Wayan Sudirana

In Bali, compositional process in music was traditionally more intuitive than conceptual. The recreation of beauty in nature through musical expression and melodic ideas was and is still thought to be sufficient for many to form a musical repertoire. However, these examples may be perceived as naive, straightforward, or simplistic expressions in comparison to newer styles of Balinese musical composition. This article discusses how the terms ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ are understood by academic and non-academic Balinese artists (both musicians and composers alike), and the extent to which they influence the aesthetics of Balinese composers’ musical creations. Initially, I examine the historical dimension of Balinese compositions with all of its challenges, considering the terms ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ as important to the understanding of the development of Balinese musical creations. I explore some new works for gamelan by Balinese composers, and further address some of the proble...

Masyarakat menerapkan tradisi secara sistematis seperti perekat. Ketika yang asli tidak lagi seperti dulu, nostalgia mengasumsikan makna keseluruhannya. Budaya biasanya diproyeksikan ke masa lampau, dan yang lampu tersebut menjadi budaya. Pemahaman seperti ini kontradiktif dengan pemahaman arti dari tradisi itu sendiri. Tradisi tidak seharusnya diartikan sebagai sesuatu yang bulat atau sirkuler atau tidak bergerak, melainkan sesuatu yang berproses seiring dengan waktu. Paper ini akan membahas bagaimana istilah tradisi dan moderen dipahami dalam konteks masyarakat seniman Bali akademis (dan non-akademis), dan sejauh mana memengaruhi pola pikir penciptaan karya mereka. Pembahasan akan dititikberatkan pada diskursus yang terjadi dalam menyikapi fenomena berkesenian di Indonesia. Dimensi kesejarahan diulas sebagai analisa praktis perbedaan pola pikir dengan segala tantangannya. Pemahaman istilah tradisi dan moderen menjadi penting dalam memahami perkembangan proses penciptaan musik dala...

Colin McPhee was a talented pianist and composer who had a deep musicological interest in exploring another musical language. Only a few composers in the western world would have afforded themselves the chance to do exactly the same thing that McPhee did. His life was completely changed by the influence of Balinese music. He published books about music and culture of Bali as well as the aspect of human life in Balinese society. In fact, McPhee’s works engaging in and focusing on Balinese culture are a great contribution to the Balinese and a good way of introducing Balinese culture to the world. For the present and future generations of Balinese musicians, Mcphee’s works of Balinese music will be standing as an important piece of heritage.The paper is a brief biography of Colin McPhee, focusing mainly on his work as an ethnomusicologist. As a Balinese musician and composer, I am primarily interested in his works as they relate to Balinese culture. I will also introduce some of his w...

In order to provide an ideal music transcription, we have to look closely to the basic musical elements of the music we transcribed; tuning, rhythm, melody, tempo, and dynamic. As far as I know, since Colin McPhee, Western ethnomusicologists have consistently employed standard Western staff notation for representing and analyzing Balinese music (Vitale 1990, Herbst 1997, Gold 1998, Bakan 1999, Tenzer 2000, McGraw 2005 and others). Although there is a notation system used in Bali, titilaras dingdong, Western notation seemed to have a more complete system than the Balinese one, to capture the intricacies of the melodic interlocking figurations of Balinese music. In my opinion, the reason these scholars have choosen Western staff notation is because (1) they are (obviously) already familiar with the system, (2) there is no need to learn a new notation system (the Balinese one) for both, them and the intended (western) audiences, and (3) the Balinese notation, traditionally, only able to notate the basic melody and the colotomic structure of the piece.

In this paper I will analyze three types of Balinese drumming that are considered improvisational, in particular the styles that are played in the repertory of gamelan gong kebyar. Gamelan gong kebyar is the most popular and influential genre of twentieth- century music developed in Bali. In the Balinese gamelan classification, gong kebyar is considered gamelan baru (Sugiartha 2006, 66).1 Gong kebyar emerged in early 20th century and was initially an instrumental genre. In its later advancement, the ensemble became accustomed to accompanying dance compositions, which are decorated with miscellaneous dance improvisations corresponding to the characteristic style of gong kebyar (Bandem 2006, 2). “Gong kebyar adopts an assertive and self –aware stance of independence from prior musical categories and functions, an attitude that is clearly audible in the music’s gesture and rhythm, even at first encounter” (Tenzer 2000, 4).

