The Gamelan of Bangle

Terompong beruk is the form of gamelan ensemble indigenous to the Balinese village of Bangle, just one of dozens of different styles found on Bali. But by the mid-90s the villagers had switched to playing the newer gong kebyar style, and the old instruments were seldom played and fell into disrepair. Then Western ethnomusicologists arrived, and their interest spurred a revival of the form, culminating in the release of this 2009 recording.

However, once you’ve heard this disc, which sets the two forms side by side, played by the same musicians, you can kind of see why Bangle made the switch. The highlights are two blistering gong kebyar performances that make great use of that form’s large ensemble and intricate style. The terompong beruk, on the other hand, which is made of iron, is less versatile, with only a handful of different instruments. This means its music is simpler, and the iron instruments’ sound lacks the shimmer of the bronze kebyar. The best moments are the sparsest, when the metallophones are left to carry the melody alone, but on many of the disc’s five terompong beruk pieces, the dominant force is eight cymbal players crashing away at a furious pace. Add in the bamboo flutes, which weave a melody over the top, and you’ve got something that sounds a bit like a school recorder group performing in a steel mill. Worth hearing, in other words, and not without its charms, but perhaps not to everyone’s taste.