The Balinese Traditional Musicians Duel Performance

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Hello everyone, all Hiveans, I'd like to share a unique traditional music performance in my town. It's a fight or duel betwen two groups of traditional music players playing musical instrument called Jegog.

Jegog is a xylophone made of bamboo. It's not any type of bamboo, but a special kind called petung because of its big size. The bigger the bamboo is better since it makes better and louder sound.

There are two groups ready to fight that evening in the main temple yard of my town. Each group consisted of about ten musicians.

At the beginning of the performance, each of the musicians group played a melody called Taruntungan. This melody is supposed to be a gratitude music for the spectators and music appreciators of this line of music.

The spectators, who sit cross-legged on the floor watching the performance, clapped their hands. I reckoned there were ore that a hundred people watching this performance.

First known in 1912 in a village called Sebual (West Bali) jegog mebarung or jegog duel is performed during a celebration, wedding, or great harvest. In this occasion, the show was for the anniversary of the town where I live.

And then the duel began. The jegog set was placed close to each other between the two groups of musician. One group started to play followed by the other group. They played different melody, but because of the loud sound it was hard to distinguish which melody come from which group.

That is actually the main idea. Each group tried to dominate the other group. That who dominate would be the winner.

There was no prize for the winner, but high appreciation from the spectators for both group for such an incredible performance.

What do you think of the music? Do you like listening to it? I, myself enjoyed the music. I grown up with this traditional music. But I also like the spirit of the musicians when they fight or compete against the other musicians.

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