Traditional music
Although also characteristic of Javanese music, the gamelan is by far the emblem of Balinese music. Derived from the Javanese word gamel, which means "hammer" and the verb to hold, strike or manipulate, the term gamelan refers to an instrumental ensemble - a large body of sound - composed of gongs, blade metallophones and possibly bronze and bamboo xylophones. In fact, although there are several types of gamelan that include flutes, hurdy-gurdies (rebab) and drums - all bearing a specific gamelan name - this Balinese ensemble is undeniably associated with the idea of percussion and metallophones.
Inherent in gamelan is the idea of an ensemble functioning as one body. The gamelan is almost, in fact, a single instrument with each musician in charge of a part of the general melodic line. Moreover, there is no conductor as such, although the kendang (drum) plays a leading role. This esprit de corps is accentuated by the fact that all the instruments in a gamelan must be made at the same time and by the same blacksmith - the pandé. It is the pandé who tunes the gamelan instruments in a definitive way. Therefore, it is a unique sound of the whole and one cannot create another gamelan by composing it of scattered instruments belonging to other gamelans. Also, in any gamelan, some instruments are coupled (male/female) and tuned in such a way that when played alone, without their pair, they sound wrong.
Another important point is that the gamelan serves above all a ritual function. The gamelan is rarely or never heard in concert. Its performance is always accompanied by offerings and rites. Among the modern forms of Balinese gamelan, one of the most important (and most exported) is the kebyar, a style famous for its energy. It is through the kebiyar (or kebiyar gong) that one can best experience the art of playing, the coloring of the orchestration, the rhythmic complexity and the vitality of Balinese music. The music played by the kebiyar consists mainly of new compositions freely adapted from old pieces. The southern style is more conservative and delicate than the northern style, which is a bit flashy, syncopated with revolutionary tendencies. Visible in competitions, the gamelan gong kebyar has become an essential part of modern Hindu ceremonies in Bali. It is required for annual temple anniversary ceremonies, or as an accompaniment to sacred dances.
Clearly the kebiyar gong is a modern form of the gedé gong , an ancient large gamelan orchestra dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, which is essential for public ceremonies and temple festivals, playing all night long. The melodies of the gedé gong are played with large gongs, and exude a low, uniform majesty, lacking the delicate modulations of the kebiyar. Dating from about the same time, the semar pegulingan gamelan is an ancient structure from the 17th century, originally played near the palace bedrooms to lull the king and his concubines to sleep - the name is derived from Semara, the god of love in Balinese mythology. Nowadays, the semar pegulingan is mainly used to accompany the legong (see paragraph "The dance") and can be seen and heard in Peliatan (a village famous for the quality of its legong).
Another very visible style in Bali: the gamelan beleganjur. More or less equivalent to the western military band, the original purpose of the beleganjur was to accompany armies in battle. Nevertheless, today it has lost its warlike vocation and is played in festivals or competitions and remains essential to Hindu religious ceremonies in Bali, such as the ogoh-ogoh parades that precede the Balinese New Year, Nyepi.
Less traditional and more secular in its roots but perfectly authentic, joged bumbung is a variant of gamelan where the instruments are mainly made of bamboo. The ensemble takes its name from joged, a flirtatious dance in which women invite a male partner into the audience by handing him a belt. They usually choose the shy one who is trying to hide or the show-off so that he is the target of his friends' mockery. The choreography is usually improvised, mimicking domestic scenes, or more daring ones. This dance - and by extension the accompanying gamelan - has become very popular in Bali and jogèd bumbung can easily be seen in villages throughout the island.
