A House in Tenganan: Gunawan's Gamelan Selonding

Gamelan selunding (also spelled selonding) is an ancient, sacred Balinese gamelan tradition associated with the Bali Aga (indigenous) community of Tenganan in east Bali, Indonesia. The ensemble is rare and traditionally performed by a compact group of four to six musicians. Its core instruments are iron-keyed metallophones (selonding) tuned in a local seven-tone (saih pitu) scale. The term selunding/selonding refers both to the ensemble and to the iron-keyed instrument itself. Compared to the brighter, bronze sonorities of other Balinese gamelans, selunding’s iron timbre is darker and more austere, underscoring its temple-centered, ritual function.