Gong Kebyar is the sound of northern Bali

Gong Kebyar is the sound of northern Bali

Alit Kertaraharja, Contributor, Singaraja, North Bali

Not a single day passes in Bali without the sound of a gamelan
orchestra.

The instruments of the gamelan produce unique sounds which
accompany almost all traditional and religious ceremonies in
Bali. Gamelan music is almost inseparable from the life of the
Balinese.

The centuries-old gamelan music has gone through various
changes and evolutions in accordance with the dynamic social and
cultural developments that have taken place in Bali.

One of the more interesting gamelan styles is Gong Kebyar,
which originated with the Lelongoran gamelan introduced in
Bungkulan village, some 90 kilometers north of Denpasar, the
provincial capital.

IGB Nyoman Panji, the former head of the Bali Conservatory,
said Bungkulan village produced a peculiar gong called the
Lelongoran, which became popular in l914.

This kind of gamelan was rooted in the Gong Gede, as the main
source of every gamelan orchestra in Bali. Balinese music was
previously dominated by the Gong Gede gamelan orchestra, which
usually performed in palaces and grand temples. The smaller
version was the gamelan gong, which belonged to villages' banjar
(community centers).

Lelongoran, or Longor, is a special gamelan orchestra which
plays the opening music for religious rituals or temple
anniversaries.

"I do not understand the meaning of "longor" but it is
seen as sacred by the local community here," he said.

I Gusti Gede Nyoman Panji was one of the initiators and
promoters of the sacred longor. Like other Balinese gamelan
orchestras, the music of the longor is 4/4 pentatonic. But the
style is different, more dynamic and vigorous.

The longor tabuh was later developed into the Gong Kebyar
gamelan orchestra.

Collin McPhee writes in his book Music in Bali l966 that the
Gong Kebyar was first introduced in Bungkulan village in l914 and
it spread to almost all of the villages in Buleleng regency by
the early l930s.

The Gong Kebyar consists of four main instrumental groups.
They are terompong (instruments consisting of inverted bronze
pots struck by large sticks); the jublag and cengceng (bronze
cymbal-like instruments); the kantil, kempul, bende, gong,
kendang wadon and kendang lanang (a pair of drums referred to as
female and male drums); the ugal and gangsa (ten-note xylophone-
like instruments made of carved frame containing bamboo
resonators). The musicians played the instruments in unison.

"In every village, we have our own music group (sekaha) and
songwriters, each with a different style," recalled Nyoman Panji
in his house in Bungkulan village.

In time, a number of gamelan groups developed the tabuh
mebarung, in which a number of gamelan groups, including the
sekaha Jagaraga, Bonthing and Banjar Asem, played together and
showed of their distinctive and improvisational styles. Dances
and songs often accompanied the performances.

The current Gong Kebyar was the creation of individual
musicians in North Bali. The word "kebyar" was derived from byar,
or biyar, meaning a sudden intense sound or flash of light. Gong
Kebyar music is flashy, highly embellished and musically complex,
full of sudden stops and starts.

In Bungkulan village, Gong Kebyar has been adapted from the
sounds of various instruments that usually accompany the sacred
baris dance, mask dances and sacred songs. The music has gone
through various stages of evolution on the way to current sound.

The kebyar style of gamelan is often performed as an opener to
the main music. For two or three minutes, the players improvise
their music in the form of cecandetan, humorous sounds.

Gong Kebyar reached the height of its popularity in the early
l930s. It was frequently performed during Ngaben, or cremation
ceremonies. Only the rich could afford to hire a Gong Kebyar
group. Therefore, hiring such a group to perform during a Ngaben
was a good way to lift one's social status.

A Gong Kebyar group consist of at least 35 musicians and
dozens of dancers. For a Ngaben, at least two or three groups are
hired to perform for two or three consecutive days.

"The Ngaben was a perfect event for people to show off their
wealth and social status," Panji reminisced.

When people were urged to simplify the Ngaben ceremony, the
performances by the Gong Kebyar were also affected. Now, people
tend to hire smaller groups of angklung or gambang music
groups.

Outside of Buleleng regency, Gong Kebyar has experienced a
great deal of development. In the arts village of Peliatan in
Gianyar and in the Badung and Tabanan regencies, Gong Kebyar has
been enriched and refined into a more sophisticated gamelan
music.

In the southern part of Bali, Gong Kebyar is known as Kakul,
and as Mongol in Tabanan. One artist from Tabanan, Mario, became
famous for his Kebyar Duduk (the seated Kebyar) dance.

The dance was believed to have been inspired from the
expressions of the Gong Kebyar. Dancers from southern Bali were
often invited by Gong Kebyar groups in Buleleng to take part in
their performances.

IG Ketut Simba, the coordinator of the North Bali Cultural
Studies Center, said the Gong Kebyar was a true expression of the
dynamic and energetic society of Buleleng regency, which in some
ways differs from their neighbors in southern Bali.