This outline summarizes some of the salient features - both similarities as well as differences - of Western orchestral music and Indonesian gamelan music: aesthetics, techniques, and musical style.
Bali: Divertissements musicaux et danses de transe, Ocora OCR 72 (recorded by Gilles Fresnais)
Bali: Folk Music. EMI CO64 17858 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)
Bali: Joged Bumbung. Ocora 558 501 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)
Bali: Musique et Teatre. Ocora OCR 60 (recorded by Gilles Fresnais)
Bali: Paradis des Iles de la Sonde. Alvares LD113 (recorded by Merry Ottin)
Bali South. IER 7503 (recording by Gertrude Rivers Robinson)
Chants et danses d'Indonesie, Le Chant du Monde. LDX 74402 (record)
Dancers of Bali. Columbia Masterworks ML4618 (recorded by the Peliatan gamelan of Bali)
Gamelan Garland. Fontana 858 614 FPY (recorded by Ernst L. Heins in a royal court in Surakarta Java)
Gamelan Music from Bali. Lyrichord LL7179 (recorded by Ruby Ornstein)
Gamelan Music from Java. Philips 831 209 PY (recorded in the main royal court)
Gamelans de Bali. Alvares LD096 (recorded by Louis Berthe and Bernard Ijzerdraat)
Gamelan Semar Pegulingan. Nonesuch H-72046 (recorded in Bali by Robert E. Brown)
Golden Rain. Nonesuch H-72028 (recorded in Java by David Lewiston)
Indonesia. Columbia Masterworks KL 210 (recorded by Jaap Kunst)
The Jasmine Isle. Nonesuch H-72031 (recorded in Java by Suryabrata and David Lewiston)
Java: Historic Gamelans. Philips 6586 004
Java: Langen Mandra Wanara. Ocora 558.507/9
Java: Une Nuit de Wayang Kulit, LŽgende de Wahyu Tjakraningrat. CBS 65440 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)
Javanese Court Gamelan. Nonesuch H-72044 (recorded by Robert Brown)
Javanese Court Gamelan, Vol. II (recorded by Robert E. Brown)
Javanese Court Gamelan, Vol. III (recorded by Robert E. Brown)
Music for the Balinese Shadow Play: Gender Wayang. Nonesuch 72037 (recorded by Robert E. Brown)
Music from Bali. Argo RG1 and RG2 (recorded in England by Derrick de Marney)
The Music from Bali. Philips 831 210 PY (recorded by Joachim E. Berendt)
Music of Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4537A/B (edited by Henry Cowell)
Music from the Morning of the World. Nonesuch Explorer Series H-72015 (recorded in Bali by David Lewiston)
Music of Sulawesi. Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4351 (recorded by Eric and Catherine Crystal)
Musique et Chants Traditionels Soundanais: Java Ouest. Alvares LD110 (recorded by Merry Ottin)
Musiques Populaires d'Indonesie: Folk Music from West Java. Ocora OCR 46 (recorded by Ernst Heins)
Street Music of Central Java. Lyrichord LLST 7310 (recorded by Roger Vetter)
Choosing his son Pandu as a successor, the ageing king of the kingdom of Ngastina, Abiyasa, decided to retire to a life of meditation. Upon the death of Pandu, the kingdom was to go to his children, the five Pendawa brothers. But since Pandu's death came when the Pendawa were still too young for the throne, Pandu's blind brother Drestarastra assumed power during the interim.
Even at their early age the Pendawa had already demonstrated many remarkable qualities, and, indeed, Drestarastra treated them as he did the Kurawa, his own children. Under his guidance the two groups of cousins were expected to love and respect each other, and, under the guidance of the great teachers Resi Durna and Resi Bisma, the Pendawa and the Kurawa learned the proper ways of the Satriya warrior, his high ethics and lofty values.
It was clear from the beginning, however, that the Pendawa were fast becoming Satriyas, with high virtue and courage. Thus Drestarastra selected Yudistira, the eldest of the Pendawa, to be the next king of Ngastina. However, his decision was ill-received among his own sons, the Kurawa. The eldest Kurawa, Duryudana, under the influence of the his deceitful Kurawa adviser, Sangkuni, persuaded Drestarastra to exile the Pendawa to a forest, thus providing Duryudana the chance to rule over Ngastina. Drestarastra was too weak to counter his evil son's plans. Thus the Pendawa went off to live near Ngastina, while Duryudana ruled Ngastina as king.