There are two types of funeral in Balinese culture. One is called supta prenawa1, an ancient (indigenous) death ritual, and the other one is atiwa-tiwa sawa prakerti, a common death ritual held in Bali today that combines the indigenous death ritual and the Balinese Hindu religion. These two types of funeral share similar ritual processes from the beginning (when the person dies) until the final preparation of the main ritual. However, there is a principal difference between these two funerals. The final ritual of supta prenawa is burying the corpus at the sema (cemetery), and the final ritual of atiwa- tiwa sawa prakerti is a cremating the corpus at the pemuun (cremation site within the cemetery).

There are also two types of funeral in Akpafu2 culture of Ghana. One is for people who are Christian (new), and the other is for non-Christian (original/native). Both share similar ritual processes. The difference is due to the religious foundation, which causes some simplifications of the ritual in the funeral of Christians as compared to those of the non-Christians. In other words, one combines Christianity and local belief system, and the other is based on purely indigenous belief.

For the purpose of this essay, I will compare the Balinese supta prewana and the funeral for non-Christians in Akpafu. The reason for selecting these two funerals is that both are considered native or original funerals that represent the culture.

In the past ten years, an interesting phenomenon has appeared in the Balinese music scene. Musicians have become interested in combining instruments as well as borrowing musical elements from outside of Bali, especially from Western music. They have been immersed in the concept of " being modern. " For these musicians, it is believed that being able to make use of foreign musical instruments and techniques in their music as a symbol of modernity can help to elevate their social status. Although few people were aware of its existence earlier, this new music has recently gained popularity by being introduced to larger audiences. The paper is divided into three parts. First, I briefly discuss the historical background of the emergence of fusion pop music in Bali as a result of globalization,

Masyarakat menerapkan tradisi secara sistematis seperti perekat. Ketika yang asli tidak lagi seperti dulu, nostalgia mengasumsikan makna keseluruhannya. Budaya biasanya diproyeksikan ke masa lampau, dan yang lampu tersebut menjadi budaya. Pemahaman seperti ini kontradiktif dengan pemahaman arti dari tradisi itu sendiri. Tradisi tidak seharusnya diartikan sebagai sesuatu yang bulat atau sirkuler atau tidak bergerak, melainkan sesuatu yang berproses seiring dengan waktu.

Paper ini akan membahas bagaimana istilah tradisi dan modern dipahami dalam konteks masyarakat seniman Bali akademis (dan non-akademis), dan sejauh mana mempengaruhi pola pikir penciptaan karya mereka. Pembahasan akan dititikberatkan pada diskursus yang terjadi dalam menyikapi fenomena berkesenian di Indonesia. Dimensi kesejarahan diulas sebagai analisa praktis perbedaan pola pikir dengan segala tantangannya. Pemahaman istilah tradisi dan modern menjadi penting dalam memahami perkembangan proses penciptaan musik dalam menelitik masa depan musik gamelan bali, sekarang.

“True musical experience is the experience of trust”—trust between the student and teacher. Whatever teaching method a teacher applies, it will not work without any trust. “It is only when we learn to trust one another, to dissolve in the realization of our shared humanity, will the music finally play.”
This is an autoethnography. It exhibits the long process of musicianship in a traditional Balinese community. Also, I explore how, as a modern Balinese musician, my musicianship fit in with the new musical setting of a Western community. The paper is divided into three parts: the first part is an exploration of the traditional learning process and Balinese musical pedagogy called meguru panggul. The second is an exploration of my experience in continuing my studies at ISI Denpasar (the Balinese Arts Institute)— how the teacher conducts the learning process in a formal setting, and my own discovery in learning with ear (meguru kuping). And lastly, the third explores the development of my perception and conception of a new learning and teaching style, when I was exposed to the Western way of teaching and learning music at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.