Balinese Dance, Drama & Music. I Wayan Dibia

as a genre of both music and dance continued to develop throughout the twentieth century. In 1968, the first Gong Kebyar competition, called Mredangga Utsava, took place in Denpasar. The public began to favor new Kebyar compositions over the older, classical styles. The festival was repeated in 1969 and 1978, then annually from 1982 when it became a part of the Bali Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali) held at the Werdhi Budaya Art Centre. Each regency selects a group to represent that area and provides financial assistance. New compositions and dances are created and intense rehearsals occur for six months prior to the festival. Fierce competition takes place between the rival eight regencies and the municipality of Denpasar. The top four contenders present a program pitted against one of the other groups at the amphitheater in Denpasar. Great attention is paid to detail, from the costuming to the entrance of the musicians, to how they move their bodies as an ensemble. These are some of the most anticipated evenings of the Arts Festival. Loyal fans sit in sections behind their group and often hoot and holler, and even throw empty plastic water bottles at the rival ensemble to disturb their concentration. This is not the best forum to hear the music, but the excitement matches the energy of the music. To be one of the winners is a great honor and cassette tapes are made every year of the most acclaimed groups.

      In 1985, a Festival Gong Wanita or Women's Gamelan Festival was started. This was replaced in 2001 with the first ever adult mixed group. Children's Kebyar groups have competed in the Festival since 1992 and are the pride and joy of each region.

      A New SoundScape

      One of the unique elements of Kebyar is the sound byar, when a number of notes are struck at the same time, creating a soundscape spanning octaves. The whole gamut of emotions is heard and felt. It is not music for meditation, but it certainly heightens the senses (and wakes one up!).

      The gender (metallophones) of the shadow puppet play are more prominent in the Gong Kebyar because the keys of the gender are thinner than those of the gangsa, producing a more high-pitched sound. The abrupt starts and stops and complex rhythmic configurations allow a much wider range of expression. The older five-keyed gangsa jongkok now has nine or ten keys, affording a larger musical range. Large ceng-ceng (cymbals) are replaced by smaller ones (ricik), and drum patterns are greatly altered by replacing slower stick drumming with much quicker and more exciting hand playing.

      Carving gamelan stands in a pavilion. The holes are for the bamboo resonators. The artists carve directly onto the finished jackfruit wood stands.

      Ida Bagus Sugatha of Griya Gunung Sari, Peliatan, playing the melodious two-stringed rebab or lute, the only stringed instrument in the gamelan.

      The tuning for Gong Kebyar is saih lima (five notes) in the pelog scale. Gong Kebyar can be grouped into three categories of size: utama is a full orchestra, madya is semi-complete; and nista has only half the instruments. A village can purchase a nista set and add to it as their coffers allow.

      Kebyar music can be divided into styles from North and South Bali. North Balinese ensembles tend to play faster, with more complex ornamentation and sharper differentiation in rhythm. This style is less popular and now the style of South Bali is dominant.

      In the past thirty years there has been great innovation in the musical world of Bali. With the advent of television, tourism and globalization, many new ideas and musical styles have come to the Balinese. The performing arts schools (SMKI and ISI) encourage their students to create new pieces (kreasi baru). Collaborations between Balinese and other Indonesians as well as foreigners are on the rise, and nearly every month some kind of fusion music or dance is performed on the island.

      The Full Ensemble

      The following instruments comprise Gamelan Gong Kebyar, the most common gamelan ensemble in Bali.

      two gong agung: large hanging gongs (80 cm in diameter)

      one kempur: small hanging gong (55 cm in diameter)

      one kempli: small hanging gong (35 cm in diameter)

      one kajar: small horizontal gong (35 cm in diameter)

      two jegogan: five keys, padded mallet

      two jublag or calung: five keys, one octave higher than jegogan, padded mallet

      two penyacah: seven keys, one octave higher than jublag, padded mallet

      one or two ugal: ten keys, regular mallet, fifth note same as penyacah's highest note

      four pemade: ten keys, one octave higher than ugal, regular mallet

      four kantil: ten keys, one octave higher than pemade, regular mallet

      one reyong: twelve kettle gongs played by four musicians, each using two wooden sticks wrapped with cord on the ends

      one trompong: ten kettle gongs, played by a soloist

      two kendang: double-headed drums made out of nangka (jackfruit) wood hollowed out in an hourglass shape; heads are cow skin

      one ceng-ceng: cymbals fastened onto a wooden base facing upwards and played with a hand-held pair facing down

      ceng-ceng kopyak: pairs of hand-held crash cymbals

      Tuning in the Gong Foundry

      The actual tuning of the instruments-is done at gamelan foundries located in a few villages, for example, Banjar Babakan in Blahbatuh (Gianyar); many in Tihingin (Klungkung); Denpasar (Banjar Abiankapas), and in Sawan (Buleleng). Here the smaller knobbed gongs and keys are forged. Large gongs are all made in Java. The metal, which is a bronze alloy (kerawang) of approximately ten parts tin to three parts copper, is melted in a crucible at extremely high heat and then poured into molds. Once the metal has solidified a bit, it is plunged into water and then reheated and shaped in a small fire of coconut shell chips which burn quickly at a very high temperature. After the key has obtained its desired shape, it is sent to the tuners and filers.

      The tuner taps a key on the concrete floor to hear its pitch and then trims. The pitch is lowered by shaving off metal from the bottom. This makes the key longer in proportion to its thickness, causing it to vibrate more slowly when struck. To raise the pitch, the key is filed along one of the ends, shortening it to vibrate more quickly. Resonators used to be made exclusively out of bamboo, but today many customers prefer longer lasting PVC piping. The pitch can be altered by changing the amount of space in the hollow of the bamboo or PVC tube. This is achieved by putting plugs into the tube at certain intervals.

      Kettle gongs are forged in a similar fashion. First pounded into a flat circle, the sides and the knob are then beaten into shape. Tuner-filers are experts who can hear nuances in pitch even with all the clanging and banging around them. Two holes are drilled in each key which is then suspended in ascending order of pitch over the resonators.

      The Cosmic Scale

      The lontar script Prakempa, dating to the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, refers to the mystical significance of the musical scale as having its roots in the panca maha bhuta ("five great elementals"): pertiwi, bayu, apah, teja and akasa (earth, wind, water, fire and ether). Each of these elements corresponds to one of the cardinal directions (plus center) and is associated with a deity, number, letter, color and sound. The creator of sound, Bhagawan Wiswakarma, took sounds from all the directions and divided them into two five-note scales, pelog and slendro. Pelog is related to the Five Holy Waters and the God of Love, Semara; slendro is related to the Five Fires and the Goddess of Love, Ratih.

      The large gong symbolizes heaven while the kempur (medium-sized gong) is the receptacle of all that is holy. The kajar (small timekeeping gong) is Guru, the Supreme Teacher who commands tempo. This is manifested in the microcosm within