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THE BALINESE ARTS
The Balinese are surrounded by art throughout their lives as art is omnipresent in Bali. They make art out of the most basic necessities in their daily lives. However, artistic knowledge is not commissioned only to a special intellectual class, but is open to everyone at all levels. Painting, sculpture, carving and music have traditionally been the province of men, while women channeled their creative energy into creating lavish offerings to the gods. In every festival, you can see spectacular pyramids of flowers, fruit, and cakes up to two meters high, constructed with such love and adoration that it could only be meant for a higher being. Although a religiously regarded practice, Balinese art does not serve religion solely. Bemos, jackets, menus, motorcycles, hotel doorways and other objects are decorated with sacred symbols. They do not view this use as sacrilegious. It is incredible to see so many people in such a small area pour so much energy into creating beautiful things.
PAINTING
Balinese painting is classified into certain groups and styles, not without some overlaps and a few that do not fit into any of the main styles. First is the Kamasan or classical painting, which is also named the wayang style. This style can be traced back to ninth century Javanese sculpture that features wayang figures, rich floral designs, and flame-and-mountain motifs characteristic of classical Balinese painting. There is also the Pita Maha, which literally means 'great vitality'. This group was formed when painting was dying out as an art form and in a serious decline due to styles becoming stagnant. Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet were western artists who, along with their patron Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati, formed the Pita Maha to encourage painting as an art form and seek a market for the best paintings. Other styles include theYoung Artists and variants of the main Kamasan and Young Artists' styles.
BALINESE CLASSICAL PAINTING
The history of Bali's painting was started long before Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet came to this island. If you are interested in the origins of Bali's paintings then Klungkung is the place to start exploring. Your mind will fly to the golden age of the Gelgel Kingdom in the 15th century, when the painters began to become famous in the royal palaces.

There are two places in Klungkung where you can enjoy and learn about "the real Bali's classic paintings". First, the well-known Hall of Justice, Kerta Gosa. The canopy of the building was established in the 18th century and is fittingly painted with scenes from the Tantri and Panji; stories of horoscopes and divine retribution for sins on earth which line the ceiling in concentric circles with great attention to detail that demonstrates an almost superhuman effort.

They were painted by Kamasan artists, and only Kamasan artists are allowed to perform any restoration work on them today. The first generation of Kamasan artists that had the first chance to paint in front of the King was Sangging Mahendra.

Under the reign of King Dewa Agung Made, the king of Gelgel, he was ordered to create paintings based on wayang puppets and thus Kamasan painting was born. From the beginning, Kamasan painters followed a folk-art style. The king had ordered the creation of formalized composition: beautiful, refined and ornamental. The main purpose was not only for decoration but also as an historical record.

The painters were also farmers. In the morning, they worked the fields. Then, in the afternoon when the sun was too hot, they took their painting tools and started to express themselves in their art. Often they worked in a group to produce a large painting.

All material that was used in this process was provided from nature. The colors used were white from bones, black from soot, red from Chinese cinnabar, yellow from ochre clay, blue from indigo and brown from red oxide clay. And they painted on only the finest cotton that they starched with rice flour. They used bamboo brushes and pens to produce their magnificent art works.

With the arrival of the Dutch, many foreigners came to the island and purchased Kamasan paintings to take back overseas. So it is no surprise that many of Bali's classic paintings still decorate many walls abroad.

The second place to enjoy Bali's Classic paintings is at Gunarsa Museum in Banda Village, Klungkung, where you can see some of Bali's paintings that had been shipped abroad. This is the private collection of Nyoman Gunarsa, a painter from Klungkung, who spent his money and time to bring the paintings back to their homeland.
WOOD CARVING
The Balinese sculpture with natural media - wood, stone, bone, horn, deadwood, and even gnarled tree roots. Nowadays, souvenir-caliber wood carving is churned out and successful creations are mass produced. Any visitor to Bali is likely to be exposed to wood carving in all forms, be it the traditional ornate carved doors, the carved figures of gods, or the countless carved items in craft shops.

Wood carving is a craft practiced all over Bali. Open your ears to the tapping sound of the carver's mallet and you would know that there is one around. It would be taxing to separate traditional and foreign influences. However, Balinese are intense observers of the outside world, effortlessly incorporating and adapting foreign themes into their work.

For quality wood carving, head to Tegallalang, Pujung, and Sebatu, which is north of Ubud. It is a great area to meet woodcarvers; it is best to take note of the artist's name and visit him at the workshop to negotiate a better price.

Bali is a perfect place for western artists to study their crafts. There are wood carving lessons in which you can learn to carve your own mask in about three weeks.
MASK CARVING
This is a specialized form of wood carving that should only be executed by experts. An extremely high level of skill is required to produce the 30 or 40 masks used in dances. Masks of Barong and Rangda are opulently painted and assembled with real hair, enormous teeth, and bulging eyes. The mask carving center of Bali is Mas and Puaya.
STONE CARVING
The technique used in stone carving is very much the same as wood carving since soft volcanic rock is used. Stone carving is relatively unaffected by tourist consumerism as most pieces are too exorbitant to ship. You can vividly see stone carving skills in the distinctive split gates, swirling stone friezes, and absurd and menacing mythological statuary. The centers for stone carving are Kapal and Batubulan.
JEWELLERY
Bali is also famous for its jewelry, along with Thailand and Mexico, and variations on the same designs are common to all three countries. Balinese jewelry is almost always handmade, thus rarely involving casting techniques or the usage of imported silver. Silver is mined in Bali near Singaraja and used for filigree and other traditional silver work. Members of the royal family adorn themselves with gold and silver headdresses, belts, bracelets, earrings, anklets and necklaces to indicate their high status. Even handles of krises or daggers and umbrella finials would be made of gold. The village of Celuk is known for its rings, bracelets, necklaces, pins, and other objects of silver. Kamasan remains the center for traditional gold and silver jewelry.

Balinese are quick to pick up designs introduced by outsiders and will copy things that will sell well. Many imaginative smiths are starting to duplicate designs from magazines or international jewelry designers who have settled in Bali to work.
TEXTILES
The first kind of textile that you will find in Bali is batik, which is popular among tourists and locals alike. There is every imaginable style and quality that you can chance upon throughout the island, but it is surprising that batik is actually produced in central Java and then shipped to Bali. Bali's own home-produced cloth is a weft ikat called endek. Ikat is made by tying the weft threads of a cloth before it is woven and then dying them so that the tied areas do not absorb the dye. The cloth is then woven and the pattern, created by the tying of the threads, emerges. This cloth is not very popular with visitors but is indispensable to the locals. Authentic ikat is made of silk but cotton and synthetic yarns are also widely used. Also, keep a look out for kain prada, fabrics woven of silk or cotton and decorated with silver or gold threads or gold leaf. These colorful kerchiefs are worn by temple girls during festivals and take three weeks to a month to weave.
 
 
 
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DANCE
The backbone of Balinese culture is dance, which is performed during temple festivals and in ceremonies of the cycle of life and death. What is performed in hotels and restaurants for tourists is only a small fraction of what Balinese dance has to offer.

From the time that Balinese history was being recorded in written form, its dance has existed. Ninth century inscriptions named the Wayang (puppet theatre) and Topeng (mask dance) as the main entertainment of the day. Gamelan music goes back still further to the Dong Son bronze culture of the first millennium BC. Apart from the trance dances, much of the Balinese dance heritage actually originates from Java.
HISTORY OF BALINESE DANCE
After the Majapahit warriors subdued Bali in the 14th century, Javanese mini-principalities and courts soon appeared everywhere, creating that unique blend of court and peasant culture, which is Bali - highly sophisticated, dynamic and lively. The accompanying narrative for dance and drama is to a large extent based on court stories from pre-Majapahit Java. Even the Indian epics, another favorite of the stage, especially the Wayang, use Javanese, complete with long quotes from the ancient Javanese Kakawin poetry So Javanese culture, which disappeared from Java following Islamization in the l6th century, still survived in Bali in a "Balinese form", which became classical Balinese culture.

