Arts and Crafts

The most famous painter in the regency is l Gusti Putu Windya Anaya, who can be found in his home-studio in the village of Yeh Embang. Jembrana's traditional handloorn weaving centers are Sangkaragung and Dauh Waru near Negara, producing songket and endek for formal occasions. The best woodcarvers and sculptors work in Pendem village near Negara.

Look for silverware and gold jewelry in Dauh Waru. Bamboo artifacts such as lamp covers, bags, and baskets are the specialty of Pulukan near Melaya in western Jembrana while lontar palm leaf handicrafts are produced in Gilimanuk. To see a traditional black- smith at work, visit the village of Batu Agung near Negara.

Dance and Music

Bamboo has been the mainstay of music-making here since the beginning of recorded time. The intriguing and sonorous gamelan jegog ensemble of Jembrana, created by Kiyang Gelinduh in 1912,
consists of 14 instruments made of giant bamboo tubes that play a reverberating, low-pitched melody. Likened to the sound of deep, roaring thunder, these instruments formerly functioned as a means of calling people for cooperative village work.

So large are these natural resonating tubes, the musicians must sit on top, striking the swaying bamboo beneath thern with heavy mallets, The gamelan jegog accompanies Jembrana's Traditional leko-style dances. In his book Balinese Music, Michael Tanzer describes the tubes "stretching to an incredible three meters in length, with circumferences of 60-65 centimeters."

Other musical forms in Jembrana show distinct folk influences from Java and Madura. Examples include the daring Cabang (knife dance), the jegog dance, and Pencak silat. Sewa gati is a "seated opera" found in the village of Berangbang five km north of Negara.

The leko from Pendern village stars two female dancers dressed in classical legong garments. Kendang mebarung is a duel between two one-meter-wide drums (kendang) accompanied by a set of angklung.

Genggong, from Penyaringin village (near Mendoyo), emulates the sound of frogs. The resonant bumbung gebyog employs lengths of bamboo in varying Pitches, playing harmonious interlocking rhythms. It accompanies such dance dramas as Goak Ngajang Sebun ("Crow Building its Nest"). Derived from the pounding of newly harvested Padi, its perhaps the only music on Bali created by women.

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