UC San Diego

This thesis discusses formations of sub-communities through hybridity involving Balinese gamelan and metal music. Established in 2011, Sanggar Manik Galih located in Bangah, Bali witnessed the creation of multiple new musical ensembles. Founded by I Made Lasmawan and Ni Ketut Marni, Manik Galih extends its practice to the United States and the United Kingdom through diaspora and transnationalism. I look at the sub-genres, gamelan baleganjur and math-metal in isolation, as they both involve ideas of dark culture (evil spirits, negative space, ritual) as inspiration for composition. I use gamelan math-metal band Niskala, which was one of the new ensembles created in 2011 in the Sanggar Manik Galih, as a case study to highlight the musical sensibilities chosen by the band to create a sub-community. Based in Manchester, England, Niskala represents a combination of musics that at first appear to derive from opposing ideologies. Although their music encompasses a similar sonic palette, the philosophical foundation are divergent: gamelan baleganjur works to ward off evil while metal embraces it. An analysis of Niskala's first extended play album titled Panak, extracts the techniques in both musics and demonstrates ideas of juxtaposition and paradox, which are central in both math-metal and gamelan baleganjur. There are multiple sub-genres of metal and it is not uncommon for the practitioners of this sub-genre to combine ideas that project opposing and comedic products. I use Neriko Doerr's idea of "learning through laughter" to frame my study of juxtaposition in musical hybridity since laughter has been essential in the process of exposing gamelan math -metal to a larger audience. In doing so, I hope to re- think musical appropriation in contexts of developing musical tropes