Insitu Recordings

From Issue 3

Recording Retrospective: Ritual Music from Bali I-IV

Insitu Recordings

An Anthology of South-East Asian Music: 

Ritual Music From Bali I-IV

Bärenreiter Musicaphon

1985-1986

This issue’s Recording Retrospective highlights Ritual Music from Bali, a four-volume series focused on underrepresented Balinese ritual musics released by Musicaphon in the 1980s. The recordings were the result of anthropological research projects in Bali and Lombok funded by the Swiss National Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. The music included on these releases represents only a fraction of the roughly 400 hours of music recorded by these research teams, who included personnel affiliated with the University of Basel (departments of Musicology and Ethnology) and the Basel Museum for Ethnography. The now out-of-print volumes include extensive liner notes in both German and English. These provide contextual religious and cultural information as well as cipher transcriptions of several of the musics documented on the release. Photography and notes about the recording equipment offer us a glimpse into the environs in which these recordings were made. Recordings of this nature are likely to never happen again, both because the recording equipment is now obsolete and the music has transformed over time.

Be sure to check out our interview with Danker Schaareman, one of the team’s primary researchers, for more details.

Volume I - Music of the Annual Cycle in Tatulingga: The Usaba Sumbu (BM 30 SL 2570 1985)

  • Recordings by Dieter Mack, Danker H. Schaareman and Tilman Seebass
  • Commentary by Danker H. Schaareman (English translations by Wayne A. Vitale)
  • Photographs by Peter Horner, Hans Oesch and Danker H. Schaareman

Track List

  1. Géguron Gumi Rusak, gambang orchestra
  2. Géguron Gumi Rusak, gambang orchestra
  3. Mamuja, singing
  4. Orag Kamal, gambang orchestra
  5. Pélégayung, gambang orchestra
  6. Sidakarya, gambang orchestra
  7. Géguron Pamandana, sĕlunding orchestra
  8. Géguron Pamandana, sĕlunding orchestra
  9. Cilimuani, sĕlunding orchestra
  10. Kalé Cilimuani, sĕlunding orchestra
  11. Sanglana, singing
  12. Masaudan, singing with gambang orchestra
  13. Panjimarga, sĕlunding orchestra

Volume I in the series includes recordings of ritual musics associated with the Usaba Sumbu festivities that take place in Tatulingga (a pseudonym for Desa Asak once used to protect the identities of their informants). These elaborate rituals are associated with the first month in the annual ritual cycle and can last upwards of sixty five days. With the exception of track 3 (Mamuja) and track 12 (Masaudan), all of the recordings focus on music of the seven-tone gambang and selunding ensembles. The enchanted vocals on Masaudan sung by the girls’ association (daha), which are part of a longer sequence interrupted by solo rejang dances accompanied by gambang music, are extraordinary. The selunding rendition of Panjimarga on track 13 is also exceptional.

No.13 Panjimarga, selunding orchestra (Recorded June 25th 1972)

Panjimarga (also Panji Marga, Panji Margi) is one of the most ubiquitous of the seven-tone melodies (or pupuh) played by ritual ensembles today. Unlike this recording, the piece is most often realized by gambang ensembles. Until recently these greatly outnumbered selunding ensembles on the island. The latter have become staples at temple festivities across South Bali. Although each temple in Tatulingga has a unique melody marking the beginning of the ritual cycles therein, Panjimarga closes all ritual activity in the village. Panji refers to one of the central protagonists in the indigenous epics known as the Panji stories, which likely first appeared in Java and then spread throughout Southeast Asia as the Majapahit empire’s influence permeated a massive maritime trading network that connected most of the region. The most well-known of these epics on Bali, after which the gambuh dance drama is based, is the Malat.

Volume II - Cross-section through the Music of the Annual Cycle in Tatulingga (BM 30 SL 2571 1986)

  • Recordings by Theo Meier, Danker H. Schaareman, Ernst Schlager and Tilman Seebass
  • Commentary by Danker H. Schaareman (English translations by Wayne A. Vitale)
  • Photographs by Peter Horner, Hans Oesch and Danker H. Schaareman

Track List

  1. Ngauk, recitation of text
  2. Wargasari, women’s singing
  3. Rejang, gong orchestra
  4. Rejang, sĕlunding orchestra
  5. Rejang, sĕlunding orchestra
  6. Palawangan Daha, girl’s singing
  7. Sadi, gambang orchestra
  8. Margapati, boys’ singing
  9. Sekar Agung, boys’ singing
  10. Sekar Emas Ayu Alit, boys’ singing
  11. Nuju Muspa, boys’ singing
  12. Jurangandanu, singing w. gambang orchestra
  13. Jurangandanu, singing w. gambang orchestra
  14. Jagirmangu, singing w. gambang orchestra
  15. Jurangandanu, singing w. gambang orchestra
  16. Panjimarga, singing
  17. Panjimarga, gambang orchestra

Volume II includes recordings of music from a wider cross-section of ritual activity in Tatulingga and focuses on singing. Tracks 8-11 are part of the sanghyang repertoire (associated with the village rice cult) and were once performed alongside dance every evening for the the four to five weeks leading up to harvest. The extraordinary boys’ vocal (and whistling!) rendition of Margapati, track 8, is not to be missed. This volume also includes several examples of singing accompanied by gambang music. This singing is reminiscent of the vocalizations gambang musicians use when memorizing pupuh, which sometimes involves intoning poetry or other text and serves as a mnemonic aid for the long melodies that must be recalled from memory during play. Whether this reflects the vocal style accompanied by gambang music long believed to have gone extinct is uncertain. The notes state that singing in this manner during rituals is no longer practiced. Track 16 is a vocal rendition of the instrumental Panjimarga, realized by the village gambang ensemble on track 17. The sounds of a pitch pipe, used for calibrating the playback speed of the tape, can be heard at the start of track 13. The sound of a player realizing the pupuh on a tingklik while another sings along on track 12 reveal a mastery of this music rarely encountered today.

No. 12 Jurangandanu, singing with gambang orchestra (Recorded June 25th 1972)

Volume III - The Gong Gĕdé from Sulahan (BM 30 SL 2573 1985)

  • Recordings by Danker H. Schaareman, Barni Palm, and Monika Nadolny
  • Commentary by Danker H. Schaareman
  • Photographs by Barni Palm, Monika Nadolny, and Danker H. Schaareman

Track List

  1. Dangdang Gendis
  2. Tabuh Telu
  3. Tabuh Pisan

Volume III features three recordings of the gong gede ensemble in Sulahan, Kabupaten Bangli. The instruments, collectively referred to by the name Sekar Sandat, were formerly owned by the king of Klungkung. The three lelambatan pieces on this record — Dangdang Gendis, Tabuh Telu, and Tabuh Pisan — were performed regularly during temple festivities in Sulahan, many of which occur during the fourth month of the Balinese calendar (Sasih Kapat) or during the Galungan holiday. Although the title of track 1 (Dangdang Gendis) refers to a poetic meter, the music resembles the tabuh kutus form, having eight kempur and kempli strokes within each gong cycle. Although the titles of lelambatan often refer to the colotomic architecture of their main sections, many of the recordings on Volume III and Volume IV reveal exceptions to such naming conventions, especially the designation tabuh telu, which may refer to a wide variety of melodic and colotomic structures.

No. 3 Tabuh Pisan (Recorded June 15th 1984)

Tabuh Pisan stands out from the other lelambatan on these recordings by virtue of its mysteriously syncopated melody. The metric displacement of melody notes behaves almost thematically. One cycle of the main section lasts over eight minutes, and syncopation is spread throughout such that it undermines nearly every grounding point in the colotomic meter. This results in several strikingly bare gong and kempli strokes, and even one “stray” kempur stroke shifted out of place to align with the melodic syncopation.

Volume IV - The Gong Gĕdé from Pamĕcutan (BM 30 SL 2574 1986)

  • Recordings by Danker H. Schaareman, Barni Palm, and Monika Nadolny
  • Commentary by Danker H. Schaareman and Dieter Mack
  • Photographs by I.A. Agung Mas, Barni Palm, and Danker H. Schaareman

Track List

  1. Tabuh Ĕmpat
  2. Rejang
  3. Tabuh Tĕlu
  4. Baris

The recordings on Volume IV feature the gong gede at Puri Pemecutan in Denpasar. It includes accompaniments for their Rejang (track 2) and Baris (track 4) dances plus two lelambatan recordings, each of which boast structures that thwart expectations established by their titles. Tabuh Telu (track 3) is built around a melody spanning five gongan of four melody notes each, and the main section in Tabuh Empat (track 1) features successive gong cycles of differing lengths. According to the liner notes, in 1984 the group in Puri Pemecutan was one of the only gong gede ensembles active outside of the mountain villages of Bangli. Today new sets are played throughout South Bali, including several new seven-tone versions. The instruments heard on this recording are still maintained at Puri Pemecutan to this day.

No. 4 Baris (Recorded June 19th 1984)

This track stands apart from the other recordings on this volume because accompaniments for Baris dances evoke militaristic atmospheres by means of brisk gilak colotomic meters and dynamic barrages of interlocking cedugan drums. They are typically danced in ritual settings by groups of men adorned in traditional warrior costumes. Different types feature different warrior characters, distinguishable by their associated movements and weaponry.

Liner Notes

Insitu Recordings

Learn about the Swiss-Basel recording efforts on Bali in the Insitu Recordings Archive:

Basel Bali Music Collection

About the author(s)

Zachary Hejny

Zachary Hejny is a California-born composer and performer of experimental music residing in Indonesia. His work explores polytemporality, incidental tuning systems, ecological sound structures, and philosophies of noise. Current projects include electro-acoustic instrument building using recycled materials, an environmental sound map, a metronome app practice aid for Balinese kendang tunggal, and various music for visual media. He received a DMA in composition from UC Santa Cruz (2021) and currently works as a foreign researcher at IKIP Saraswati Tabanan.
Zachary participates in various contemporary music scenes on Bali, primarily as an avid student of gender wayang, gamelan composer, and performing sound artist. Previous involvement with Balinese music involves a Darmasiswa cultural immersion scholarship (2012), a master’s degree from ISI Denpasar (2015), numerous festival commissions (including at the Bali Arts Festival in 2017), and a Fulbright Student Research grant (2023). He currently volunteers as Assistant Director and board member for Insitu Recordings, where he helps edit a digital magazine, maintain an archive of historical gamelan recordings, and document creative work by emerging Balinese composers.
Tabanan, Bali

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Jonathan Adams

Jonathan Adams is an ethnomusicologist, electronic musician, and visual artist with broad interest in Balinese music. His experience includes formal study of longstanding ritual and court musics, participation in performances of new and innovative works, as well as instrument building and tuning. To date, he has spent 5+ years living in Indonesia. This included a one-year stay (2007/2008) supported by the Indonesian Darmasiswa program; and a four-year stay (2013-2017) that involved research on seven-tone music associated with Javano-Balinese poetry, assisting the experiential education program at the School for International Training, and co-founding Insitu Recordings. He received a BA in Ethnomusicology and Comparative Religion from the University of Washington in 2007, where he also spearheaded the realization of an innovative 9-tone gamelan developed by I Wayan Sinti, called Siwa Nada. He holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia (2021) and is currently adjunct assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research has been supported by the American Institute for Indonesian Studies (Henry Luce Fellowship 2014), a Tina and Morris Wagner Foundation Fellowship (2014-2015), and an Elsie and Audrey Jang Scholarship in Cultural Diversity and Harmony (2017-2018).
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Image: Kawamura Koheisai (Kohey)

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People and organizations mentioned in this article

Wayne Vitale

Wayne Vitale is a composer and educator who has long been inspired by the music of Bali, Indonesia. He has studied and collaborated with many of Bali’s finest musicians and ensembles, extensively documenting their work, and leading myriad projects bringing them together with diverse artists and audiences. His particular interests focus on the intersection of the two cultural streams that have shaped his life as a composer—Balinese music (in its multitude forms) and new music created in the US, especially music that has a direct or indirect historical relationship with gamelan. His response has been expressed in works spanning a stylistic range from traditional to experimental/multimedia. Several have been performed by noted gamelan orchestras in Bali, including the renowned village ensemble Abdi Budaya (“Servants of Culture”) in Banjar Anyar, Perean. He is a founding member and composer in the Lightbulb Ensemble, a group of twelve percussionists working at the interface of Balinese and Western music traditions and innovations. He is also a founding member and past director (1992 – 2009) of Gamelan Sekar Jaya, an ensemble of sixty musicians and dancers with an unparalleled international reputation for its cross-cultural programs. His recording label, Vital Records, releases high-quality recordings of new and traditional Balinese music. He has also devoted himself to the metallic art of gamelan tuning and restoration, grinding and filing his way throughout the US and Europe to restore Balinese instruments. His work has been supported by the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Creative Work Fund (a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund), the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals, the Gerbode-Hewlett Music Commissioning Award (for Mikrokosma), the National Endowment for the Arts, and other funders.
California, United States

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Danker Schaareman

Danker Schaareman was born in Delft, Netherlands in 1948. He began studies in musicology, composition, and piano at the University of Utrecht in 1968, but a growing interest in anything non-European led him to Switzerland to study ethnomusicology at the University of Basel in 1970. Shortly later, he had the opportunity to join a research team documenting seven-tone ritual music in Bali. His participation involved collecting materials for his M.A thesis and recording music with the team’s musicologist. While preparing his M.A. thesis (1977) and PhD (1982), he frequently travelled between Basel and Bali, and after several additional research trips in the nineteen-eighties and early nineties, he settled in Indonesia, first in Karangasem, Bali, and then Bekasi, West Java, where he has lived since 2010. He is currently deepening his knowledge of Balinese seven-tone ritual music and writing a book about Bali.
Jatibening Baru, Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia

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© Insitu Recordings 2018