Gamelan Gong Kebyar
Subtitle: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)
Edition: Har/Com edition
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Published: August 1, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 520
ISBN-13: 9780226792811
Subjects: Ethnography; Folk music; Non-Western music: traditional & "classical"; Music History And Criticism +; Music; Music/Songbooks; Bali; Asia - Southeast Asia; Ethnomusicology; History & Criticism - General; Music / History & Criticism; 20th century; Bali Island; Gamelan; Gamelan music; History and criticism; Indonesia
First sentence: THIS book is a comprehensive study of the music of the gamelan gong kebyar, the most popular and influential genre of twentieth-century music developed on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Description: The Balinese gamelan, with its shimmering tones, breathless pace, and compelling musical language, has long captivated musicians, composers, artists, and travelers. Here, Michael Tenzer offers a comprehensive and durable study of this sophisticated musical tradition, focusing on the preeminent twentieth-century genre, gamelan gong kebyar. Combining the tools of the anthropologist, composer, music theorist, and performer, Tenzer moves fluidly between ethnography and technical discussions of musical composition and structure. In an approach as intricate as one might expect in studies of Western classical music, Tenzer's rigorous application of music theory and analysis to a non-Western orchestral genre is wholly original. Illustrated throughout, the book also includes nearly 100 pages of musical transcription (in Western notation) that correlate with 55 separate tracks compiled on two accompanying compact discs. The most ambitious work on gamelan since Colin McPhee's classic Music in Bali, this book will interest musicians of all kinds and anyone interested in the art and culture of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Bali.