GAMBELAN
Pande Made Gableran's gamelan foundry, located just northeast of Blahbatuh village off the main road to Gianyar, is one of only a few such foundries in Bali. There is a group of smiths in the village of Tihingan, Klungkung, and one in North Bali at Sawan, southeast of Singaraja. The honorific pande precedes Gableran's name because as a metalsmith he belongs to the special Pande clan, an exclusive lineage that has been entrusted with the, sacred responsibility of casting musical instruments and other important metal objects (such as krisses) for centuries. Among Balinese musicians Gibleran is well known and trusted with the manufacture of many a new set of instruments and the maintenance and repair of old ones. He is a broker for the import and sale of large Javanese gongs and also for non-bronze instruments (such as drums) which are made in Bali but not assembled by his workers. He is heir to a rarefied art, a skillful technician, and a smart entrepreneur.
Gamelan instruments at all stages of production are in evidence during a walk through the interconnected courtyards of his compound. On the right, just beyond the entrance is the foundry proper. Scraps of kerawang, a bronze consisting of approximately three parts copper to ten parts tin, sit in small piles on pieces of banana trunk waiting to be weighed. The alloy is mixed here from raw materials, although it is considered better to reuse old kerawang when possible, such as may be obtained from instruments or other bronze objects broken beyond repair. Between one and two kilograms of metal is used per key or small gong, depending on the size of the instrument for which it is intended. Once the furnaces at the rear is hot, the kerawang is melted at a scaring temperature and fired for some time to insure a good blend. When it is removed, poured and allowed to solidify a bit, a gold vermillion form glows from within the mold. This is picked up very gingerly with tongs, hammered into shape a bit if necessary, and plunged into a basin of water. After it is cool enough to handle it is filed, scraped and polished until the lustrous surface of a finished key is recognizable.In the back of the workshop, carpenters are splayed out amidst saws, chisels, lumber and shavings. The pelawah (instrument cases) are constructed here. Kitewel or nangka (wood of the jack fruit tree), a heavy and durable semi-hardwood, is the preferred material, although other woods are sometimes used. Once the basic form of the pelawah is cut and assembled the carvers go to work, creating elaborate designs on every square centimeter of die wood's surface. Most patterns are standardized, featuring a pair of bhomas (earth gods) or nagas (serpents) watching vigilantly from each end with the edges and comers filled in with flowers and other elaborate patterns. These are completed quickly and somewhat nonchalantly by craftsmen who have the designs at the tips of their fingers. Imaginative and wealthy customers may request something a bit more complex, such as different scenes from the Ramayana or Mahabarata epics portrayed on each of a group of instruments, and as a result some gamelans are unique works of art. Once the carving is completed the wood is varnished or decorated with paint and gold leaf.
At the central pavilion the instruments are tuned and assembled. This requires expertise and sensitive ear and is entrusted only to Pande Gabler or one of his sons. If the instrument involved is a set of keys to be part of a gamelan gong kebyar, for example, and if no specific tuning is requested by the customer, the scale will be copied from a "family standard" set of keys that the tuner keeps beside him for reference.

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