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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Here is an interesting article by Clifford Geertz on Balinese village structure

As ALL things Balinese, Balinese villages are peculiar, complicated, and extraordinarily diverse. There is no simple uniformity of social structure to be found over the whole of the small, crowded countryside, no straightforward form of village organization easily pictured in terms of single typological construction, no “average” village, a description of which may well stand for the whole. Rather, there is a set of marvelously complex social systems, no one of which is quite like any other, no one of which fails to show some marked peculiarity of form. Even contiguous villages may be quite differently organized; formal elements–such as caste or kinship–of central importance in one village may be of marginal significance in another; and each of the twentyfive or so villages sampled in the Tabanan and Klungkung regions of south Bali in 1957–a total area of only some 450 square miles–showed important structural features in some sense idiosyncratic with respect to the others. Neither simplicity nor uniformity are Balinese virtues.

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Here a nice piece on Clifford and Hildred Geertz experience when dealing with Balinese.

Early in April of 1958, my wife and I arrived, malarial and diffident, in a Balinese village we intended, as anthropologists, to study. A small place, about five hundred people, and relatively remote, it was its own world. We were intruders, professional ones, and the villagers dealt with us as Balinese seem always to deal with people not part of their life who yet press themselves upon them: as though we were not there. For them, and to a degree for ourselves, we were nonpersons, specters, invisible men.

We moved into an extended family compound (that had been arranged before through the provincial government) belonging to one of the four major factions in village life. But except for our landlord and the village chief, whose cousin and brother-in-law he was, everyone ignored us in a way only a Balinese can do. As we wandered around, uncertain, wistful, eager to please, people seemed to look right through us with a gaze focused several yards behind us on some more actual stone or tree. Almost nobody greeted us; but nobody scowled or said anything unpleasant to us either, which would have been almost as satisfactory.

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One and half-hour drive from Denpasar to Sibetan village is not a waste time. The winding road to Sibetan through palm-leafed fenced terraced rice fields offers breathtaking sceneries. Rows of the rice fields perch on the slopes of the hills border here and there with bamboo and snake fruit plants create a stunning view to behold that makes one and half-hour drive seems to last only a few moments.

Situated on the foot of the majestic and still active Mt Agung, Sibetan is a quiet and traditional village, with cool temperature, and clean air. This village is well known among the Balinese as the “Home of Salak (snake fruit),” Thousands of salak trees from 14 species grow here due to the agreeable climate and extreme fertility of the soil. The Sibetan village owes this extreme soil fertility and abundance of salak plants to the Mount Agung that erupted in 1963, blanketing the village farmlands sending volcanic dust and rocks, making a return to normal agriculture impossible.

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Rice is the staple diet of the Balinese and a great deal of effort goes into sustaining this vital food source. Past generations of farmers have painstakingly transformed pockets of natural landscape into the most intricate network of rice terraces and canals.

One of the most important elements of the entire rice cultivation process is a shared irrigation system run by an organization called Subak. This collective basically refers to a group of farmers who have adjacent fields and the organization ensures that each piece of landscape receives fair distribution of the precious water that is sourced from a local spring. These farmers also cooperate to repair aqueducts and dikes, prevent theft and invariably attempt to solve the minor problems that arise between neighbours.

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The Ubud Village Resort is over-looking and positioned of its villas is closed to the rice paddy terraces of Pengosekan area of ubud, which is within short drive away from the central of Ubud. The Resort is offering all rooms with private pools and exotic plants, rooms are excellent for honeymooners or for anniversaries with spacious views to gardens or overlooking to the rice paddy. The main swimming pool is the ultimate facility for kids and family with overlooking to the rice paddy. The structure of the Rooms Villa, the layout of the gardens, the shape of the pool and the placement of furniture - all combined to create a unique appeal so that guest expectation toward a truly holidays will be fulfilled.