Powerful processional ensemble featuring a team of interlocking cymbals and drums, perfect for parades or for making a bold entrance.
Baleganjur music is an inseparable part of life and death in Bali, heard in every village across the island. Its traditional purpose is to accompany funeral processions, so this intensely rhythmic yet dignified ensemble has a permanent role in Balinese society. Due to its portability Baleganjur is now a fixture of all celebratory processions, most notably on the eve of Nyepi. This Balinese annual day of rest, which precedes their new Year, is juxtaposed by a day-long jamboree of raucous Baleganjur troupes, each sporting their own Ogoh-Ogoh, a giant papier-mache statue of a Demon, Hero or Deity. Although the traditional structure of this music is quite fixed and formulaic, there has been a recent burst of creativity encouraged by the conservatories and with the advent of competitive Baleganjur festivals. This new wave of enthusiastic development has seen the once stoic ensemble expanded with astounding choreography and cross-genre collaboration. A standard Baleganjur ensemble consists of about 20 musicians, plus helpers to carry gongs, but these days in Bali bigger is better. When attending a modern festival parade it is not unusual to witness groups of more than 100 musicians, with dozens of drummers and an enormous battery of cymbal players. Gamelan DanAnda presents Baleganjur ensembles of varying sizes in Community Processions, as Roving Entertainment, and recently acted as entourage for a bride and groom entering their Wedding Reception!