Even though the Pendawa graciously accepted their dilemma, the Kurawa feared that the Pendawa would eventually claim their rights. Thus the Kurawa attempted to ensure the permanent exile of their cousins. First they invited the Pendawa to a banquet, providing them with a place to sleep. But it was set on fire by the Kurawa. Fortunately the Pendawa were able to escape unharmed through an underground tunnel. Since the fire killed six innocent guests, the Kurawa thought the five Pendawa and their mother had died and thus celebrated with great glee at their believed victory.
Even in great poverty and danger the Pendawa managed to survive in the wilderness, partly because Bima was their fearless guardian. Once the Pendawa journeyed to the distant kingdom of Pancala for an archery contest--one for the hand of princess Drupadi. Arjuna won and Drupadi became the Queen of the five Pendawa brothers. The god Kresna was also at the contest, and from this time on he became the friend and adviser of the Pendawa.
Still while the Pendawa were in the kingdom of Pancal, the Kurawa learned, to their dismay, that their enemies, the Pendawa had not died in the fire, and attempted a battle with them. The Kurawa, however, were brought to their senses by their old teacher Durna, Bisma, and the cripple Widura. In order to avoid such fighting, it was proposed that Ngastina should be divided into two parts: one for each group of cousins. Drestarastra agreed, and the Kurawa under the leadership of Duryudana chose the better half of the kingdom for themselves, allocating that area that was only uncleared forest to the Pendawa. With great effort, however, the Pendawa converted the forest into a fabulous kingdom called Indrapasta (or Ngamarta), with Yudistira as its king.
The enchanting loveliness of Ngamarta made the Kurawa even more greedy, however. On the advice of Sangkuni, Duryudana invited Yudistira to a game of dice in Ngastina. The betting started with only cattle and servants, but ended with Yudistira betting the Drupadi, the beloved Pendawa queen herself. When the Pendawa lost, Drupadi was paraded before everyone by Dursasana, humiliating her so much that she swore she would wash her hair with Dursasana's blood (Bima vowed to rip him apart in battle). With the next roll of the dice the loser would leave his kingdom to spend twelve years in exile, with the thirteenth year spent in disguise. And if for any reason they were discovered while incognito, the entire period of exile would start over again. Loosing the roll again, the Pendawa were thereby obliged to leave Ngamarta, and for twelve years, the Pendawa again faced many new trials and tribulations.
During their thirteenth year, the Pendawa lived in the kingdom of Wirata, whose king, Matswapati, was a good friend of theirs. But since they were still in full disguise, the king failed to recognize them. At that time they helped King Matswapati repel an unprovoked attack from the Kurawa. They remained incognito for the entire thirteenth year, during which Arjuna's son, Abimanyu, married Utari, the daughter of King Matswapati. It was their son, Parikesit, who forms the link in traditional Javanese legends between the mythological Pendawa and the historical lineage of Javanese kings.
At the end of their exile, the Pendawa naturally assumed that they could just automatically return to their kingdom. But the Kurawa became even more hostile, with their hate for the Pendawa growing day by day. Thus the two groups of cousins befriended many powerful allies. The Kurawa especially desired lord Kresna's services as their adviser who informed Duryudana that he would help him with only one of two possible forms of assistance: (1) troops or (2) Kresna himself as an adviser. Unfortunately for the Kurawa, Duryudana chose the troops, and Kresna, therefore, aligned himself with the Pendawa side.
Finally the situation was so bad that there was no alternative but war. The Bratayuda, or Great War, that ensued was a long and highly complicated series of bloody battles between the two opposing factions. At each confrontation the atmosphere was highly charged with debilitating confusion and overwhelming emotions for both sides. Each Satriya warrior was fully mindful of his loyalty to duty and the code of ethics at any expense, but yet the enemy consisted of their own flesh and blood. Kresna offered his profound counsel to the bewildered Arjuna in the passage known as the Bagawad Gita ("The Song of God"), just as Arjuna was called on to kill his own cousins.
One by one the magnificent heroes from both sides were slain: Resi Durna, Resi Bisma, Adipati Karna, Dursasana, and Duryudana himself from the Kurawa side; and Abimanyu, Gatutkaca, among others from the Pendawa side. After the bloodshed of the Great War and as the relieved Pendawa were resting, Durna's son Aswatama secretly entered the Pendawa camp and assassinated all the Pendawa women and children. Even Parikesit, the son of Abimanyu and Utariis, was slain while still in the womb of his mother. However, revived by Kresna the child grew up to become the last descendant of the Pendawa and one of the first ancestors of the kings of Java.
