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Secrets of Bali

by Jonathan Copeland

with
Ni Wayan Murni

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Gamelan







The Balinese orchestra is called a gamelan. The Bali-Hindu religion requires the gamelan for the success of the thousands of ceremonies performed every year.

There are more than two dozen distinct types of gamelan, each with their own traditions, repertoire and social or religious functions.    

The music is full of insistent rhythms and elegant patterns. There is hardly any improvisation. Traditionally musicians are male, but women are now receiving recognition, such as the women's group in Ubud.

Gamelan Gong Kebyar



Style: Bali

Background: This is the most widespread type of gamelan in Bali. 25 to 35 musicians produce really intense, loud, lively, exciting music, with rapid changes of tempo, full of sudden starts and stops.

The mainly percussion instruments are played in unison.

There are a number of different sized instruments, metallophones that look like xylophones, called gangsas, which have bronze keys that are hit with little wooden hammers which causes bamboo resonators below the keys to vibrate. They may have 4 to 14 keys and are grouped in pairs. After the keys have been hit by the hammer in the right hand, the left hand immediately grasps the key to stop the sound merging in the next note.

Reyong



Style: Bali

Background: The Reyong is a long framed instrument holding about a dozen inverted bronze pots, having small knobs on top, bosses, which are hit with sticks by 4 players sitting alongside, each player being responsible for his own section.

Price is given for 12 pots.

Carved stand

Order Number: G1A

Plain stand

Order Number: G1A

Gender



Material: Jackfruit wood, leather, gold leaf, bronze keys
Style: Bali
Size: Height 54 cm, width 12 cm, length 76 cm, 20 kilos
Order Number: G2

Background: The gender is played with 2 round-headed, unpadded mallets, one in each hand. It gives tonal color to the music. The Balinese gender is usually decorated with ornate designs and motifs.

Angklung



Material: Jackfruit wood, gold leaf, bronze keys
Style: Bali
Size: Height 38 cm, width 16 cm, length 38 cm, 12 kilos
Order Number: G3

Kantilan Carved Stand



Material: Jackfruit wood, gold leaf, bronze keys
Style: Bali
Size: Height 38 cm, width 16 cm, length 82 cm, 25 kilos

Carved stand

Order Number: G4A

Plain stand

Order Number: G4B

Ceng Ceng Ricik



Material: Bronze, jackfruit wood
Style: Bali

Background: 6 small bronze cymbals are fastened to the top of a wooden stand, 2 are loose. The seated player holds a cymbal in each hand. He clashes them against the fastened cymbals. The effect is loud, colorful and exciting.

Balinese woodcarvers decorate the jackfruit wood stands with Balinese legends, like the mythical turtle, who balances the world on his back.

Size: Height 13 cm, width 33 cm, length including turtle's head 37 cm, 4 kilos

Diameter of each cymbal 10 cm

Order Number: G5A

Diameter of each cymbal 11 cm

Order Number: G5B

Diameter of each cymbal 12 cm

Order Number: G5C

Rebab



Material: Tamarind wood
Style: Bali
Size: Height 54 cm, width 26 cm, length 110 cm
Order Number: G6

Background: The 2-stringed rebab produces a lovely viola-like sound and is believed to be the ancestor of the modern violin. It is hard to distinguish in a full gamelan.

Kempli




Material: Bronze
Style: Bali
Size: Height 39 cm, circumference 93 cm
Order Number: G7

Background: A large kettle-drum, which all the musicians depend on to keep time, especially when the rhythms get tricky.

Tingklik





Material: Bamboo, wood, paint
Style: Bali
Size: Height 30 cm, length 85 cm, depth 94 cm
Order Number: G8

Background: The tingklik or bamboo xylophone produces a flowing, tinkling sound, and is traditionally used to accompany the Balinese dance called joged bungbung, a flirting dance performed by girls, who invite male spectators to dance by tapping them with a fan.