Gamelan is everywhere in Bali and any ceremony is an opportunity to hear one of these ensembles. Even in unexpected festivals like Nyale, on the beach of Kuta, a great ritual where thousands of Sasaks gather to collect fluorescent marine worms and eat them (grilled or raw). The party lasts all night, punctuated by gamelan shows. Otherwise, some villages are famous for their gamelan, such as Ubud or Sebatu, whose orchestra is appreciated by the French because it regularly tours in France for a long time. A visit to Sebatu is an opportunity to hear its extraordinary semar pegulingan. Outside the festivities, it is good to note that in Sanur, the restaurant Tandjung Sari has the reputation of offering some beautiful performances of gamelan from time to time.The dance
Along with gamelan, dance is the other great national discipline. This is how the country raises such passion and wealth and manages to reach such a degree of perfection. Over the centuries, dance here has reached an extraordinary technical level, nurtured by rigorous training and practice. It leaves no room for improvisation or individual performance. However, the dancer enjoys a certain amount of freedom depending on his or her fame or charisma.
Historically, in Bali, dance is a popular art and, above all, a religious art that draws its strength from ceremonies and especially odalan, the anniversaries of temples.
By way of comparison, in Java, the dancer is a man of the court or even sometimes the prince himself, while in Bali, the dancer is mostly a villager, regardless of caste. The dance here is in motion, strongly based on the speed of the new music modes and often spectacular by the violence of emotions, ardor, musical outburst and the succession of gestures. A culture of excellence made possible by a priestly apprenticeship that can last for years, until the student is impregnated with the spirit of each gesture, its meaning in the whole of the dance and its eventual autonomy from the gamelan.
In 1971, the Balinese authorities decided to classify the country's dances into three categories:
The "sacred" wali, which can only be shown in ceremonies that require purification: gabor, sanghyang dedari, rejang, baris gedé, sanghyang legong, berutuk, mendet, baris pendet.
The "ceremonial" bebali dances, which accompany the ceremony, but are not the ceremony itself: gambuh, topeng pajegan, wayang wong.
The secular balih-balihan dances, which can be sold to the general public (i.e. "tourists"): sendratari, legong, kebyar, janger, tari tani, parwa, arja, baris, panyembrana, topeng panca, prembon, jogèd, abuang kalah, gebyog, cakapung, godogan, taruna jaya.)
Among these, some are essential to know (and see), starting with the barong. Possibly the most powerful of Balinese mythological figures, the barong is a kind of lion, "Lord of the forest" and leader of the forces of good. During the performance - a purifying ceremony - he is usually represented by a rattan frame covered with hair and a magnificent lion mask, worn by two men whose mission is to make him dance. A complex and highly codified choreography follows, centered around impressive trances.
Another essential, the legong is performed during certain public or private parties. It is in no way a sacred dance. Accompanied by the gamelan and expressing the quintessence of femininity and grace, this highly codified dance imposes precise gestures on dancers dressed in green brocade fabrics enhanced with gold and crowned heads. It is unsurprisingly the favorite dance of tourists who flock to see it, especially in Ubud.
Also accompanied by the gamelan, the baris is a martial dance imitating the movements of the warrior. In solo, the dance is called Tunggal baris, fascinating from a technical point of view especially since its movements have become the basis of all male Balinese dance. There are about twenty different kinds of baris on the island, most of which are collective. These gather twelve to twenty dancers performing a number of rather rudimentary movements such as simulating a battle with their spears.
In the 1930s, a young dancer was to change the Balinese choreographic landscape with a new dance that combined the fierce virility of epic dances such as baris with the delicacy of legong. The novelty lay in the fact that the dancer never stood up, moving only above the waist, thus accentuating the movements of the torso, arms and hands and focusing attention on the dancer's facial expression. This dance is called kebyar duduk, it was born as an echo to the fast rhythms of the kebyar gong gamelan and it has forever inscribed the name of Mario in Balinese history.
