Bittersweet Sounds of Passage
Cloth: 07/08/2025
About the Book
An important presence through centuries of musical and social change, gamelan angklung is a small, four-tone bronze-keyed ensemble that remains ubiquitous at cremations in Bali. Ellen Koskoff offers a compelling portrait of these little-studied orchestras and their members: rice farmers, eatery owners, and other locals who do not see themselves as musicians or what they play as music.Koskoff examines the history, cultural significance, and musical structures of contemporary gamelan angklung cremation music through the lens of three intertwined stories: existing scholarship on this music, written mostly by Western composers and scholars; the views of those performing and experiencing the music who regard it as dharma--ritual obligation, a basic concept in Balinese Hinduism; and the music itself, with a musical analysis focusing on changes in rasa--feeling, flavor and musical flow.
A journey inside a tradition, Bittersweet Sounds of Passage reveals the overlooked music of an important ritual in Balinese village life.
* Publication of this book is supported by a grant from the Bruno Nettl Endowment for Ethnomusicology.
About the Author
Ellen Koskoff is Professor Emerita of Ethnomusicology at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Her many books include the award-winning Music in Lubavitcher Life and A Feminist Ethnomusicology: Writings on Music and Gender.Reviews
Blurbs
“A marvelous and distinctive contribution to the growing canon of scholarship on Balinese gamelan music that is sure to be enjoyed by international gamelan musicians, students of ethnomusicology, and the many connoisseurs of Balinese culture far beyond academia.”--Michael Tenzer, author of Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth Century Balinese Music
Supplemental Material
Gending
1. "Santun" (Politeness), pemungkah, pemungkah, pengiba
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2. "Tambun" (Belonging Together), pemungkah, pengiba
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3. "Katak Ngongkek" (Croaking Frog), pemungkah, pengawak, pengiba
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4. "Tungtung Tangis" (Forever Weeping), pemungkah, pengawak, pengawak/pengiba hybrid
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5. "Capung Gantung" (Hovering Dragonfly), pemungkah, pengawak, pengiba
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6. "Sekar Jepun" (Japanese Flower), pemungkah, pengawak, pengiba
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7. "Bapang" (a metric pattern), pemungkah (same as 4 pemungkah), pemungkah, pengiba (same as 6 pengiba)
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8. "Lutung Loncat" (Jumping Monkey), pengawak, pengawak, pengawak, pengiba (same as 2 pengiba)
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9. "Prebangsa," pemungkah (same as 6 pemungkah), pengawak (same as 6 pengawak), pengawak
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10. "Capung Manjus" (Bathing Dragonfly), pengawak/pemungkah hybrid, pengawak (same as 4 pengawak), pengawak/pengiba hybrid
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11. "Sekar Gadung" (Gadung Flower), pemungkah (same as 6 pemungkah), pengawak (same as 6 pengawak), pengiba (same as 2 pengiba)
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12. "Cerukcuk Punyah" (Drunken Bird), pengawak/pemungkah hybrid (same as 10 pengawak/pemungkah hybrid), pemungkah, pengiba
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13. "Alis-Alis Ijo" (Green Eyebrow), pemungkah, pemungkah, pemungkah/pengawak hybrid, pengawak
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14. "Jangkrik Ngibing" (Dancing Cricket), pemungkah/pengawak hybrid, pengawak (same as 10 pengawak/pengiba hybrid)
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15. "Jaran Nginjek" (Runaway Horse), pengiba
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Recordings
Recording 1.1. Kulkul calling the men of Taman Sari to the balé banjar
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Recording 2.1. "Capung Gantung"
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Recording 2.2. "Tabuh Telu," Introduction, played by the Eastman School's gamelan gong kebyar, Sanjiwani
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Recording 2.3. "Tabuh Telu," Introduction, played by the Eastman School's gamelan angklung, Lila Muni
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Recording 2.4. "Tabuh Telu," Introduction from "Balinese Ceremonial Music for Two Pianos" (1937), by Colin McPhee
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Recording 2.5. "Kelinci Nongklang" (1982), by I Nyoman Suadin
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Recording 7.1. Standard Pokok: First four phrases of "Sekar Jepun," pemungkah
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Recording 7.2. Support Pokok: First four phrases of "Tungtung Tangis," pengawak
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Recording 7.3. Ostinato Pokok: Two cycles of "Tungtung Tangis," pengiba
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Recording 7.4. Pemungkah initial phrase-group from "Santun"
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Recording 7.5. Pengiba from "Santun"
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Recording 7.6. Pengiba from "Capung Gantung"
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Recording 7.7. Pemungkah initial phrase-group from "Tambun"
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Recording 7.8. Pengawak initial phrase-group from "Lutung Loncat," A
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Recording 7.9. Pengawak initial phrase-group from "Lutung Loncat," C
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Recording 7.10. Pengawak internal cycle from "Capung Manjus"
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Recording 7.11. Long syncopated link from "Sekar Jepun," pengawak
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Recording 7.12. Pengawak from "Tungtung Tangis"
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Recording 8.1. Pemungkah from "Katak Ngongkek"
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Recording 8.2. Pemungkah from "Alis-Alis Ijo"
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Recording 8.3. Pemungkah from "Tambun"
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Recording 8.4. Pemungkah from "Tungtung Tangis"
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Recording 8.5. Pengawak from "Prebangsa"
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Recording 8.6. Pengawak from "Sekar Jepun"
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Recording 8.7. Pengiba from "Lutung Loncat"
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Recording 8.8. Pengiba from "Tungtung Tangis"
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Recording 8.9. Pemungkah/Pengawak hybrid from "Alis-Alis Ijo"
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Recording 8.10. Pengawak/Pengiba hybrid from "Capung Manjus"
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Recording 9.1. Pemungkah from "Capung Gantung"
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