Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! for Gamelan Semar Pegulingan and Choir in Two Christmas Celebrations in Bali

Abstract

In this paper, I present a specific case which I documented in two communities of the Bali Protestant Church (GKPB) in which gamelan music has been used to accompany religious ceremonies. This practice is not shared by all Christian congregations in Bali. When a community desires to have at its disposition a gamelan, it usually limits itself to using a repertory based on the allowed forms (secular and semi-sacred) of gamelan music derived from the taxonomy of Seminar Seni Sacral dan Provan Bidang Tari of 1971. In 2019, the Narwastu Art Community, an interfaith, international, and intercultural gamelan ensemble based in Bali from 2005, played during two Christmas celebrations. The first was at the Grand Hyatt Bali in Nusa Dua, and the second few days after at the Studio of the artist I Nyoman Darsane in Batubulan. Besides the usual repertory based on Balinese gamelan music traditions, the group interpreted two versions of Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! for gamelan semar pegulingan and choir. The Christmas song has been used to serve the two worshiping communities, a peculiar condition that allowed both different celebrations and languages (English and Indonesian). The analysis of the context, celebration, and music permits us to reflect on the conditions that allowed the introduction of a new religious repertory for the Christian community in mainly Hinduist Bali and its broader implications.