Music in Bali ─ Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

Music in Bali is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study.
Music in Bali introduces the ensemble tradition of Balinese music, reflecting cooperative aspects of the island's social organization. Drawing on many years of study with Balinese performers in the United States and extensive fieldwork in Bali, author Lisa Gold presents contemporary Balinese performance within its cultural and historical context, linking Bali's rich past to its current role in modern, globalized society. She illustrates how new compositions borrow material from earlier traditions while also allowing for individual expression and innovation in vibrant present-day culture. By describing various performances--from a temple ceremony, to a shadow puppet performance, to a masked dance drama--Music in Bali surveys a wide range of performance contexts, from the highly sacred to the secular. It looks at the interconnected layers of the Balinese musical tradition, showing how the island's music, dance, theater, and ritual are intertwined.
Music in Bali is enhanced by eyewitness accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, and vivid illustrations. Packaged with a 70-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book, it features guided listening and hands-on activities that encourage readers to engage actively and critically with the music.

Lisa Gold teaches at UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has taught at Mills College, Colorado College, and San Jose State University. She has been studying, performing, and teaching Balinese and Javanese music since the 1970s, and has conducted extensive field research in Bali and Java. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UC Berkeley with a specialization in Balinese music in wayang kulit (shadow puppet performance) and ritual, with a secondary specialization in folk music of the British Isles. She is a performing member of the Bay Area's Gamelan Gender Wayang, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Gadung Kasturi, Gamelan Sari Raras, and Shadowlight, and has directed and performed in concerts of Lou Harrison's music for gamelan. She is the author of the Bali article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.