Gamelan gong gede, meaning "gamelan

Gamelan

A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....

 with the large gongs", is a form of the ceremonial gamelan music of Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

, dating from the court society of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and associated historically with public ceremonies and special occasions such as temple festivals.

Style

Usually performed by a temple orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 of over forty musicians, music written for the gong gede is sedate and graceful, following an andante tempo. It fluctuates in cycles, one fast, one slow, one loud, and one soft. The beat is provided by the largest gong.

Popularity

During their colonization of Bali in the late nineteenth century, the Dutch dissolved the courts. The use of the gong gede became limited to temple music. It was later superseded in popularity by gong kebyar, a more up-tempo form of gamelan played with smaller gongs, that originated in Balinese villages in the late 19th century and became widely popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Example recordings

• Gamelan Gong Gede of Batur Temple
• Bali: Musique pour le Gong Gede