallophones: gangsa gantung or suspended keys strung over individual bamboo resonators (Figure 4); and gangsa jongkok or resting keys placed on padded pegs with either a single trough resonator or shallow individual resonating holes in the body of the instrument case (see Figure 5). Local musicians use nature-inspired terminology to distinguish between these two bronze-keyed instrument types. The long thin suspended keys of the gangsa gantung
Figure 4. Unique front to back row instrument arrangement featuring the descending line of six gangsa gantung metallophones.
48 McPhee, Music in Bali.
have distinct ridges along the playing surface resembling the pandanus leaf (madon pandan). The shape of the smooth thick bronze resting keys are likened to the back of a turtle (nundun penyu), a tube of bamboo split in half (mabelah tiying) or even a beetle-like insect found in rice elds (klipes).49 Together these two types of metallophones create a distinctive playing style, one that is not possible to affectively reproduce without these instruments. A diversity of traditions or genres includes musical instruments as structures. These structures, when maintained, preserved and protected as they are in the highlands, by default enrich Balis musical diversity, not only through the physical presence of the instruments, but more importantly, by the orchestral style highland musicians perform. Kekenyongan Orchestral Style
With the description of gong gedes distinctive organological construction above, it is not surprising that the orchestral style performed by highland musicians also differs considerably from the rest of the island. The signicance of gong gedes distinct orchestral style and sound quality lies in its ability to survive dramatic stylistic changes that have swept
Figure 5. Terompong kettlegong row and gangsa jongkok metallophones from Alisbintang, Bali.
49 I Nengah Muliana, Gambelan Gong gede di Pura Ulundanu Desa Batur (Denpasar: Sekeripsi Karawitan Akademi Seni Tari Indonesia, 1982), 312.
the rest of the island. Virtually unaffected by these changes, its individual sound quality remains important to its practitioners. Placing great signicance on the phenomenon of sound is true not only for highland musicians, but also for musicians from the neighboring island of Java where:
. . . almost more than visual experience, Javanese tend to use sound to connect themselves to the world around them . . . [however] the soundscape of Javanese culture in general, and wayang kulit [shadow puppet theater] in particular, has been virtually ignored in the large scholarly literature produced since the end of the nineteenth century.50
In Bali, local highland musicians are also intensely aware of their orchestras sound quality and stylistic differences between their type of gamelan and other orchestras on the island. Gong gedes idiosyncratic sound quality of struck bronze produces a texture and tone distinct to this type of orchestra, a sonority that has resonated for centuries in the highlands. In this sonority, aesthetic preference is for a clarity of melody and simple melodic embellishment, a performance style that stands in contrast to the dynamic and lively lowland Balinese temple music. The dominant ritual orchestral style performed throughout the highlands is called kekenyongan, an onomatopoetic term used to describe the orchestral texture of unison playing between two families of metallophones performing pokok or basic melodies in regular rhythm. When these two metallophone types combine in this style, the simultaneity or convergence of their two contrasting timbres is quintessentially gong gede. According to its practitioners it evokes both the pageantry of Hindu festivals and the introspection and serenity of religious worship. In addition, the kekenyongan style maintains an uninterrupted ow of melody as a part of its aesthetic, lling ritual spaces in highland temples and providing a very important sonic offering or upakara munyimunyian. Integral to kekenyongan is the amalgamation of two contrasting timbral qualities of struck bronze: the penetrating sound of the gangsa jongkok or resting-key metallophone; and the full and resonant gangsa gantung hanging-key metallophone. Hard wooden mallets typically carved in the shape of a buffalo horn produce the sharp and penetrating sound quality of the gangsa jongkok. When struck, the keys emit both a fundamental tone and a rich array of upper partial tones that lend a bright metallic quality to gong gedes orchestral sonority. However, the keys receive limited reinforcement from the shallow cavity of the instruments single-trough resonator resulting in a relatively short decay time. The same is not true for the gangsa gantung. Soft padded mallets are used to play the gangsa gantung that help produce full and resonant tones with minimal percussive attack or upper partials. Also in contrast to the gangsa jongkok, the tones sustain for long durations because each hanging key has an individually tuned bamboo resonator positioned underneath it. These resonators, some of which measure more than a meter in length and ten centimeters in diameter, generate sufcient volume to sustain pitch and increase carrying power. When these two metallophone types combine to play the pokok melody, the blend is recognizable as kekenyongan, a quality of sound specic to the organological construction of
