Gamelan

Gamelan  music is a combination of xylophone, cymbal, gongs and drumming.  Nightly, the sounds carry over the valley from the next village.  Rhythmic, haunting, resonating, tribal.  Its traditional, its community, it’s Balinese.

Beginning with a procession, generally from a starting point to either a temple or celebration site if the performance is not tourist driven. 

Wayan is on the right

The performance was at Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in an outdoor amphitheater.  With what began as a light drizzle became increasingly heavy.  The crowd began to thin out.  Come to find out, an announcement had been made which we had no way of understanding!  A gentleman came out to tell us, the two of four people left sitting in the rain, that the performance had been moved to another venue.  

I apologize for the poor quality of the following performance photos, but the lighting was dismal for photography and flash too harsh.  So I’ll spare you and just give you a sampling of dancers.

Cecak dancers with monster

Cecak dancers

Susie and Wayan

Just for fun: