Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

(b) Performance contexts.

The Pancayadnya (five ceremonial categories), which comprise all Balinese religious ceremonies, honour the living (manusayadnya, rites of passage including weddings and tooth filings), the dead (pitrayadnya, e.g. cremations), the gods (dewayadnya, e.g. temple ceremonies), sages (resiyadnya) and demons (bhutayadnya). Music plays a powerful role of accompanying ceremonies: gamelan ensembles, genres and repertories are associated with each category and with functions within each category, depending on, for example, the ensemble's age, tuning system, timbre and dynamic range. Furthermore, many large ceremonies contain a sequence of rituals honouring each of the five categories. The choice for any given event is subject to tradition, local preference and to the availability of the ensemble and performers; in general, the older the genre, the more sacred and unchangeable it is.

The ceremonial soundscape comprises a blend of seemingly disparate yet essential musical genres. Often several gamelan play simultaneously, some accompanying sacred ritual dance (rejang) while others accompany dance-dramas or shadow puppetry or play instrumental music in close proximity to sacred vocal chanting, resulting in a sound-ideal of fullness and boisterousness (ramé). Its opposite, sepi (emptiness), is considered dangerous and is aesthetically and spiritually important only once a year on nyepi, a day of purification when no sound is made. Every village possesses several temples that celebrate their anniversaries (odalan, dewayadnya) every 210 days (one Balinese year) with elaborate ceremonies involving music, dance and theatre.

As a way of protecting the older sacred performing arts from being exploited by tourism, in 1971 a committee of artists, religious specialists and government officials proposed a classification system, organizing music, dance and theatre genres into three general categories, subject to regional variation. Wali (sacred) activities are integrated into rituals and take place in the innermost courtyard of the temple or house compound (closest to the sacred mountain) for an audience of gods; babali (ceremonial) activities occur in the middle courtyard, are for an audience of gods and humans and are not integrated into the ceremony, but are parallel to it; and balih-balihan (secular) activities are performed outside the temple or in an outer courtyard and are entertainment for humans. In practice these categories often overlap: the distinction between wali and bebali is sometimes irrelevant, and performance traditions may shift from one category to another (e.g. secular offering dances performed on a balih-balihan secular programme).

The 20th century saw an expansion of performance contexts, in particular with secular performances on proscenium stages. The art centre Werdi Budaya, opened in 1976, is a frequent venue for STSI students and faculty, for tourist performances and for the annual Bali Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali, instigated in 1979), a competition and exhibition of gamelan, dancers and artisans from all over the island. The major focus of the Bali Arts Festival is the gamelan festival, which promotes a competitive atmosphere and regional pride among gamelan groups and audience members. These performances are held in ‘battle of the bands’ format, with a gamelan group on either side of the stage. Repertory (which includes instrumental and dance pieces) must fit into the categories established by an official committee each year, and most pieces are newly composed for the occasion. The culmination of the festival (attended by up to 8000 people) involves the sendratari and drama gong dance-drama performances. Sendratari, an acronym of seni, drama and tari, (art, drama and dance) is a huge spectacle involving a narrator and hundreds of dancers and musicians. Drama gong is a dance-drama in which the actors speak, accompanied by gamelan gong. Aspects of these forms depart from traditional Balinese theatre and dance in their set scripts, choreographies and pieces (leaving little room for improvisation) and the playing-out of entire epic narratives in encapsulated form.

Indonesia, §II, 1: Bali

(ii) Musical principles.

(a) Tuning systems.

(b) Notation.

(c) Instruments.

(d) Performing practice and musical structure.

(e) Kotekan.

(f) Form.

Indonesia, §II, 1(ii): Balinese musical principles

(a) Tuning systems.

Instruments are tuned in pairs, with one tuned slightly higher than other resulting in acoustic ‘beats’. When played together, the lower (pa)ngumbang (‘exhaler’) and the higher instrument (pa)ngisep (‘inhaler’), create a shimmering timbre, literally breathing life into the sound of the ensemble. There is no standardized tuning. All instruments of an ensemble are tuned together and do not match any other ensemble, giving them a unique character. However, every gongsmith (pandé) has his own conception about particular tuning and the intervals for each type of gamelan that fit into a generalized system. Tuning systems (saih, ‘sequence’) of four, five, six and seven pitches are named after the type of gamelan with which they are usually associated (e.g. saih gender after the gender wayang ensemble) or the number of pitches (e.g. saih pitu, a sequence of seven).

The terms slendro and pelog, (adopted from Javanese terminology where they describe five-tone and seven-tone tuning systems, respectively), are frequently used to classify scales that were not formerly grouped together but can be made to fit roughly into these two categories. Many gamelan tunings and vocal genres do not fit neatly into either system, however.

The rich modal possibilities inherent in seven-tone ensembles distinguish them from pentatonic gamelan. Modes of five main pitches (known as tekep, ‘covering’ of the holes of the suling flute, or patut, ‘agreement’) employ two extraneous tones (or pamero called bero, ‘false’) for colour and modulation purposes. A revived interest in seven-tone ensembles, such as the court ensemble, semar pagulingan, has instigated the creation of experimental seven-tone gamelan that are capable of producing both slendro and pelog scales such as gamelan semara dahana (or semarandana) and gamelan manikasanti (created by I Wayan Sinti).

Pentatonic tunings are the most prevalent; in the early 20th century, to facilitate the playing of complex figuration (and to avoid leaping over the unused pamero tones) many seven-tone gamelan were melted down and transformed into pentatonic gamelan.

Tuning can convey ritual meaning. The modes produced by the group of rare, seven-tone sacred ensembles have specific correlations with deities. The most prevalent tuning, the pentatonic pelog selisir of gong kebyar and balaganjur, is generally associated with the human and demonic realms. Slendro tuning of gender wayang and gamelan angklung is considered to connote sadness; it is a means of communicating with the spirit world and is used in rites of passage such as tooth filing and cremation ceremonies. Old treatises on music explain that for each pitch there is a corresponding deity, cardinal direction, colour etc.; usually male deities are associated with pelog and their female counterparts with the corresponding scale degrees in slendro, but for most musicians, this philosophy is not part of general musical awareness.

Indonesia, §II, 1(ii): Balinese musical principles