50 Weiss, Listening to an Earlier Java, 3.
gong gede instruments.51 Many other Balinese orchestras employ metallophones requiring hard and soft mallets such as the popular kebyar orchestra:
The inherent acoustic properties of the gamelan thus consist of the sound of oscillating bronze and the spectral envelope of that sound as shaped by the particular form of the vibrating medium, the hardness of the mallet used, and the shape of the resonating chamber. Because of the nature of these components, the various timbral strata blend yet are acoustically distinct. The seemingly contradictory rapport enabling groups of instruments to behave in this way is not uniquely Balinese, as consideration of other orchestral traditions would reveal. But it is specially enhanced by Balinese tuning procedures, which both grant common identities to sounds across registers by shaping them into the steps of a scale, and reinforce tones individuality by avoiding the kinds of frequency ratios that produce simple unisons and octaves.52
However, the number of hard mallet instruments is always greater than soft mallets, resulting in a notable difference in orchestral sonority between kebyar and gong gede. Standard instrumentation for types of gamelan including gong kebyar, pelegongan, semar pagulingan and even angklung typically includes four, or at the most, six gangsa gantung. Although other gamelan occasionally imitate kekenyongan in both sacred and secular performance, the style is rarely maintained throughout an entire piece and serves only as a temporary break away from more complex interlocking melodies and syncopated rhythms.53 Another aspect of highland gong gede groups kekenyongan style is that there are only a few instrumentalists responsible for melodic elaboration allowing pokok melody to be clearly audible in the overall orchestral sonority. In gong gede, only two or four musicians playing the long row of kettlegongs called reyong perform interlocking melodic elaboration. Reyong is most commonly found today with a long row of twelve horizontally suspended kettlegongs, although many orchestras still have, and employ, a smaller four-kettlegong instrument called ponggang. The modern reyong is played by four musicians who perform interlocking rhythmic gures that add a constant stream of semi-quavers to the metallophones principal melody. In larger gamelan gong gede, such as the one found in the community of Alisbintang a few kilometers north of the city of Bangli in Balis highlands, there can be as many as twenty-four single octave metallophones playing the principle melody or pokok. In more moderate-sized orchestras, the number is usually onehalf this amount. Figure 6 illustrates the kekenyongan orchestral style of gamelan gong gede but only represents a small fragment from the slow section of a traditional instrumental piece called Tabuh Pat Semarandana performed by the Alisbintang community of Balis highlands. The rst three staves are the three octaves of the gangsa jongkok family of instruments.54 The highest octave is the gangsa jongkok alit, followed by gede an octave lower and, nally,
51 This combination of struck bronze textures resembles Central Javanese gamelan. Here the slenthum and saron family combine to produce this distinct amalgamation of struck bronze textures, particularly evident while playing the balungan principal melody. 52 Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar, 27. 53 Ibid., 21011. 54 Pitch designation for the ve-tone tuning of gamelan gong gede called selisir or saih gong is only approximate and does not represent true intervals. This follows McPhee, Music in Bali; and Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar.
Figure 6. Kekenyongan Orchestral Style of Gong Gede Music. Note: Featuring slowly unfolding melodies in regular rhythm. Key signature only represents approximate intervallic structure.
the lowest octave of this family, the gangsa jongkok penunggal. In this example, both the middle and lower octave gangsa jongkok play slowly unfolding minims between thirty-eight and forty-six beats per minute in regular succession. This type of playing is typical for kekenyongan and would last the entire duration of the slow section of this piece before transitioning to a faster tempo. This part is complemented an octave higher with crotchets from the gangsa jongkok alit that, in this instance, repeats the pitches of the main melody.
