Waringin: Recording a Composition with Gamelan Salukat, a Crossroads of Music and Culture

Abstract

As the subject of numerous studies over the last century, Balinese music has been presented in a particular light.  In the 21st Century, it has been a priority for Western musicologists to renew our outdated or inaccurate conceptions.  This paper joins that discourse by presenting an intercultural project as an opportunity to bring the perspective of Balinese musicians under consideration.  Recently, I undertook a recording project in Bali, working on my composition “Waringin,” written for Gamelan Salukat.  Gamelan Salukat is a 20-30-person bronze ensemble with a radical tuning system, comprised of young musicians (~18-30 yrs.) from around the Ubud region of Central Bali.  The project became a crossroads of musicianship, uncovering many intriguing tensions—notation versus oral learning, counting rhythms versus feeling or embodying rhythms, and composition versus improvisation.  The following ethnographic account explores how the young Balinese musicians tackled the problems we faced and discusses what implications these newly formed strategies have for Balinese music in a contemporary setting where East and West, self and other, participant and observer are no longer divided.