However, colonization brought about the fall of classical Bali. With the rural courts defeated and with new lords of the land, the centre of creativity shifted to village associations, and to the development of tourism. The 30's and 50's were particularly fertile decades; while the old narrative led theater survived, lively solo dances appeared everywhere, accompanied by a new, dynamic kind of music called gong kebyar. This trend continued in the 60's and 70's with the creation of colossal sendratari ballets, representing ancient Indian and Javanese stories adapted to the needs of modern audiences.
DANCE & RELIGION
Balinese dance is inseparable from religion. A small offering of food and flowers must precede even dances for tourists. Before performing, many dancers pray at their family shrines, appealing for holy "taksu" (inspiration) from the gods.

In this rural tradition, the people say that peace and harmony depend on protection by the gods and ancestors. Dance in this context may fulfill a number of specific functions:

  1. a) as a channel for visiting gods or demonic gods, the dancers acting as a sort of living repository. These trance dances include the Sang Hyang Dedari, with little girls in trance, and the Sang Hyang Jaran, a fire dance;
  2. b) as a welcome for visiting gods, such as the Pendet, Rejang and Sutri dances;
  3. c) as entertainment for visiting gods, such as the Topeng and the Wayang.

In some of these dances, the role of dancing is so important that it is actually the key to any meaning to be found in the ritual. In Wayang performances, the puppeteer is often seen as the "priest" sanctifying the holy water.

As well as their use in religious ceremonies, dance and drama also have a strong religious content. It is often said that drama is the preferred medium through which the Balinese cultural tradition is transmitted. The episodes performed are usually related to the rites taking place; during a wedding one performs a wedding story; at a death ritual there is a visit to "hell" by the heroes. Clowns (penasar) comment in Balinese, peppering their jokes with religious and moral comments on stories whose narratives use Kawi (Old-Javanese).

The typical posture in Balinese dance has the legs half bent, the torso shifted to one side with the elbow heightened and then lowered in a gesture that displays the suppleness of the hands and fingers. The torso is shifted in symmetry with the arms. If the arms are to the right, the shifting is to the left, and vice-versa.

Apart from their costumes, male and female roles can be identified mostly by the accentuation of these movements. The women's legs are bent and huddled together, the feet open, so as to reveal a sensual arching of the back. The men's legs are arched and their shoulders pulled up, with more marked gestures, giving the impression of power.

Dance movements follow on from each other in a continuum of gestures with no break and no jumping (except for a few demonic or animal characters).

Each basic posture (agem), such as the opening of the curtain or the holding of the cloth, evolves into another agem through a succession of secondary gestures or tandang. The progression from one series to the other, and the change from right to left and vice-versa, is marked by a short jerky emphasis called the angsel. The expression is completed by mimicry of the face: the tangkep. Even the eyes dance, as can be seen in the Baris and Trunajaya dances.
THE VIBRANT RITUAL
These ceremonial dances and dramas directly relate to religious ceremonies by serving as an offering, a prayer, or an exorcism of evil spirits. Presented with the active participation of the pemangku (the people's priest and caretaker of the village temple), they are a dramatic form of contact with the spiritual world, and this communicative purpose runs parallel throughout a performance.

As religious dances, they are usually held within or near a temple. Pendet may be danced whenever there is occasion to present an offering. In the Sanqhyang, in which the dancers enter trance prior to dancing, the ceremony begins in the temple and a procession is formed to march to the dance clearing nearby. Because of their association with evil spirits, the Calon Arang and Barong plays are generally held near the temple of the dead and the graveyard, which are thought to be favorite meeting places of witches and their disciples.

The masks of the Barong and Rangda also bear a spiritual significance. Because of their relation to the forces of magic and their power to exorcise evil spirits, they are considered sakti, magically powerful. Only certain carvers, no matter how exquisite their work, are capable of fashioning a new mask of this kind. A purification ceremony with elaborate offerings is always held to initiate a new Barong or Rangda mask. When they are not being used in the play, the masks are kept in a special pavilion within the temple, where they are displayed amidst heaps of fiower and fruit offerings during temple festivals

The Rangda mask, capable of emitting dangerous vibrations, is always kept covered by a white cloth as security to contain its magic. The cloth is only removed immediately before the drama, by the Rangda actor as he enters the stage. Some masks considered extremely sakti are over a hundred years old, and are followed by large processions whenever they leave the temple.

