Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World of Balinese Gamelan Beleganjur (review)

Abstract

This book is an account of the music of the Balinese gamelan beleganjur and the author's experiences studying and learning it. This type of gamelan, consisting of gongs, cymbals, kettle-gongs, and drums, is used primarily for processions in death rites and temple festivals. As one of over twenty types in Bali, it has been overlooked in the extant literature. Michael B. Bakan's book fills this gap beautifully. He concentrates much of the book on four other overlooked subjects in ethnomusicology and Balinese studies: traditional pedagogy and reflexive learning encounters, the lives and stories of his teachers, the battles of political ideology in public performance, and the competition-driven world of modern Balinese musical culture as realized particularly in kreasi beleganjur--newly composed pieces for the gamelan beleganjur. Bakan maps the four movements of a kreasi beleganjur piece into the four parts of the book.