When it came time to write my M.A. thesis naturally I wanted to do something gamelan related. So, in the spring of 1994 I decided my topic would be on the ceremonial style of music from Bali called lelambatan. It's probably one of the most common forms of music on the island, but one of the least known to the general public outside of Bali. Lelambatan is the main ceremonial music for the Balinese, it is most commonly heard at temple ceremonies. The compositions are long, usually 20 - 40 minutes in length. One of the most visual and musical aspects of lelambatan is an instrument called the 'trompong,' a long row of small nobbed gongs that a single person plays in a virtuosic way. It's one of the few ways musically that an individual in Bali can show his skill. In all I spent two summers in Bali doing research for my thesis. The following are a few photos I took which are related to my study.

Recording Banjar Melinggih from the village of Payangan in Bali 1994. They were the main group for my study, this was a specially arrange recording done inside their temple. One of the recordings from this session made it onto an Ellipsis Arts compilation called The Big Bang.

Banjar Melinggih from the village of Payangan in Bali 1994. Upper left, Melinggih performing in a marching gamelan competition. Upper right, lower left and right, performing for their own banjar ceremony. This was the first time I saw them perform, in the photo on the lower right you can see all the offers made just for this ceremony.

In 1997 I returned to Banjar Melinggih for more research, I needed more data for my thesis as there was little ceremonial activities during my first vist. This time I managed to plan my trip so that it would coinside with many different types of temple ceremonies. The photos above were taken the last day I was in Bali (I unfortunately have not been back since). This was the Kunigan ceremony which took place in their own temple. Photo top right, shows the trompong as mentioned earlier. Photo middle left shows the trompong used in a different way, three people all sharing the same instrument. This is a different compositonal style called Sekatian. I hope to do more research on this in the future.

Ten days earlier, in the Payangan's main temple a Galungan ceremony took place. Several groups performed including this all women (ibu) gamelan.

Part of my research on this trip was to explore other gamelan groups in the village of Payangan. Here I am recording the group from Banjar Pengaji, seen here performing Sekatian.