Beleganjur

History

Like the Western military band, the original purpose of beleganjur was to accompany armies into battle and strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. In fact, gamelan beleganjur literally means gamelan of walking warriors. Also like its Western counterpart, today beleganjur has mostly lost its association with warfare, and instead is associated with festivals, contests, and cremation ceremonies.

Although the origin of beleganjur is uncertain, it bears resemblance to the now rare gamelan gong bheri.

Instrumentation

The most primitive beleganjur ensemble, known as bebatelan, consisted of only nine instruments:

The drums and cymbals generally play interlocking patterns over the ostinato of the gongan gong cycle.

Though bebatelan itself is rarely heard nowadays; its instrumentation forms the nucleus of the more complex modern ensemble: beleganjur bebonangan. The additional beleganjur bebonangan ensemble instrumentation is:

The bonang are identical to the individual pots of the reyong; in fact, many groups simply remove the pots from the frame of a reyong so they can double as bonang, and bonang are often referred to as reyong for this reason. The ponggang usually play a characteristic ostinato pattern while the bonang play more complex interlocking patterns known as kotekan.

Cultural role

Gamelan beleganjur is essential to the Hindu religious ceremonies of Bali. There are rites to appease evil spirits and honor good ones, temple festivals to celebrate the anniversary of a temple's dedication, and cremation ceremonies to cleanse the souls of the deceased and prepare them for reincarnation. Though some ceremonies are associated with other specific kinds of gamelan, notably cremation ceremonies with gamelan angklung, beleganjur is nevertheless ubiquitous and often takes the place of other kinds of gamelan if they are not available.