 

THE DANCES OF BALI
Dance is the main art form of Balinese culture and is performed at main temple festivals and ceremonies, especially for the cycle of life and death. Taught and kept in secrecy in villages, halls and palaces, the dances that tourists witness in hotels and specially constructed stages are merely a fraction of the dance scene, although most of the dancers come from village groups.
  KECAK DANCE

Its name is derived from the sound "cak", pronounced "chok", which is chanted in complex interlocking patterns that are like the rhythmic patterns played on the gamelan. The modern form of kecak originated from Gianyar village of Bedulu in the 1930s as a result commissioned by the German expatriate artist, Walter Spies. He wished to create a performance that could be enjoyed by a small coterie of expatriate artists like himself, as well as friends and guests to the island.

The modern performance of Kecak is a sensational sight to behold. Hundreds of barechested men sit in a circle with a flickering single oil lamp in the middle. "Cak - Cak - Cak", the chant begins and the men start dancing and swaying to the rhythmic reverberation of their own voices. Hands raised to the sky, bodies shaking in unison, the chorus performs the highly structured piece of vocal music for about an hour. This unique dance holds the title of being the most popular dance in Bali.

  BARONG DANCE

"Lord of the forest" and magical protector of Balinese villages, the Barong is a mythical, shaggy half-dog, half-lion creature, with a long mane, fantastic fangs, and bulging eyes. It is propelled by two men who maneuver the costume with whimsical and mischievous movements to express its fun-loving nature. The Barong's opponent is Rangda, the evil witch who rules over the spirits of Darkness. The Barong dance epitomizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. The fight of Barong and Rangda is also a topic of traditional narratives performed in temples and takes various forms. The Barong will snap its jaws at the gamelan, prance around a bit, and enjoy the acclaim of its supporters - a group of kris-wielding men. Then ferocious Rangda will then appear lolling her long tongue, baring her threatening fangs, her neck draped with human entrails...not a pretty sight.

The duel begins. Each opponent tries to overcome the other with magical powers but when things do not look too good for the Barong, supporters will lunge at Rangda with krises to weaken or stall her. In retaliation, Rangda would put them all into a trance with her mystical powers and make them stab themselves with their weapons. Fortunately, the Barong possesses magic that is strong enough to cast a spell on the krises from harming the men. This part would be the highlight of the dance; the gamelan rings madly and intensely as the men rush back and forth waving their krises in a frenzy, sometimes even rolling on the ground in a desperate attempt to stab themselves. Often, there seems to be a plot to terrify the audience in the front row! Eventually, Rangda will retire, defeated. And once again, good will reign over evil.

  LEGONG KERATON

The most graceful of Balinese dances, this is the epitome of classical Balinese female dancing. A legong, as the dancer is known, is often a young girl of eight or nine years, rarely older than her early teens. It was first created in the 18th Century and is usually the first dance to be taught to beginners. There are many forms of Legong, the most frequently performed dance being the Legong Keraton or Legong of the Palace.

The story of the Legong is very stylized and symbolic and one should know the story before actually watching the performance. The Legong involves three dancers - two legongs and their 'attendant', the condong. The legongs are identically costumed in gold brocade, which is bound so tightly that it is a mystery such agitated and rapid moves could be made. With elaborately made-up faces, plucked eyebrows that are boldly repainted, and hair decorated with frangipanis, the dancers relate the story with captivating movements.

A king takes the maiden Rangkesari captive. When her brother comes to release her, Rangkesari begs the king to free her rather than go to war. The king refuses and chances upon a bird carrying ill omens on his way to battle. However, he ignores the bird, meets Rangkesari's brother, and was thus killed in the fight.

The roles of the dancers may change according to the narration. However, the dance usually begins with the king's preparations for battle and ends with the bird's appearance.

