Critical Reading Review 7
Harnish, David. “Teletubbies in Paradise: Tourism, Indonesianisation and Modernisation in Balinese Music.” Yearbook of Traditional Music vol. 37(2005) 103-123.
Summary:
The advertised version of Bali as an island paradise untouched by other cultures fails to take into account the violence, modernisation, and other elements Bali has been affected by and adapted to over the last century (the author uses the ubiquity of Teletubbies in 2005 on Bali as an example). This idealized version of the island wasn't even presented until after Dutch colonization when Bali's original culture had already been significantly changed. For example, the Dutch removed the courts, who had power over the island before they came along. The removal of the courts initiated a new type of gamelan music called gong kebyar, because the court gamelans disbanded and sold their instruments to villages, who formed their own gamelans and innovated in their separate environments. In 1959, the first gamelan conservatory was formed, and the prevalence these conservatories and of Western techniques in them has greatly increased since then. A new form of music called kontemporer that largely deviates from the traditional style (sometimes it doesn't even feature a gamelan) is becoming popular with composers.
Discussion Question:
Should the traditional music of Bali be valued more than the innovative kontemporer being developed today? Why?
Summary:
The advertised version of Bali as an island paradise untouched by other cultures fails to take into account the violence, modernisation, and other elements Bali has been affected by and adapted to over the last century (the author uses the ubiquity of Teletubbies in 2005 on Bali as an example). This idealized version of the island wasn't even presented until after Dutch colonization when Bali's original culture had already been significantly changed. For example, the Dutch removed the courts, who had power over the island before they came along. The removal of the courts initiated a new type of gamelan music called gong kebyar, because the court gamelans disbanded and sold their instruments to villages, who formed their own gamelans and innovated in their separate environments. In 1959, the first gamelan conservatory was formed, and the prevalence these conservatories and of Western techniques in them has greatly increased since then. A new form of music called kontemporer that largely deviates from the traditional style (sometimes it doesn't even feature a gamelan) is becoming popular with composers.
Discussion Question:
Should the traditional music of Bali be valued more than the innovative kontemporer being developed today? Why?
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