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Sacred and Ancient Ensembles

Almost all gamelan tua or ancient ensembles are tuned to a seven-tone pelog scale. Drums are not used. Their function is purely for ritual. What is deemed sacred depends on both the ensemble being played as well as its performance context. These ensembles are not as common as the Kebyar ensemble and you are lucky if you catch one of them in a ceremony. The ethereal sounds played on iron, bamboo and bronze keys will transport you back in time.

Gamelan Selonding players in Mengwi. An ancient type of gamelan, the Selon-ding used to be known only in the Bali Aga villages of East and North Bali but is now being introduced outside of its traditional realm.

The Meaning of Sacred Gamelan

There is a misconception among visitors to Bali that all music and dance is "sacred" or deemed "temple music and dance." While every kind of gamelan music may be performed during temple or family rituals, some ensembles are considered more sacred than others for several reasons. They are performed in the jeroan, the inner and most sacred courtyard of the temple, they are relatively obscure, and they first appeared prior to the fifteenth century (see p. 22).

These ensembles are not taken out of their storage spaces without offerings and new pieces are not composed for them in their ritual context. However, young composers today are indeed making new music for old ensembles (see p. 102). All of these ensembles utilize a seven-tone pelog scale and are glossed as part of the "ancient" category of gamelan.

The Iron-Keyed Gamelan Selonding

Gamelan Selonding is found predominantly in Bali Aga (aboriginal) villages, mainly in the Karangasem district of East Bali, although it is gaining popularity throughout the island. This is a seven-tone pelog (Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D) iron ensemble used only in a ritual setting. The power of this gamelan is so great that it is said the playing of it can harmonize the spiritual well-being of the village. One of the distinguishing features of this gamelan is that it is played with two wooden mallets, one in each hand. The iron keys are placed over a roughly hewn wooden soundbox, four keys to a soundbox. Each instrument has eight keys or two soundboxes. There is no kotekan or interlocking rhythms, just a haunting and melodious timbre. The ensemble includes five eight-keyed metallophones played by eight musicians.

Gamelan Gong Gede

The largest gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Gong Gede (literally "great gamelan"), has nearly sixty players. It consists of a number of gangsa jongkok (metallophones with one large resonating chamber), metallophones, gongs, cymbals and drums. Solos are performed on the twelve-note trompong (kettle gong chime) and elaborations on the reyong (four-note kettle gong). The five-tone pelog scale supports extra calung,jegogan, and gangsa (metallophones with individually tuned resonators). The music is slow and dignified, and in a word, great. Its repertoire includes lelambatan, ceremonial gamelan pieces heard at all temple festivals. Gong Gede also accompanies ritual Baris dances. Nowadays, young Balinese composers also use some of the instruments to play contemporary compositions. It is found in Bangli, Gianyar and Denpasar.

One of the better known Gamelan Gong Gede ensembles comes from the village of Kintamani, Batur. This group performs at the temple ceremonies at Pura Ulun Danu in Batur.

In Tenganan Pegeringsingan, the villagers say that long ago they heard the sounds of thunder from the sky. The first thunderclap fell to the earth at Bongaya and the second at Tenganan Pegeringsingan. Sets of selonding appeared where the thunder hit. These are only taken out and played during the twice-yearly rituals (usually in January-February and June-July) in Tenganan Pegeringsingan. In the 1980s, ISI (Indonesian Arts Institute) made copies of this sacred ensemble so that students could learn on it. Gamelan Selonding can also be heard in the mountain village of Kayubii, Kintamani.

The Bronze-Keyed Gamelan Gong Luang

This is another ensemble used for rituals. It is a seven-tone pelog scaled ensemble that consists of nine different types of instruments played by 10-20 musicians. These include various sized saron (thick bronze keys over a trough), a gambang (xylophone), two jegogan (metallophones), one trompong or reyong (rack of inverted kettle gongs), two large gongs, one kempur (medium-sized gong), 2-4 pairs of medium-sized cymbals (ceng-ceng kopyak), gangsa (metallophones), and two kendang (drums). The number and types of instruments varies from village to village. This is a bronze gamelan except for the gambang which consists of bamboo keys over a wooden soundbox.

Gamelan Gong Luang is used to complete ceremonial needs, accompany dance (Topeng, Baris Poleng, Pendet and Rejang) and to to fulfill a vow (mayah sesangi). In Dewa Yadnya (temple festivals), Gamelan Gong Luang music is part of the ritual, although not all the instruments are used, the saron for example. For cremations, the same holds true. For the purification rites following cremation (memukur or maligiya), the whole gamelan, including the saron, is used.

The music played on the Gong Luang ensemble is melodic. It is colored by elaborations of the gam-bang and reyong and with accents by the saron and jegogan. One of the unique features of the ensemble is its sixteen-pot trompong; four musicians sit in two rows facing each other to play this instrument. The gamelan has a serene sound unlike other ensembles, and evokes a time long ago. It can be seen in only a few villages today in Bali, including Singapadu (Gianyar), Tangkas (Klungkung) Krobokan (Badung) and Kesiut (Tabanan).

Gamelan Gong Bheri and the Baris Cina Dance

Gong Bheri is probably one of the most rarely heard ensembles and can only be found in Renon and Semawang in Sanur. The instruments are made of bronze. The ensemble consists of two flat gongs, klenteng (a higher pitched small gong), two tawa-tawa (small knobbed gongs), bebende (large gong), kajar (small knobbed gong) kempli (small flat gong), klenang (small flat gong), sangka (conch shell), a set of ceng-ceng (cymbals) and bedug (barrel-shaped drum). Since the bedug is a type of drum used in the mosque, it is thought that this ensemble came to Bali from Java. It was originally housed in Renon but frequently moved. In each new location it claimed a human victim every time it was played.

Gong Bheri is used to accompany the Baris Cina dance. Both costume and name indicate Chinese influence. The dance depicts two platoons of nine soldiers, one dressed in white, the other in black. It is only performed when someone in the village makes a vow to the temple and sponsors the dance in order to effect a cure. The enormous quantity of offerings involved makes the cost prohibitive. The dance is rarely performed and only in Renon and Sanur.

Gamelan Gambang and Gamelan Caruk

Gamelan Gambang accompanies religious rituals such as cremations in North, Central and South Bali and temple festivals in East Bali. It is a seven-tone pelog scaled ensemble with six instruments. Four of these instruments are made out of fourteen bamboo keys and are played by one musician holding two doubleheaded mallets. The other two instruments are bronze saron. The resonating box for the saron is quite small and the keys are placed on top of this box as opposed to being suspended over a bamboo tube, which changes the sound substantially. Gamelan Gambang is performed in Tenganan, Asak, Bebandem (Karangasem), Singapadu, Perangsada, Saba, Sukawati, Blahbatuh (Gianyar), Kesiut (Tabanan), Kerobakan, Sempidi, Kapal and Manikliyu (Badung), and Jirengdalem (Buleleng).

An extremely rare ensemble called Caruk consists of two gambang and one saron, all of them smaller in size than the regular Gamelan Gambang. This is performed only at cremation rites in Bebandem, Saba, Dharmasada, Krobokan, Sempidi and Abiansemal.