Gamelan Gong Kebyar Essay

Anthropology is defined as the study of human societies and cultures and their development through time. This is shown through Clifford Geertz essay “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”. In his essay, he attempts to give insights on the Balinese culture and mainly focusing on the significance of Balinese cockfights within the Balinese culture. Throughout this paper, first, I will briefly summarize Geertz’s essay, then, I will discuss his use of ethnographic fieldwork and ethnocentrism in Bali and how it led him to the discovery of the Balinese culture. Finally, I will discuss cockfights and their meaning and significance within the Balinese culture.

The Mandinka society consist of the Jali, that is an oral historian this is seen to a role held throughout parts in western Africa. The kora is a harp-lute or bridge harp that is played by the Jali. The kora is similar to the harp. Just like the harp, the kora lie in a plane which is perpendicular to the face. The regular kora has 21 strings, which consist of 10 on the right and 11 on the left. The performer has two distinct sections, that are referred to the birimintingo and the kumbengo that allows the performer show his skill as a musician and as a praise singer. The birimintingo section is marked for solo runs on the kora. During teh kumbengo section the perfor repeats a steady pattern on the Kora while singing praises that relate to the history of the Mandinka or of individual family lineages. The kumbengo rhythms demonstrate the tendency of African musicians to use polyrhythm in the performance. During site 7 we hear a lower and an upper part. The lower represents a root rhythmic pattern, while the upper part interlocks with it and produces a cross rhythm. The repetition of the mumbengo allows the performer to focus on singing, trying to keep the performer of thinking about the kora performance. During the birimintingo section, the kumbengo is usually maintained in the lower part by the thumbs while the fingers play the upper melodic

Without the human intention, perception, and interpretation of sound, then the existence of music would be imaginary. Music includes talking words in a way that the person creates a sound that is made with the intention of being music (Deutsch, Diana 10-13, Justus & Timothy., 33-40). Besides, people can perceive silence and sound and put them together so as to call the outcome music. In Bakan’s fourth proposition, he identifies the approach as the Human Intention and Perception (HIP) approach (Resnicow, Joel E., 10-22). In other words, the proposition tries to suggest that music is inseparable from the makers; or more specifically the people who perceive and experience it. Bakan gives numerous examples to show that music is a product of human intention and perception. This paper conducts research and gives appropriate examples to show that music is only identified as music if the person is making it has the intention for their words to be music.

The article “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese cockfight” was written in 1958, an era that marked the rise of symbolic anthropology. The enthnographic piece is discussing a Balinese village with a population about 500 people. An easy observation throughout the essay is the use of first person account to explain the social organization of the village rather than overemphasising on objectivity. Thus, the essay reflects a personal touch of the anthropologist.

Bombo – This is a large drum with the skin made from llamas and the body is made from metal. The sticks have a wooden tip.

In specifically, the community ceremonies on battles warriors where everyone comes together to watch the biggest fight of the year. As the author describes on Okonkwo's defeat of Amalinze the Cat, a great wrestler who was unbeaten for seven years, the music of the community illustrates the unity between their harmonic songs, “The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath” (Achebe, 1 pg). Achebe points out the excitement Umuofia experiences because the competition of the two warriors develops a commotion among the crowd due to the winning of Okonkwo. Thus, throughout the fight, the instruments perfectly portray the community’s atmosphere between these warriors. Their dynamic culture brings both the unity of villages and the combination of a woodwind and percussion instrument.

In the mid 70s, Reich had steadly expanded his knowledge of different musical systems, studying the form of Balinese Gamelan with I Nyoman Sumandi, who is a Balinese musician in residence at the American Society for Eastern Arts Summer Program at the University of Washington, in Seattle between 1973 and 1974, and learning the technique of traditional Hebrew chanting between 1976 and 1977. Based on these diverse non-western studying, after all, the Reich's ensemble performed and recorded ‘Drumming’, ‘Six Pianos’, ‘Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, And Organ’ and they became pivotal acheviement in his career.

This piece is the traditional Indonesian music called Gamelan. The piece is comprised of mainly percussive instruments and has a very light and floaty feel to it. The tempo changes throughout the piece as near the middle the main melody slows down with a background melody that continues to keep its rigorous pace. The counterpoint of these two elements gives an almost psychedelic feeling to the listener of the piece. It is very different from western music but looking closer it holds some of the same elements and structures that western music has. It is a polyphonic piece and it sometimes pauses, which classifies the piece as

Ng, C. (2010). Symbols of Affinity: Ceremonial Costumes in a Minangkabau Village. The Heritage Journal, 5, 26-55.

The polyphonic texture can be seen through the music where is has three different layers which are produced by the different intrsuments. The polyphonic texture is a texture that is simultaneously performed by two or more melodic lines, or players, that have relatively equal interest. The polyphonic texture is not layers that are accompanied by chords, which would be called as the homophonic texture. The music for the Chinese Lion Dance consists of only percussion instruments such as the Gu (which is known as the drum), the Luo (known as the Gong) and the Bo (which is known as the cymbal). These are the instruments that are played together during the performance of the Chinese Lion

The influences of many countries on the country’s culture are evident in its dance forms and music and instruments that make this music. Bulbul has remained a favorite musical instrument. It is a kind of horizontal according usually accompanying devotional or religious songs such as maulud and maadhaha. ("Maldives Music : The Maldives")

The purpose of this paper is to simply explore the world music aspects of the song “Jai-Ho” a piece that combines music styles from around the world containing Western and non-Western musical aspects. The reason I chose this song as my topic is because it is a popular song in America although it does contain many different cultural influences. Growing up I have been exposed to Rap, R&B, and Pop music, sometimes even a combination of all three. This music is what I prefer the most out of the vast majority of labels given to describe songs’ musical aspects. About seven years ago, I remember hearing the song “Jai-Ho” coming from the speakers of my television as my dad watched the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire” I remember the fast pace rhythm, the

In Kabuki theatre, everything that is seen on the stage is the result of a meaningful inner dynamic which completes the performance by the coordination of the actors with all the various components of the mise-en-scène and then by the traditions of all the various elements being assembled into an organic whole (Kawatake 1990, 247).

Music from all over the world presents a range of musical theories. Some of these are documented in writing whilst others are transmitted orally. Discuss and give examples with reference to both Western and non-Western music.

The 20th century saw Malaysia undergoing numerous political, social and economical changes, all of which were reflected in the cultural changes that also took place during this time. In particular, Malay music in Malaysia, due to a myriad of factors and influences, experienced significant transformation to become Malay music, as we know it today. As such, this paper seeks to explore the changes observed in Malay music in the context of Malaysia over the 20th century, and provide an analysis of the factors which have contributed to