Kemong



Material: Bronze, teak
Style: Bali
Size: Height 71 cm, width 57 cm, depth 14 cm; gong: diameter 28 cm, circumference 89 cm
Order Number: G9

Background: There are a number of single fine bronze gongs, which are hit at intervals with a cloth-covered mallet, to divide up and underline the formal structure of the composition. The formal structures are cyclical. The gongs are very important in maintaining a feeling of balance.

Trompong



Style: Bali

Background: Sometimes there is an instrument, similar to a Reyong, called a trompong, which is played by only one person, whose arms need to be long; this, along with the suling and rebab, are the only instruments which improvise.

Carved stand

Order Number: G10A

Plain stand

Order Number: G10B

Drums



Style: Bali
Order Number: G11

Background: Drums, called kendang, are double-ended and held across the lap. They lead the orchestra. In each pair, there is a higher pitched one, designated male and a lower-pitched one, female.

The kendang is considered the most difficult instrument in the gamelan. The diameter is greater at one end than the other, which creates a rounded belly-like swelling at one end. They produce a wealth of sounds, from sharp cracks to deep hums and booms.

Price is given for a set of two.

Suling 1



Style: Bali
Size: Length 34.5 cm, circumference 2.5 cm
Material: Bamboo
Order Number: G12

Background: High pitched bamboo flutes, suling, are often part of the gamelan.

Suling 2



Material: Bamboo
Style: Bali
Sizes:

Large: Length 40.5 cm, circumference 2.75 cm
Order Number: G13A

Small: Length 34.5 cm, circumference 2.5 cm
Order Number: G13B

Gender Mallets



Material: Wood
Style: Bali
Size: Length 25.5 cm
Order Number: G14

Kantilan Hammer

Material: Wood
Style: Bali
Size: Length 22.5 cm
Order Number: G15

Gong Mallets



Material: Wood
Style: Bali
Size: Length 21 cm
Order Number: G16

Big Gong Mallet



Material: Wood
Style: Bali
Size: Length 27 cm
Order Number: G17

Big Gong



Material: Bronze
Style: Bali

Gong only:

Extra Large: Diameter 80 cm, depth 22 cm, weight 28 kg

Order Number: G18A

Large: Diameter 77 cm, depth 20 cm, weight 25 kg

Order Number: G18B

Medium: Diameter 70 cm

Order Number: G18C

Small: Diameter 55 cm, depth 15 cm, weight 11 kg

Order Number: G18D

Add Stand:

as in photo:

Order Number: G18E

with elaborate Balinese carving:

Order Number: G18F

Cymbal

Material: Bronze
Style: Bali
Size: Circumference 10.5 cm
Order Number: G19

Pemade (Carved Stand)

Material: Bronze, jackfruit wood
Style: Bali

Background: Mid-register 10 keys.

Carved stand

Order Number: G19B

Uncarved stand

Order Number: G19C

Jegogan (Carved Stand)

Material: Bronze, jackfruit wood
Style: Bali

Background: Lowest register, five keys, hit with a soft mallet.

Carved stand

Order Number: G19D

Uncarved stand

Order Number: G19E

Calung or Jublag (Carved Stand)

Material: Bronze, jackfruit wood
Style: Bali

Background: Low register, five keys, hit with a soft mallet.

Carved stand

Order Number: G19FA

Uncarved Stand

Order Number: G19FB

The following instruments are not part of the Balinese gamelan.

Drum



Material: Wood, leather
Style: Sumatra - not a gamelan instrument
Size: Height 22.5 cm, width 20.5 cm, circumfrence 71 cm
Order Number: G20

Rebana Drum



Material: Wood, buffalo hide membrane
Style: Rebana drum, Sumatra - not a gamelan instrument
Size: Height 10 cm, width 27 cm, circumference 88 cm
Order Number: G21

Background: Rebana are frame-drums, which means that the diameter of the head is greater than the depth of the body.

Rebana have tubular bodies, of wood or metal, this one being made of wood, and a membrane covering only one end.

They are closely associated with Islam and are played at Muslim weddings and other ceremonies. The drummers are usually male and generally sing as they drum.

Listen to the music: