Research topic: Balinese music

Balinese music represents, to a large extent, a survival of the pre-Islamic music of Java. It was taken to Bali by Hindu Javanese in the 15th cent. and uses the tonal systems of Javanese music , of which pelog is by far the more important in Bali. Balinese music sounds impetuous and noisy, in contrast to the soft, tranquil music heard currently in Java. Few gamelans, the orchestras of tuned percussion instruments, play in Java today but they flourish, their archaic forms preserved, in modern Bali. The gamelans of the princes are no longer important in Bali, but have left their... Read more