Innovation and change in approaches to Balinese gamelan composition

Sudirga, I Komang

Abstract

This article addresses newly developed approaches to gamelan composition among Balinese composers by focusing on changes and innovations within tradition. Balinese composers today represent a cross-section of arts communities who collectively have produced some of the most innovative gamelan compositions in nearly half a century. Subjected to increasingly cosmopolitan reviews from both conservative and progressive audiences, these composers encapsulate the shifting ideals of a generation who value new aesthetic paradigms that increasingly diverge from the history, tradition and legacy of their traditional Balinese predecessors. In the fiercely competitive world of gamelan group rivalry, struggles and triumphs between contemporary composers have always seen creative boundaries pushed to their limits. I examine some of these triumphs and limitations by examining the creative output of six representative Balinese composers who contend with innovation and its reception in local contexts. I argue that innovations in gamelan serve as benchmarks that demarcate creative spaces and approaches while simultaneously testing the real-world confines of changing traditions.

References

Asnawa, I. K. G. (2007). Khebinekaan dan kompleksitas Gamelan Bali. Bheri Jurnal Ilmiah Musik Nusantara, 6(1), 42-58.

Bandem, I. M. (2013). Balinese gamelan on the stage of history. STIKOM Bali Press.

Brinner, B. (1995). Cultural matrices and the shaping of innovation in central Javanese performing arts. Ethnomusicology, 39(3), 433-456.

Dibia, I. W. (1999). Art between tradition and modernization. Inaugural Professorial Address, Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Denpasar, May 1, 1999.

Giddens, A. (2003). Runaway world: How globalization is shaping our lives. Taylor & Francis Press.

Harjana, S. (2003). Corat-coret: Music kontemporer dulu dan kini. Ford Foundation and Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia.

Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T. (1983). The invention of tradition. Cambridge University Press.

Hood, M. M. (2016). Notating heritage musics: Preservation and practice in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Malaysian Music Journal, 5(1), 53-73.

Hood, M. M. (2017). Recultivating local as a sustainable approach to the Bali arts festival. In P. Matusky and W. Quintero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th Symposium: The ICTM Study Group on Performing Arts of

Southeast Asia (pp. 73-76). School of Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Kumbara, A. (2004). Ethnicity and the rebirth of the political flow of the reform era of theoretical perspective. In I.W. Ardika and N.D. Putra (Eds.), Cultural politics and ethnic identity. (pp. 22-45). Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Udayana dan Balimangsi Press.

Kumbara, A. (2008). Ajeg Bali in the whirlwind flow of globalization of epistemological criticism. In Ardika, I. W. and Putra, N. D. (Eds.), The social dynamics of the Balinese society. (pp. 12-32).

Lindsay, J. (1991). Classical, kitch, contemporary: A study of Javanese performing arts. UGM Press.

Mack, D. (2001). Contemporary mosaics and intercultural issues. Artiline Press.

McGraw, A. (2009). Radical tradition: Balinese musik kontemporer. Ethnomusicology, 53(1), 115-141.

Picard, M. (2008). Balinese identity as tourist attraction: From ‘cultural tourism’ (pariwisata budaya) to ‘Bali erect’ (ajeg Bali). Tourist Studies, 8(2), 155-173.

Riandi, O. (2016). Pentingnya invensi dan inovasi bagi kemajuan bangsa. [Paper presentation]. Peningkatan Sumber Daya Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Pendidikan. Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Udayana dan Balimangsi Press.

Steele, P. M. (2013). Balinese hybridities: Balinese music as global phenomena (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Wesleyan University Press.

Sugiartha, I. G. A. (2012). Balinese music creativity and new compositions: Perspectives on cultural studies. UPT Press.

Tenzer, M. (2000). Gamelan gong kebyar: The art of twentieth-century Balinese music. University of Chicago Press.

Tenzer, M. (2011). One fusion among many: Merging Bali, India and the West through modernism. Circuit: musiques contemporaines, 21(2), 77-100.

Wakeling, K. E. (2010). Representing Balinese music: A study of the practice and theorization of Balinese gamelan [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. SOAS, University of London.