Search - Various Artists :: The Music of Bali, Vol. 1: Jegog

This is the first of a three volume series featuring Balinese music and is part of a larger body of music from the largest Islamic country in the world, Indonesia.Jegog is played most frequently for entertainment although it occasionally accompanies religious ceremonies. The orchestra has a total range of five octaves, requiring up to twenty musicians made up of two main instrument groups, the core melody instruments and the elaborating instruments. The core melody is played on several lower octave instruments. In a dramatic presentation, an evening's performance involving jegog will include several dance pieces, in which case several rhythmic instruments are added to the ensemble. Some of the dance forms utilize movements taken directly from the Indonesian martial arts called pencak.Jegog instruments are made from the trunks of the enormous bamboo found in west Bali, featuring eight bamboo tubes which are arranged in a row and placed on an usually colorful and elaborately carved frame. To produce sound, the tubes are struck with rubber mallets. Each instrument has eight keys covering two octaves of the four-tone scale.Jegog is also played during the annual water buffalo race, as heard on track two Amuknama (Driving the Water Buffalo), which is held in Negara, West Bali, and to accompany folk songs. Tracks one and three are traditional opening and closing jegog songs.