Each of the three octaves represented in the notation are played by two pairs for a total of twelve instruments. The same is true for the gangsa gantung family. In Figure 6, each octave is labeled with its specic instrument name. The highest octave is called penyacah and has the same tessitura as the middle octave gangsa jongkok. The lowest octave of the gangsa gantung family is called jegogan and extends to C# below middle C. It punctuates the melody and has a frequency of one to every four pitches of the jublag, the middle octave metallophone. Highland gong gede group members speak of the inappropriateness of musical virtuosity in ritual music, further reinforcing their continued use of the technically less demanding style of kekenyongan. There is a general consensus among musicians and temple goers alike that kebyars individual virtuosity and innovation are musically impressive but produce the undesirable side effect of bising di alun-alun or cacophony in ritual spaces. In the realm of highland ritual and the places gong gede music occupies, the simple, uncomplicated kekenyongan musical aesthetic of traditional gong gede compositions provides a sense of sonic space and clarity unlike the density of kebyars complex orchestral arrangements. Inuenced largely by dance music genres, kebyars abrupt cadences and dramatic changes in dynamics and tempo are described by one senior highland musician as a distracting style that draws attention to itself. In contrast, kekenyongan is regard as polos or simple, but not to the point where it is perceived as monotonous or lacking rhythmic and melodic sophistication. Kekenyongan trumps kebyar style largely because its aesthetic goes against the desired affect and purpose of gong gede music. According to highland musicians, kekenyongans regular rhythm unison playing and long sustained tones are intended to direct a listeners attention inward toward the mind and spirit acting as a sonic medium to transport the consciousness in preparation for prayer. The style allows the listener to escape the cacophony of everyday life and look inwards, calm the mind, and pangelong jiwa or prepare for prayer.55 However, it can be argued that lowland temple music achieves the same or similar outcomes, and all the ritual associations of prayer, calmness and serenity are achieved through kebyars ramai or busy musical aesthetic. This aesthetic, although assumed to be virtually island-wide in its practice since before the Second World War,56 has failed to spread to the highlands and inuence their playing style. Most highland groups have resisted selling or reforging their orchestras to create the kebyar ensemble and imitate the lowland style temple music. For highland musicians, kekenyongan is more appropriate in creating true sentiments of religiosity. In this way, there is perhaps a marriage between physical space of the temple compound and the sonic space, or sparseness, inherent in this playing style. Therefore this perceived religiosity concerning space and sound is dependent upon gong gede music providing the serenity of the kekenyongan aesthetic, without being overtly virtuosic. It is important to point out that because the kekenyongan style is polos or simple, many lowland musicians trained in the more complex kebyar style associate it with amateurism. Indeed the label amateur or non-specialist accurately describes many of the gong gede musicians who perform only for a few days each year during annual or bi-annual temple ceremonies. For example, the community of Banjar Umbalan in Northern Bangli prioritize
55 Preparing the mind and spirit for prayer is evoked in the gamelan gong gede composition title Tabuh Pat Pangelong Jiwa, meaning Preparing the Spirit, and has been interpreted as a musical composition to help temple-goers get ready for sembahyang masal or group prayer. 56 Tenzer, Gamelan Gong Kebyar, 92.
agricultural production over gamelan rehearsal and dedicate only a few evening rehearsals to gamelan music prior to an odalan temple ceremony. These types of gong gede groups are less concerned with labels of amateur or professional and more concerned with the functionality of gamelan music in its ritual context as a necessary upakara or offering prepared and dedicated during a particular time of the ritual calendar year. Not surprisingly, many of the younger amateur Umbalan musicians admire their professional lowland conservatory trained peers. Many of the musicians at Umbalan I interviewed made the journey to Denpasar during the months of June and July to witness live performances of the latest orchestral innovations at the annual Bali Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali). Conclusion Historical sources show that, for at least 200 years, gong gede were well situated as ritual orchestras located throughout much of the island. When kebyar rapidly overtook gong gede at the beginning of the twentieth century, gong gede numbers fell dramatically except in the highlands where a deeply ingrained social system of ritual domains called banua govern the musical associations who own and maintain these antique orchestras. Here orchestras are preserved largely because membership into these banua ritual domains is contingent upon reciprocal services between its members. Unlike lowland gamelan groups who own and operate their gamelan independently, highland groups stay loyal to their banua ritual networks. As a result few groups have abandoned their gong gede, resulting in the survival of this unique orchestra type. According to local conceptions and beliefs, instruments