Gamelan gong kebyar

Gamelan gong kebyar
Women gamelan played on opposite sides of a large open stage while dancers performed
Inventor(s)Balinese
DevelopedIndonesia

Gamelan gong kebyar is a style or genre of Balinese gamelan music of Indonesia. Kebyar means "to flare up or burst open",[1] and refers to the explosive changes in tempo and dynamics characteristic of the style.

Gong kebyar music is based on a five-tone scale called pelog selisir (tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the 7-tone pelog scale), and is characterized by brilliant sounds, syncopations, sudden and gradual changes in sound colour, dynamics, tempo and articulation, and complex, complementary interlocking melodic and rhythmic patterns called kotekan.

  1. ^ Tenzer, Michael (2000). Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music. University of Chicago Press. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-226-79283-5.