When the gong kebyar composition first appeared in Northern Bali with the avant-garde villages such as Bungkulan, Jagaraga and villages at its vicinity in 1915, No one ever dreamed that this genre of Balinese gamelan become the most favorite kind gamelan to be played by women. As a matter of fact at that time no one would ever dreamed that Balinese women have any chance to play gamelan.

In the past, gamelan is a privilege for men and the involvement of women in the realm of art was restricted in dance and drama performance area. However, in the last three decades, it is important to note that there has been a significant democratization process within the Balinese art world. Women begun to be given wider chance to participate in every genre of Balinese traditional art; and nowadays the once male-dominated art world has been transformed into free for all art domain.

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Before we proceed to the fate of kulkul, in present days, it is better to shed some light on what the kulkul is. Kulkul is Balinese wooden slit gong. It is made of long, hollowed-out wooden block whose upper end are sometimes carved into anthropomorphic heads. A hard and long lasting wood, such as teak, is usually used as kulkul material. The size of the kulkul is determined by the size of the kulkul tower, bigger tower needs bigger kulkul.

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Once upon a time, there was a region named Daha. When Daha was ruled by King Sri Aji Airlangga the region was remained safe and the people were prosperous. On his power, none of thieves had enough bravery to practice their occupation in Daha. And people lived peacefuly. Unlike Girah, one of villages in Daha, was remained unorganized. This was because a widow named Rangdeng Girah, Rangda (the word “rangda” means “widow” in Bali this word is associated with witch and evil) from Girah village, lived there. She had a daughter; named Diah Ratna Manggali who rumored of having a beauty of an angel.

Rangdeng Girah wished her lovely daughter to get marriage soon. But no one have enough guts to marry Diah because Rangdeng Girah was known as a witch who had a great power to harm everyone. Therefore Rangdeng was very angry. One night, she went to graveyard named Gandamayu, followed by her adherents, Ni Larung, Ni Guyang, Ni Lenda, Ni Lendi, Ni Weksirsa, and Ni Mahisawedana. In the midnight, she tranced and asked her adherents to dance. On that moment she put a curse to every one in Girah Village .

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Many people agree that Bali has interesting culture and art. They love to see all the art and cultural products from the fine arts to the dance and from shadow puppet to traditional drama performance. Its ceremonies are always adored by local and foreign tourists alike. Besides, its friendly people draw lot of visitors from various countries and areas.

However, Bali nowadays has changed because of globalization and penetration of other cultures. Balinese tend to be individual and the area that actually should be utilized for agricultural activities is narrowed. Many other changes have occurred. Then some people who care and want to preserve Balinese cultural heritage held a congress, named Balinese Cultural Congress I at ISI (Indonesian Art Institute) Denpasar.

On June 14-16, 2008, many local and international experts and people who have great concern for Balinese culture were invited to this congress. This congress, which was opened by Cultural and Tourism Minister, assembled representatives from UNESCO and other countries like: UK, Australia, India, and Japan. In addition, Balinese artists, press, scientists, expert in Balinese architecture, Balinese legislatives, and many more attended this congress that was held as a part of Bali Art Festival 2008. They shared their ideas together to find a preventive action so that Balinese do not lose their identity.

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If you happen to be in Bali today, you will have a chance to see cars, motorcycles and bicycles all over the island are adorned with beautiful coconut-leaf decorations. Today, Balinese celebrate Tumpek Landep holiday; a holiday in which Balinese hold a ceremony as a homage to god Pasupati, the lord of steel implements and to express their gratitude to all steel implements which help Balinese in their everyday live.

In the bygone days, Tumpek Landep ceremony was only dedicated to weapons which made of steel such as Kris daggers, spears, swords and so on, especially the weapons that has been “pasupati-ed”, or invested with magical power. Actually, the word ‘landep’ is a high Balinese dialect means ‘sharp’ and usually associated with weapon.

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At first I want to include this article under the headline “Through the Eyes of Researcher” but since this article was written a Balinese high priest Sri Bhagawan Dwija Warsa Nawa Sandi from Buleleng regency who has great concern on environment and climate change and produce many good articles on Hinduism in English, so idecided tomake a new headline “Through the Eyes of Balinese High Priest”. So without further ado here is the article.

NYEPI FOR UNFCCC
The silent day, A way to anticipate global warming

Balinese use to celebrate the Saka New Year. The Saka year is 78 years behind the Gregorian because it was created in 78 AD to mark the crowning of King Kaniska 1 of the Kusana Dynasty, in India. The Saka calendar found its way to Bali through the spread of Hinduism from India to Indonesia and eventually Bali.

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