Contemporary to kebyar, kecak (pronounced " kechak" ), appeared in the 1930s and remains one of the island's most iconic choreographies. Based on the story of the Ramayana (the great Balinese epic poem), the kecak dance is also known as the "monkey song" and sees a chorus of about 100 men, bare-chested and dressed in poleng cloth, sitting in concentric circles and singing " chak " percussively while moving their hands and arms. The words, gestures and onomatopoeia are intended to exorcise evil spirits. In the 1930s, Walter Spies, a German painter and musician, became deeply interested in this ritual while living in Bali. He choreographed it to be performed in front of an audience of Western tourists. It is this choreography that we see today everywhere on the island, including the Pura Luhur of Uluwatu.
Another choreography created by Mario, oleg tambulilingan or the "bee dance" is often performed in a legong show. The dance began as a solo and later added the role of the bumblebee who flirts with the beautiful bee. The dance brings out the coquettish characters and whims of the sweet young girl while the man tries to seduce her by imitating the poses and gestures of the kebyar.
Dating back to the 16th century, the gambuh is probably the oldest Balinese dance, although it should be classified in the repertoire of singing theater. Probably originating from Java, gambuh tells the story of the Javanese prince Panji, prince of Koripan who wants to marry Raden Galuh, princess of Daha. Of majestic beauty, this sung and danced theater does not advance through a narrative, but by the successive presentation of characters, preceded and accompanied by their servants. A complete performance of gambuh has about 25 actors and dancers and lasts from 7 to 9 hours depending on the repertoire. Traditionally, gambuh was danced only by men, but now both men and women can perform it.
Also on the borderline of dance, rejang is a ritual. Performed only in a temple, it involves the entire female gender, regardless of age. All dancers dance together, lined up in a very slow processional movement, taking two steps forward and one step back. The hand movements are executed low on the hips and consist of long turns of the face of the hands.
The rejang can be seen at the odalan of Pura Dalem in Batuan. It is in Batuan that the greatest dancers of Bali were born and still live. Otherwise, Ubud is one of the great Balinese cities of dance and its Royal Palace, gives every night dance performances. In the east of Ubud, there is the Pura Abianbase, where traditional dances are often represented by a dozen troupes that compete with virtuosity. They will allow you to see the legong, barong kedingkling, wayang wong and the real cak, the ancestor of kecak. Let's also mention the Aman Budaya Ou Art Center in Kuta which offers a good synthesis of what contemporary Balinese artists can produce in the arts of dance, music and painting and which, each year, between mid-June and mid-July, hosts a large festival of classical or contemporary dances: the Bali artFestivasl.The theater
Shared with Java, the wayang kulit, the shadow theater is a great Balinese specialty. In this theater, the puppets - made of cowhide, finely carved and colored - are manipulated by the dalang (narrator) in front of a screen. The dalang lends his voice to all the characters, sings and conducts the gamelan orchestra that stands - usually - behind him. He is literally a one-man band, a composer, a linguist, a dancer, a speaker and of course an actor to enhance the text, the events and the epic situations. The wayang performances take place during various ceremonies (yadnya) but nonetheless important, such as weddings or tooth filing. The wayang is both an entertainment and a concentrate of culture, puns, politics, mysticism and religious beliefs that delight the Balinese, young and old.
In Bali, there are five types of wayang: Ramayana, Parwa, Calonarang, Gambuh and Cupak. The wayang inspired by the Ramayana and Parwa are more rooted in the collective imagination than the last three. The shadow theater represents the world. It stages the principle of opposites and balance (Ruwa Bineda).
A nocturnal practice, wayang can also be performed in daylight. In this case, the figures are planted in the trunk of a banana or palm tree and the puppets are manipulated in full view of everyone. The daytime wayang is called wayang lemah.
Some villages are known for the quality of their wayang kulit. This is for example the case of Sukawati. The village is one of the artistic centers of Bali and houses, for example, many Brahmins who have perpetuated the art of dalang. Otherwise, in Denpasar, you can sometimes, at the temple of Jagatnatha(Pura Jagatnatha), attend a show of traditional leather puppets in front of the entrance. Let's also mention Oka Kartini, a hotel in Ubud, where a shadow puppet show is regularly performed.
