GSJ Ensembles
Gamelan Jegog
Bamboo grown in west Bali reaches monstrous proportions the likes of which are not known elsewhere on the island. This quirk of nature has been exploited by local musicians with the creation of the gamelan jegog, so named for the remarkable jegogan that is the sonic core of the ensemble. Individual tubes on these may stretch to an incredible 3 meters in length, with circumferences of 60-65 centimeters. They are so unwieldy that a pair of musicians must sit on top of the frame of the instrument in order to play it. It requires quite a pounding with thick rubber beaters to coax music out of them, but what finally emerges is a sound so powerful that it seems to enter the body through the stomach rather than the ears.
Jegog is tuned to an unusual and haunting 4-tone scale which, it is speculated, was derived from tones 2, 3, 5, and 7 of the full 7-tone pelog (see Chapter Three). All of the instruments have 8 tubes. On the jegogan and the two calungs tuned an octave above them, the 4 right-hand tubes duplicate the tones of those on the left, enabling the players to play rolling melodies by alternating left and right hand strokes between notes of the same pitch. The upper register instruments play melodies and kotekans, including a special style of kotekan called slanketan, in which individual players negotiate both polos and sangsih at once. Melodic and rhythmic cycles are arranged into episodic compositions, the lengths of which can be prolonged or foreshortened simply by repeating any of the sections more or fewer times.
Great crowds gather when two, three or more jegog groups assemble in an open field of an evening to mabarung — play competition style. At first, the idea is to scrutinize the quality of the instruments\’ sound, the musical content and the technical skill of the players. The opening strains of each gamelan\‘s music are carefully examined for these qualities. As the evening progresses, the groups begin to play simultaneously in a cacophony of short, driving ostinato patterns. The focus then shifts to determining who can play louder, harder and for as long as possible without stopping or losing their place in the melody. Shirts soak through with sweat and fingers get ravaged by blisters as musicians push themselves to the absolute limits of their physical abilities in pursuit of such distinctions. Around 2 a.m., after a trial by a jury of peers, the exhausted players finally disperse.
Jegog is extremely popular in Jembrana and getting more so all the time. Any single village may have 5 or 6 active groups. The villages of Tegalcangkering and Sangkaragung are among the best known. A walk down the main street of either of these towns at night is bound to lead to a lively rehearsal hall or two that is filled with the colorfully painted jegog instruments and a group of musicians playing them with abandon. It is worth a trip to this little-visited part of Bali just to hear their ecstatic music.