Search - Various Artists :: Music from the Island of the Gods

Full of flare and colour, beautiful and explosive

Kean Chhay Chang | Vic, Australia | 01/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This cd contains some very well and clear recorded music with crisp and sharp sounds in which I had no problems with the volume. The music is beautiful packed with vibrancy, energy, colour and full of flare found in most gamelan gong kebyar music. However one should not that the title is Balinese gamelan gong but I guess the must have forgotten the word kebyar at the end of gamelan gong. There is a big difference between gamelan gong and gamelan gong kebyar or plainly known as gong kebyar. Gamelan gong is a very stately orchestra reserved for sacred music and some sacred dances, with a very hypnotic atmosphere found in the punctuating sounds of the large bossed gong suspended or mounted on stands. However gong kebyar is very different in style but the same musical instrumentations used. The music is completely the opposite with flares, sudden shifts in tempos, dynamics which can sound like a large wind out from no where sweeping everything in it's path. This cd contains mainly dance tracks, a good example of kebyar is in the first tracked called Puspa Wresti which is a welcome dance in which the dancers a platter full of flower as offerings to the gods or guests. Puspa Wresti in the start is very slow but the tempo changes and builds into a rapid speed like that of a storm. With the flowery ornamentation of the reyong (12 kettle gong mounted on a horizontal rack played by four players) giving it a bubbling sound effect in which I find so exotic to my ears as well as the metallic ringing the metallophones which tended to typifies many of the Balinese gamelan orchestra. Each track has it's own unique style in which kebyar is displayed therefore the musicians cooperate with the dancers and vice versa. However, I believe there may have been a slight mix up with one of the tracks as it's written at the back of the cd. Where it says track three Legong and where it says track five Kupu-Kupu Tarum. It should be the other way around because, I have heard and read about the legong dance and they can run from 11 minutes to about half an hour or over. The Music of Bali Vol. 2 Tirta Sari- Legong Gamelan in track three has the same compositions as track five but with a male narrative telling the story. However in this cd there must have been mislabeled Kupu-Kupu Tarum being in track five and legong in track three. the legong in this version contains no narrtive and is very airy, light and delicate in some parts of the compositions. But all the tracks I find are pretty good with loud and clear recording without any problems. I was a very disappointed with the booklet, it didn't provide any good information about each of the dance, only like about fifteen to about forty sentences regarding each dance. The cover of the cd contains a beautiful photograph of the island temple of Tanah Lot in Tabanan Regency with young children performing a dance scene from the Ramyana. Over all I recommend this cd for anyone who likes something from Isles Of The Gods."