| For music lovers, Bali holidays can be an enlightening | | | | which was entitled 'From the Island of Bali.' |
| experience, with Balinese performances being rich, | | | | Through Bartok, Balinese music became better |
| unique and rhythmic. Though it is little known, Balinese | | | | known throughout Western Europe, and an interest |
| musical tradition has been influential on western music | | | | was sparked in western music lovers. This has |
| and throughout the world, and a number of well | | | | inspired many to take holidays to Bali, where the |
| known composers have incorporated elements of | | | | combination of staying in a Bali luxury hotel, and |
| Balinese influence into their works. Traditional Balinese | | | | enjoying the spiritual performances of the gamelans, |
| music is as much about spiritual worship as it is about | | | | results in an exceptional experience. |
| the musical notes. This gives the music a distinctly | | | | Colin McPhee and Bali's Tabuh-Tabuhan: Toccata |
| soulful feel, as the very heart of the melody lies in | | | | Colin McPhee's chance encounter with a Balinese |
| religious worship. | | | | gamelan in New York sparked his interest in Bali, and |
| If you want to experience the interesting, traditional | | | | his subsequent Bali holiday led him to dedicate a |
| music of Bali, a holiday there offers the opportunity | | | | significant amount of time to exploring Balinese music. |
| to be entertained by the village orchestras, or | | | | He lived there for a long period of time and even |
| 'gamelan,' as they are locally called. A gamelan is | | | | wrote a book detailing his life in Bali. He has also |
| made up of a number of band members, ranging | | | | compiled a Bali holiday guide, detailing everything from |
| from only a few to several dozen. The central focus | | | | hotels in Bali to its vibrant traditional music. While living |
| of the gamelan is on percussion, and most of the | | | | in Bali, McPhee conducted an ethno-musicological |
| instrumentalists play instruments such as the | | | | study of the local music, and went on to complete |
| xylophone, glockenspiel, metallophones and gongs. But | | | | his Tabuh-tabuhan: Toccata, a composition for which |
| the gamelan is made up of other instruments too, | | | | he received the Pulitzer Prize. |
| with woodwind and strings incorporated into the | | | | This unique Balinese work is divided into three |
| compositions. | | | | movements: Ostinatos, Nocturne and Finale. To |
| Bela Bartok and Balinese Music | | | | perform this work McPhee assembled his own |
| The famous composer Bela Bartok took an interest | | | | gamelan, which was made up of two pianos and |
| in collecting folk music from around Europe, and he | | | | percussion instruments. The work is unique in that it |
| was interested in incorporating other musical | | | | fuses Balinese and western music together, with |
| traditions into western compositions. On hearing a | | | | Balinese motifs in a typically western symphonic |
| gamelan perform, he was inspired to incorporate | | | | work. You will likely recognise these tunes at some |
| Balinese music into his own works, and he wanted to | | | | point on your Bali holiday, in the music resounding |
| bring this musical form to western audiences. His Bali | | | | from the temples and in the local village gamelan |
| holiday inspired the composition of his piece No. 109, | | | | performances. |