Bali: Music from the Morning of the World

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

This seminal album, inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2007, showcases the many beautiful musical styles found in Bali, which in its small area (only 2,147 square miles) contains a cornucopia of artistic wealth.

Description

These recordings were made during my first field trip to Bali in September 1966. Since I was inexperienced, I failed to list the musical groups when this album was first released. The opening pieces, “Baris” and “Gambang Betjak,” were performed by the celebrated gamelan gong of the village of Peliatan. My notes do not list the performers of the Genggong, mentioning only that the recording was made in the puri (palace) in Ubud of the late Chokorde Gde Agung Sukawati, one of Bali’s great princely figures. The “Gambuh” music was recorded in the village of Batuan, whose musicians and performers are still famous throughout Bali for their mastery of this style. The “Barong” excerpt was recorded in the village of Singapadu. It is part of the Calonarang dance drama, in which the beneficent Barong confronts the evil witch Rangda. This music is provided not by a gamelan gong, but rather by an ensemble called Gamelan Pelegongan. The Lullaby was sung in the Ubud home of Antonio Blanco, a well-known artist, by his gorgeous 18-year-old sister-in-law, Rani, as she held Tony’s little son, Mario, on her lap, to get into the mood. “Margepati” was performed by the Gamelan Angklung of Bandjar Titih, Den Pasar, which then was a sleepy village, quite unlike today’s bustling metropolis. The “ketjak” (pronounced “kechak”; spelled kecak at the present time) was recorded in the village of Peliatan. My fragmentary notes do not list the musicians of the Gender Wayang ensemble, saying only that the recording was made in the puri of Ubud. Knowledgeable friends suggest that it was probably the group of I Made Grindem of Tegas, near Ubud.

I did not return to Bali until 1986, when I spent six weeks looking around, to see whether it would be worth mounting a serious recording effort the following year. While the sleepy island I remembered had been invaded by a horde of tourists, Balinese life and culture had endured. Satisfied that there was still plenty of excellent music, I returned the following year with an early generation of digital recording equipment, and spent five months working with many of the island’s best musicians. In 1994 I spent another three months in Bali, making yet more recordings of wonderful music. Some of these digital recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch album Bali: Gamelan and Kecak (79814-2).

—David Lewiston, Maui, September 2002

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The thrilling sound of the Balinese orchestral style known as gamelan gong kebyar—which begins this record—is justly famous, for in no other music does one find such shimmering brilliance and tempestuous rhythms.

But it is less widely known that gamelan gong kebyar is only one of many beautiful musical styles found in Bali, which in its small area (only 2,147 square miles) contains a cornucopia of artistic wealth which would do honor to a country ten or twenty times its size.

Jawarharlal Nehru called Bali “the morning of the world” with good reason, for its some two-and-a-half million inhabitants lead unusually harmonious, satisfying lives refreshingly free of the tinsel that less wise countries mistake for civilization. For example, a farmer who works during the day in the lush rice paddies with which Bali’s hillsides are terraced may play an instrument in the village gamelan at night. His seven- or eight-year-old daughter, now playing a noisy game with her friends in the street, may at the very next moment emerge in the temple forecourt—which serves as a stage—as one of the gamelan’s star dancers.

DAVID LEWISTON, 1967

Nonesuch Selection Number

79714

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
197
ns_album_id
496
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Explorer Series: Indonesia
reissues?
reissues
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
0.00
UPC
075597971422BUN
Label
MP3
Price
7.00
UPC
075597971460
  • 79714

News & Reviews

  • David Lewiston passed away in Hawaii on May 29, 2017, at the age of 88, after an extended illness. The inveterate traveler-musicologist was among the first to release recordings as part of the Nonesuch Explorer Series, which presented indigenous music from around the world, in the late 1960s. His first recording in the series, Music from the Morning of the World, featuring field recordings from Bali, was inducted into the National Recording Registry of "culturally significant" sound recordings in 2008. Here, the musician, producer, and writer Brian Cullman offers a remembrance.

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  • About This Album

    These recordings were made during my first field trip to Bali in September 1966. Since I was inexperienced, I failed to list the musical groups when this album was first released. The opening pieces, “Baris” and “Gambang Betjak,” were performed by the celebrated gamelan gong of the village of Peliatan. My notes do not list the performers of the Genggong, mentioning only that the recording was made in the puri (palace) in Ubud of the late Chokorde Gde Agung Sukawati, one of Bali’s great princely figures. The “Gambuh” music was recorded in the village of Batuan, whose musicians and performers are still famous throughout Bali for their mastery of this style. The “Barong” excerpt was recorded in the village of Singapadu. It is part of the Calonarang dance drama, in which the beneficent Barong confronts the evil witch Rangda. This music is provided not by a gamelan gong, but rather by an ensemble called Gamelan Pelegongan. The Lullaby was sung in the Ubud home of Antonio Blanco, a well-known artist, by his gorgeous 18-year-old sister-in-law, Rani, as she held Tony’s little son, Mario, on her lap, to get into the mood. “Margepati” was performed by the Gamelan Angklung of Bandjar Titih, Den Pasar, which then was a sleepy village, quite unlike today’s bustling metropolis. The “ketjak” (pronounced “kechak”; spelled kecak at the present time) was recorded in the village of Peliatan. My fragmentary notes do not list the musicians of the Gender Wayang ensemble, saying only that the recording was made in the puri of Ubud. Knowledgeable friends suggest that it was probably the group of I Made Grindem of Tegas, near Ubud.

    I did not return to Bali until 1986, when I spent six weeks looking around, to see whether it would be worth mounting a serious recording effort the following year. While the sleepy island I remembered had been invaded by a horde of tourists, Balinese life and culture had endured. Satisfied that there was still plenty of excellent music, I returned the following year with an early generation of digital recording equipment, and spent five months working with many of the island’s best musicians. In 1994 I spent another three months in Bali, making yet more recordings of wonderful music. Some of these digital recordings can be heard on the Nonesuch album Bali: Gamelan and Kecak (79814-2).

    —David Lewiston, Maui, September 2002

    ---

    The thrilling sound of the Balinese orchestral style known as gamelan gong kebyar—which begins this record—is justly famous, for in no other music does one find such shimmering brilliance and tempestuous rhythms.

    But it is less widely known that gamelan gong kebyar is only one of many beautiful musical styles found in Bali, which in its small area (only 2,147 square miles) contains a cornucopia of artistic wealth which would do honor to a country ten or twenty times its size.

    Jawarharlal Nehru called Bali “the morning of the world” with good reason, for its some two-and-a-half million inhabitants lead unusually harmonious, satisfying lives refreshingly free of the tinsel that less wise countries mistake for civilization. For example, a farmer who works during the day in the lush rice paddies with which Bali’s hillsides are terraced may play an instrument in the village gamelan at night. His seven- or eight-year-old daughter, now playing a noisy game with her friends in the street, may at the very next moment emerge in the temple forecourt—which serves as a stage—as one of the gamelan’s star dancers.

    DAVID LEWISTON, 1967