Widen your horizon on the treasures of Balinese arts and crafts by visiting Bali Arts Festival (BAF) 2009. Melodious sounds of gamelan music break the silence of night and keep away the fierce heat of midday. More and more sizzling crafts are exhibited and on sale here.
The annual BAF held from June 13th – July 11th does not only become the height of events to Balinese artists, but also becomes the most sought moment for the Balinese community. It will become a reunion af artists and their enjoyers. All will pamper their aesthetic sense through art performances and appreciation.
Visitors and spectators will have a closer look at some classical arts existing in Bali. Probably, beyond such an event it would be rather difficult to find some of these classical arts which will be performed during this festival, including gambuh, legong kraton, selonding and genggong.
Gambuh is a classical drama dance considered to be the basic of some Balinese dance-dramas. Arja operetta, for instance, is considered to have been inspired by this art. Gambuh that is rich in movement combines some arts such as literature, dance-drama, vocal and fine arts. Its performance is accompanied by gambelan music. In essence, its theme features the Prince Panji chronicle. This story orginates in Java and was composed around the fourteenth century, which is why most of the performers use the Old Javanese language (Kawi) during their dialogue and only a few performers speak the Balinese language to interpret the story line.
Legong Kraton is performed by two or more female dancers. The dance is called Legong because it was originally developed in the palace or keraton. The distinct characteristic of this dance is the use of a colorful fan (prada). It is said that the movement in this dance were derived from gambuh. This dance is accompanied by a special gamelan called Semar Pegulingan.
The classical gamelan music is called selonding, and it originated in Tenganan Village, Karangasem. Tenganan is a traditional village inhabited by the native Balinese. Local people also call this gambelan Bhatara Bagus Salunding. It is considered to be holy music of the gods (salu means holy place and nding means to purify). This music is usually used to accompany Abuang dance and Pandanus War rituals. Beyond Tenganan, this kind of gamelan also exists in other areas such as Bugbug, Timbrah, and Besakih. Selonding gets less attention compared to other kinds of Balinese gamelan music, which is why its existence and development are less known.
The rarest local music to be paerformed in public is genggong or the Balinese jaw harp. This traditional instrument is made of a piece of string spread on a blade of dry palm trunk. To play it, the genggong is held by the left hand, while the right hand plucks the strings, and the mouth chamber acts as its resonator producing different tones. Along with other instruments, it is used to accompany the Kodok Dance that is familiar to farmer communities. Since it is rarely played, the younger generations do not know much about it. Thanks to the Bali Arts Festival these rare traditional arts can be seen today.

News by International Bali Post

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