Page 3 | Semar pegulingan

Gamelan pelegongan

Contents

Semar pegulingan (1)

Gamelan semar pegulingan (2)

Gamelan pelegongan (3)

I Wayan Lotring (4)

The current revival (5)

Bibliography (6)

Seleh Notes Volume 11 Number 1 November 2003

© Nick Gray

Not all the old semar pegulingan were seven-note ensembles.

The dance now known as legong kraton was created at the end the 19th century, probably in the palace of Sukawati.

It was accompanied by a five-note semar pegulingan that came to be called gamelan pelegongan.

The main difference in the instrumentation was the replacement of the single trompong by two (or sometimes four) gender.

These gender, though played with both hands like gender wayang, mostly only play in octaves, and, like the trompong they replace, they lead the ensemble melodically.

Nowadays, legong kraton is almost always accompanied by gong kebyar, with the ugal taking the melodic lead. Legong music is based on shorter, catchier melodic units than the long, gambuh-derived melodies of the seven-note semar pegulingan.

The pengecet of legong kraton is derived from the melody of a sanghyang trance-dance song, itself close in style to some children’s songs.

The village of Ketewel near Sukawati has a unique five-note semar pegulingan, which accompanies a ritual masked dance.

This ensemble, recorded by Wayne Vitale (see discography), plays pieces which could be precursors of the later legong kraton.

The five-note semar pegulingan from Teges, near Ubud, has issued several recordings in a more modern idiom.

The legong gamelan was also used to accompany calonarang, the dance-drama featuring the witch Rangda and the protective barong, although nowadays it is again gong kebyar that usually fills this role.

This repertory is partly based on the gambuh repertory as well as ostinati to accompany the various characters in the drama, for instance the piece ‘Tunjang’ for Rangda.

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