Baleganjur Festival on Tanah Lot Art Festival 2010

Baleganjur festival will become one of art performance on Tanah Lot Art Festival 2010 on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 9 AM - onward. The performance will showed by younger peoples (sekaa teruna) from every hamlet in Beraban village. This festival will be the challenge in every sekaa teruna to become the best and winner. Any time the hindus peoples in tanah lot celebrate big religious rituals, the sound of their baleganjur traditional gamelan orchestra fills the air. And the passion and creativity of the players have rejuvenated the age-old gamelan, changing it into an appealing performing art. During the performance, gamelan players are required to display both music and dance skills, exhibiting a perfect blend of expressive dance movements and harmonious music.

The development of baleganjur gamelan can be traced back to Prakempa, centuries-old palm leaf inscriptions on traditional Balinese gamelan. According to these inscriptions, baleganjur gamelan was also called ketug bumi gamelan. Etymologically, baleganjur consists of two Balinese words, bala and ganjur. Bala means ""troops"" while ganjur means ""walking"" or ""moving"". It was believed that baleganjur gamelan was originally intended to be war music but in the course of its history, it was played as a musical accompaniment for a myriad of traditional and religious ceremonies.

In terms of musical instruments, baleganjur is a percussion orchestra dominated by instruments like gongs, reong (small gongs), kendang (drums) and ceng-ceng (cymbals). A baleganjur gamelan group usually comprises 25 to 40 musicians and dancers. During a performance, twin drums (kendang) dominate the orchestra's sound and rhythm, serving as opening music and determining the pitch, tempo and rhythm of the entire orchestra. Ceng-ceng are also a significant musical instrument, which enriches the music with a powerful and rhythmic beat, thus creating a very distinctive sound.

Just like other Balinese gamelan, baleganjur also emphasizes kotekan, interlocking figuration play. The interlayered sound produced by lanang-wadon kendang (male and female drums), along with dozens of ceng-ceng instruments, creates a harmonious tone. At the same time, reong instruments, played by four players to six players, create melodious sounds.

The popularity of baleganjur as a traditional, performed art form started in the l980s. Each banjar, plus schools and universities regularly hold baleganjur competitions. There are changes here and there. Some groups modify the musical composition and choreography for dance while others enrich the sound of each instrument.