Near the mighty Himalaya mountains, in the fabled kingdom of Kosala, reigned King Dasarata and his four sons: Rama, Barata, Laksmana, and Saturgna. Raised with wisdom and virtue, the princes lived in peace and provided an endless source of well being to the king and his subjects. When he was old and tired, Dasarata realized that he should give up his throne to his eldest son, prince Rama. The people gleefully decorated the palace for the momentous occasion. However, Dasarata’s second wife, Kekayi, was not at all enthusiastic, for she had ambitions for her own son. So she reminded Dasarata that he owed her two unfulfilled promises and demanded that Barata, her son, be crowned king and that Rama be banished to the forest of Dandaka for fourteen years.
The king, shuddering with grief and anger, could not break his promises and, therefore, was forced to proclaim Kekayi’s requests as royal decrees. Rama respectfully submitted to his father and prepared to leave. As he was departing, Sita begged permission to go into the forest with him. Even though there would be dangers, Rama reluctantly agreed to take both Sita and his brother, Laksmana, with him.
The king was overcome by grief, the people of Kosala cried, many became ill, some even died, and everyone was in deep mourning. Kekay, pretending to mourn, approached her son only to discover, to her surprise and horror, that Barata refused the crown, saying that he would rule the kingdom only as Rama's deputy and with his elder brother’s sandals on the throne. In the mean time, Rama, Sita, and Laksmana journeyed deep into the forest where they found comfort with saints and hermits, one of whom, named Agastya, awarded Rama a magic bow. In the forest the three outcasts built a primitive house where they lived in peace and contentment for thirteen years, even though Rama was often haunted by a sense of danger and would never permit Sita to be alone without a guard; one brother would watch over her while the other hunted.
Soon, however, their idyllic lives were shattered when the demon-king Rawana discovered their hiding place. Entranced by Sita's beauty and charm, Rawana was determined to abduct her, inspired on by his sister, Sarpakenaka. Rawana ordered his minister, the powerful giant Marica, to entice Rama away. A stunning golden deer came to Sita, and she pleaded with Rama to catch it. After a brief period of trying to trap it, however, he become suspicious at being lured so far from the dwelling and shot an arrow at the beautiful and graceful creature. Immediately, right where the deer had died, the grotesque body of Marica materialized. But, before he died the Marica cried out for assistance, but in Rama's voice. Fearing the safety for her prince, Sita persuaded Laksmana to go to his rescue, leaving her alone for a brief time. Thus, Laksmana rushed off to assist Rama, explaining to Sita that under no circumstance should she leave the dwelling.
Suddenly, the cottage was shook by a blast of wind, and Rawana appeared before Sita, but in the disguise of a begging holy man. Flattering her, he soon convinced her to open the door. Upon seeing his flaming eyes, Sita immediately realized her fatal error, but not soon enough! Rawana grabbed her in his arms, leaped high into the air, transformed himself back into his original ugly form, and flew to his palace in Langka (Sri Lanka). On the way Rawana was attacked by the bird Jatayu who, trying to rescue Sita, was mortally wounded.
Rama and Laksmana, setting forth into the dangerous forest to search for Sita, found the dying Jatayu who told them of Sita's abduction. They eventually met a great white monkey, called Hanuman, who told them he was the servant of the monkey king, called Sugriwa. Befriended by the two itinerant travellers, Sugriwa ordered his armies of monkeys, under the leadership of Hanuman, to help search world wide for the princess Sita.
After numerous exciting adventures, they all reached the shore of the sea separating them from the large island of Langka. Hanuman leaped across the sea and found Sita alone in the garden of Rawana's palace. He informed her that Rama would come to her rescue within one month and gave her Rama's ring. In return the delighted Sita gave Hanuman her ring to take back to her husband. Before returning to Rama, however, Hanuman created great havoc in Rawana's kingdom. He increased his size by one hundred times and shouted a terrifying warning to all the giants. Even though his tail was set on fire by Rawana's troops, Hanuman used the flames to burn the entire village before leaping back across the sea to the mainland.
All the monkey armies, under Hanuman's command, prepared their assault, forming a bridge of boulders across the sea. Thus Rama and his allies invaded Langka and forged a violent battle, ending with the death of Rawana by a well-aimed arrow from Rama's magic bow. Rama, Sita, and Laksmana, joyously reunited, returned to Kosala after their fourteen years of exile, whereupon, Barata happily gave up his regency to the proper king, Rama.
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