  BARIS

A male equivalent of the Legong, Baris is a warrior's dance. Executed with energetic and warlike martial spirit, the Baris dancer has to convey the thoughts and emotions of a warrior preparing for action as well as confronting an enemy in battle. This dance is performed solo and requires great energy, spirit and skill. The warrior's changing moods have to be displayed through facial expressions and movements; he should be able to depict chivalry, pride, anger, prowess, and a little regret. Baris is said to be one of the most complex of all Balinese dances.

  PANYEMBRAMA - THE WELCOMING DANCE

The Panyembrama is probably the most popular Balinese social dance. In keeping with its meaning in the Balinese Language, Panymebrama is frequently staged to welcome guests of honour who are making a visit to this islands of the Gods.

Four or eight young girls bearing a bokor, a heavily engraved bowl made from silver or aluminium, laden with flowers, dance expressively to the accompaniment of vibrant gamelan music.

During the dance, the flowers are scattered over the guest or audience as an expression of welcome. The Panymebrama has taken many of its movements from temple dances, such as the Rejang Dance, Pendet and Gabor, which are considered sacred and performed exclusively for God. There is an analogy between the secular Panymebrama and the religious temple dances, as all these dances are welcoming dances, the difference being in the place in which they are stage.

The Tari Panymebrama comes under the Balinese classification of Legong (individual dances), because it has no connection with other dances, has no story and was specifically created for welcoming and entertainment purposes.

The hospitality and friendliness conveyed through the smiles of the Panymebrama girls, charms the audience and so is very fitting as an opening for a show, etc.

  YUDAPATI

Yudapati is a dance which depicts a male character but is performed by female dancers. The word Yudapati is derived from Yuda which means war and Pati which means death. The dance represents the kamikaze warrior in defending the truth. The dance was created in 1987. It is based on the Baris dance.

The dancer wears typical male attire, headcloth, shirt, carved leather belt and other jewellery. The reason for a male being performed by a female is that the choreographer wishes to reveal all the subtle gestures and movements in the dance by using the flexibility of a woman's body.

Male dance performed by females is called Bebancihan. A number of other dances have been created in the s style, such as Margapati, Trunajaya, Prawireng Puti, Wiranata and Danur Dara. They require masculine interpretation and expression which is quite hard for female dancers. Yudapati dance was originally performed for religious purposes but nowadays is performed regularly as a tourist attraction in some restaurants.

  GHOPALA

This dance provides the audience with an interesting insight into the lives of people who live in a simple and pure manner in an environment of blissful tranquillity. This dance originated in 1984 and usually performed by five boy dancers. The characters of the Ghopala dance are especially funny and will draw laughter from the audience.

The Ghopala theme depicts the world of children herdsmen who gleefully meet and play along the boundaries of rice fields while tending their cows. Their lives are filled with happiness as they dance and play in a way which highlights their individual characters. They never tire of their duties as herdsmen, faithfully defending the lives of their cattle. Thus the audience are transported to a distant time when people lived in peace and contentment, an age which had not yet become influenced by the bustle of business which now constantly steals our time.

  SEMARAYANA

As we know, there exists many art forms such as music, painting, poetry, drama, sculpture, etc. and, of course, dancing is yet another and is a popular form of expression. Artists will take a certain aspect of a medium, build on it to form another. This is the case of the Semarayana dance developed in 1994 as a subject for a thesis submitted by Ms Ni Nyoman Sri Armita to the Indonesian Arts Academy of Denpasar for her graduation.

The main character is Dewi Chandra Kirana, a princess from the kingdom of Daha who disguised herself as a male youth so she could venture out and seek her beloved who had disappeared without a trace.

With shoulder length hair, commonly used centuries ago throughout Java and Bali, the princess was unrecognisable as a female. The symbol of manhood which fooled people she met on the road, was the use of the Balinese male headgear called the Destar. It is made from material that wraps around the head and has an artistic formation of bunched material at the front.

Balinese males still use the destar when attending ceremonies. The feature of the destar is the decorative use of gold lines.

Dewi meets her beloved but due to her disguise and the fact that he is partly obscured when they meet, a fight develops. In the ensuing melee, the princess's destar is knocked from her head and her sweetheart, Raden Inu Kertapati, recognises her and rushes to her side to embrace her.

And, of course, they lived happily ever after.