radiate with tenget or sacredness; and instead of being thought of as drums, gongs and cymbals, they are considered religious implements. Even though Balinese consider gamelan are sacred when used in a ritual context, this degree of sacredness is even more extreme in the highlands when one views the relatively common storage practice called madalan where gongs and bronze keys are often removed from their cases, wrapped in white cloth and stored within the protective walls of a temple compound. This locally enacted preservation method of storing sacred instruments insulates them from change and elevates their status to a kind of musical holy relic. Nonetheless, most gong gede communities have had to contend with differing views about the relevance of these antique orchestras to the function of ritual. Many younger musicians have voiced their desire to acquire modern gamelan such as kebyar. In many cases, village elders have responded. Sulahan, Sebatu and other gong gede communities own a kebyar or other ensemble, further protecting their antique orchestras and simultaneously embracing the needs of youth by making contemporary gamelan repertoire performance available to them. Gong gedes quintessential kekenyongan musical style has not been replaced in the highlands. This style is exceptional and only achievable on gong gede type instruments. Kekenyongans uncomplicated melodies with minimal elaboration, slow tempi and regular rhythms reect the musics religious context. One Sulahan musician describes the long, sustained tones of kekenyongan as hanging in the air like fragrant incense smoke. For highland musicians and participants in ritual, these musical structures have become synonymous with their local constructions of musical meaning. During performance, this simple style intentionally creates a meditative atmosphere that translates into introspective socio-religious attitudes and beliefs. Here gong gedes musical aesthetic is at its most diverse when considered as an expression, a sonic symbol, of the highland Balinese themselves. On
this level the relatively few gong gede that remain in the highlands embody the values of their practitioners, who continue to be stalwart guardians of their ancestral orchestras and, at the same time, the islands diversity of musics. Author Biography
Made Mantle Hood graduated from the University of Cologne in 2005 with a PhD on Balinese temple music. While studying in Cologne he was the recipient of a one-year Fulbright Scholarship and a two-year Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst scholarship, and served as research assistant at the Berlin Phonogram Archive, documenting and analyzing early eld recordings from Indonesia. He is currently Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the School of MusicConservatorium at Monash University. He has presented research papers on musical diversity and the negotiation of tradition at many international conferences, including those of the Society of Ethnomusicology, the EastWest Center and the Musicological Society of Australia. Email: made.hood@arts.monash.edu.au

Diversity

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Diversity

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

This article was downloaded by: [Hood, Made Mantle] On: 21 June 2010 Access details: Access Details:

Gamelan Gong Gede: Negotiating Musical Diversity in Bali's Highlands

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Musicology Australia Vol. 32, No. 1, July 2010, 6993

Gamelan Gong Gede: Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

70 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 71

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

72 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 73

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

74 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 75

76 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 77

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

78 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 79

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

80 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 81

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

82 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 83

84 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 85

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

86 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

48 McPhee, Music in Bali.

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 87

88 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

50 Weiss, Listening to an Earlier Java, 3.

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 89

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

90 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 91

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

92 Musicology Australia vol. 32, no. 1, 2010

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

M. M. Hood, Negotiating Musical Diversity in Balis Highlands 93

Downloaded By: [Hood, Made Mantle] At: 01:27 21 June 2010

Potrebbero piacerti anche