Bali: Golden Rain

Submitted by nonesuch on
genre
Explorer Series
World Music
Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Nowhere is the richness of Balinese art more evident than in this glittering music, which uses a 25-piece gamelan of metallophones, gongs, cymbals, drums, and flutes. The relatively new style of gamelan gong kebjar changed the form radically: kebjar, literally meaning to burst into flame, refers to the free virtuosic passages interspersed with traditional forms.

Description

Nowhere is the richness of Balinese art more evident than in the glitteringly brilliant music and dance of gamelan gong kebjar, which uses a 25-piece orchestra of xylophone-like bronze-keyed instruments, tuned gongs, cymbals, drums, and flutes. This style is relatively new. The earlier musical style known as gamelan gong was stately in pace. Gamelan means orchestra; gong refers to the large gong used in the orchestra. But when the kebjar style came into existence, this traditional form changed radically. Kebjar literally means to burst into flame. Musically, kebjar refers to free virtuoso passages which are interspersed with the traditional episodes.

FROM THE ORIGINAL LINER NOTES (1969)

Nonesuch Selection Number

79716

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
197
ns_album_id
498
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Available
Artist Name
Explorer Series: Indonesia
reissues?
reissues
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
0.00
UPC
075597971620BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
081227775469

  • 79716

News & Reviews

  • David Lewiston, Musical Explorer, Dies at 88

    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.

    Read more
View All

Buy Now

  • About This Album

    Nowhere is the richness of Balinese art more evident than in the glitteringly brilliant music and dance of gamelan gong kebjar, which uses a 25-piece orchestra of xylophone-like bronze-keyed instruments, tuned gongs, cymbals, drums, and flutes. This style is relatively new. The earlier musical style known as gamelan gong was stately in pace. Gamelan means orchestra; gong refers to the large gong used in the orchestra. But when the kebjar style came into existence, this traditional form changed radically. Kebjar literally means to burst into flame. Musically, kebjar refers to free virtuoso passages which are interspersed with the traditional episodes.

    FROM THE ORIGINAL LINER NOTES (1969)