  SANGHYANG JARAN

The unique feature of the Sanghyang Jaran dance is the courage of the dancers who in a state of Kesurupan or trance, calmly step and trample on red hot coals just as if they were walking in cold water.

This dance is believed to have the power to invite the gods or sacred spirits to enter the body of the dancers and put them in a state of trance. It dates back to the ancient Pre-Hindu culture, a time when the Balinese people strongly believed that a dance could eliminate sickness and disease. The is dance is usually performed in the fifth or sixth month of the Balinese traditional calendar as it is believe that during these particular months, the Balinese are vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses.

  GEBUG ENDE - THE WAR DANCE

The Gebug Ende is a combination of dance and trial of prowess. It is usually performed by two to sixty male dancers who dance and fight on stage in pairs. Each dancer/fighter carries a one and a half metre long rattan stick as as a weapon and a shield called an ende. During the performance the two men try to beat one another with the stick while using the ende to protect themselves. The dance is called Gebug Ende as it literally means beating the ende or shield. One cannot afford to make mistakes in this dance as otherwise injury results.

The Gebug Ende is quite unique as it has certain rules that have to be followed by the participants. Led by a jury, this dance starts with two dancers, while the rest sit in a circle, cracking jokes and singing, while waiting their turn. The jury decide which of the two contestants loses the game and has to leave the stage. Then they will call the next men to the stage. This continues until all have had a turn. Sometimes the fight becomes very fierce and the dancers get thrown of the stage from the blows of the rattan stick. Bruises and wounds are common in this ritual.

  LEGONG TRUNAJAYA

The Trunajaya dance describes the emotions of a young man through love and passion. The dance movements reflect the theme of courtship and love.

Truna meaning 'single' and jaya meaning 'to win' immediately gives an understanding of the dance. Ironically, the dancer are young women who take on the role of young men. The women wear a 'destar' normally worn by men and an unusual loin-cloth called a 'kancut'. The Trunajaya is normally danced by a single female but sometimes two, dancing together in synchronous movements and to the mesmorotic sounds of the 'Gong Kebyar', a fast, rhythmic beat which goes in harmony to the dance. The dance was created by Wayan Wandres, from Singaraja, Northern Bali.

MORE TO COME...
 
 
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THE GAMELAN
Gamelan music is the sum of diverse foreign influences. Pitch relationships from China, bronze instruments from southeast Asia, drums and modal practice from India, bowed strings from the middle east, and even military styles from Europe contributed to the traditional music we hear in Java and Bali today.
THE FIRST GAMELAN
Among the earliest evidence of gamelan instruments is a series of stone relief carvings on the Borobudur Buddhist temple in central Java (ca. 800ad).

Borobudur shows the world's first record of a bar percussion instrument. It appears to be a gambang style "xylophone" with ten wide bars resting over a trough resonator. We have no way to tell, but the bars were most likely made of wood or metal. The instrument is shown being played with two sticks with large, presumably padded, balls on the ends (see Kunst, "Hindu Javanese Musical Instruments," fig. 21). Cymbals resembling Balinese ceng ceng kopyak used in modern processional music can be seen as well as two-headed hand drums which appear to be of both Javanese barrel shape and Balinese conical styles.

The reliefs of Borobudur and other central Javanese temples of the period, including Prambanan and Candi Sari, depict many other instruments including zithers, lutes, harps, vessel drums (gatam), and transverse flutes. Most are extinct in Indonesia today and may have never really existed on the islands, possibly carved from memory by mainland artisans. Only the bar instrument, cymbals, and drums remain. Notably absent from all reliefs of this period are gongs.
THE FIRST GONGS
Gongs first appear in the carvings of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, among temples of the Majapahit Hindu empire. These depictions show small gongs, often mounted in pairs on a stick or hanging singly from a cord in the hand and played with a padded mallet. Also evident are significant advancements in bar instruments since the time of Borobudur, including four-mallet gambang style xylophones of a type still used in Bali for cremation rites. Suspended bar gangsa and gender as well as saron with resting bars can be found. The earliest evidence of tuned acoustic resonators, bamboo tubes which amplify the sound of the bars, also appears in this period.

