Gamelan gong gede Gamelan gong gede Gamelan gong gede, meaning "gamelan with the large gongs", is a form of the ceremonial gamelan music of Bali, dating from the court society of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, associated historically with public ceremonies and special occasions such as temple festivals. Usually performed by a temple orchestra 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. During their colonization of Bali in the late nineteenth century,
Gamelan Surakarta although the pattern it plays for the balungan is often the same, in the Yogyanese style it is rhythmically shifted earlier, creating a different emphasis in relation to the balungan. Gamelan Surakarta A typical large, double gamelan in contemporary Solo (Surakarta) will include, in the sléndro set, one saron panerus (or saron peking), two saron barung, one or two saron demung, one gendér panerus, one gender barung, one slenthem (or "gender panembung"), one bonang panerus and one bonang barung (each with twelve gongs), one gambang kayu, one siter or celempung, one rebab, one suling, one pair of kethuk and kempyang,