Notable in the east Javanese reliefs are images resembling sitar and other gourd resonated plucked string instruments like those used today in India. Many drums depicted in this period also strongly resemble Indian mridanggam and pakawaj. These instruments became extinct in Indonesia, and again may have never existed, but their presence indicates a powerful foreign cultural infusion.

Gongs most probably did not originate in Indonesia. There is no evidence of the development of bronze gongs in Indonesia before the thirteenth century. They simply appear in the record as highly refined instruments, complete with an embossed center and deep shell. Mainland Asia, however, displays a much wider variety of bronze gong styles, including shallower shells, flat faces, and a clear developmental lineage.

Ancient literature suggests that gongs may have been known and used in Indonesia as early as the ninth century. Their original use may have been as instruments of battle, a sound used to encourage soldiers as it instilled fear in their enemies. But, their absence from the earliest stone record suggests that they were either relatively uncommon until that time. Perhaps they were not an instrument of the ruling class, or had no religiously important purpose.

Majapahit is where all the primary elements of modern gamelan came together. Bronze gongs combined with Indian and southeast Asian influences and the "indigenous" music and instruments of the central Javanese cultures which built Borobudur make east Java the birthplace of gamelan as we know it today. Influence of the Majapahit was strong throughout Indonesia and the southern Philippines and reached deep into the mainland of southeast Asia.
BALI AND JAVA SPLIT
In the fourteenth century, people from the middle east introduced the religion of Islam and the fall of the Majapahit empire began. Those who wished to remain Hindu were exiled to Bali, where they remained relatively isolated for hundreds of years.

The gamelan we hear in Bali today is a direct, almost pure, descendant of the music of the Majapahit period. Many instruments in Bali are exactly the same as those recorded by stone carvers in east Java over six centuries ago. But, while the tools of the trade have remained similar, the music has changed and developed. Every generation of musicians in Bali puts their personal stamp on the music. An added variation here, a new section there, or another composition for a particular ritual, add up considerably over six hundred years. Changes in popular taste also had an effect.

In Java, the new Islamic Mataram empire began and music and instrumentations changed considerably. In Bali, we still find primarily homogenous ensembles of bronze, iron, bamboo, etc. But, in central Java, this diverse instrumentation was combined into a single orchestra. Also combined were the two scales, slendro and pelog, which had remained exclusive to certain ensembles and rituals in Majapahit times. While scales and even melodies may have remained the same, theories behind them were amended to create the Javanese "patet" modal system.

The Javanese Mataram empire is responsible for advancing bronze foundry techniques to produce the very large gongs which have become a staple of modern Javanese and Balinese gamelan. The village of Semarang on the north coast of central Java became the new Indonesian center for gong making, supplying instruments to most of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Borneo, and surrounding islands.

The use and purpose of gamelan music in Java was also revised by Mataram. Originally, gamelan was played in outdoor temples for religious rites, to inspire trance and to invite ancestral spirits. But, in Java religious worship was redirected to the royal courts and the old Hindu and Buddhist temples were left to decay. This change of environment gave rise to many of the aesthetic differences between Balinese and Javanese musical styles. Music in Java moved from open air temples to large roofed platforms within the royal court.

Mallets were softened to allow the instruments to reverberate within the space in a more pleasing manner. Forms were also slowed down and elongated to take advantage of the new acoustics and lend austerity to the court. Music became largely a cerebral pursuit of the aristocracy and musicians became servants of the courts.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The last hundred years has brought great changes in both Balinese and Javanese music. Older Balinese musicians speak of times when tempos were slow and variations less intense. Older Javanese musicians relate stories of now rare grand court events and lost compositions. Balinese kebyar style is a product of this century, as is the bonang imbal and kembangan playing techniques so typical of today's Javanese sound.

Gamelan music continues to change and evolve in both style and purpose. Government performing arts schools are the new patrons driving the future. Students in these institutions are required to create new music and dance, expanding the scope and popularity of gamelan both at home and around the world.

 
 
 
 
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GLOSSARY
Puputan - Puputan is a Balinese term that refers to a mass ritual suicide in preference to facing the humiliation of surrender.
 
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