Bali 1928 Archives: Unearthing the Past for a Creative Future
“Restoration, Dissemination, and Repatriation of the Earliest Music Recordings and Films in Bali” is the best-conceived project for making audio and visual recordings available in the country of their origin that I know about. It is an elaborate and extremely stimulating example of what scholars call “repatriation”, the return of materials held in archives and museums to their home communities.” ~ Anthony Seeger
Pemugaran, Penyebaran, dan Pemulangan Kembali Rekaman Musik dan Film Terawal di Bali adalah upaya terbaik sepanjang pengetahuan saya dalam upaya menyediakan kembali rekaman-rekaman musik tradisional dan film ke negara asalnya. Kolaborasi ini merupakan contoh yang lengkap dan sangat menggairahkan akan usaha yang sering disebut-sebut oleh kelompok terpelajar sebagai “repatriasi” atau pemulangan kembali materi-materi yang tersimpan di berbagai arsip dan museum ke komunitas-komunitas aslinya.” ~ Anthony Seeger
Anthony Seeger adalah penulis dari Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People, Cambridge University Press, 1987 dan co-editor dari Early Field Recordings: A Catalogue of the Cylinder Collections at the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music. Banyak karya tulisnya berfokuskan pada keterhubungan isu-isu kebangsaan, kebudayaan, hak asasi manusia, serta kenyataan dan tantangan dalam pengarsipan dan kekayaan intelektual. Seeger adalah Produser Eksekutif semua rekaman yang dikeluarkan pada label Smithsonian Folkways antara 1988 dan 2000, total sekitar 250 rekaman.
Bali 1928 Archives — FAQ
What is Bali 1928 Archives?
Bali 1928 Archives is an ongoing research, dissemination, digitisation, and repatriation project dedicated to historical Balinese documents and recordings from the late 1920s and 1930s.
Who leads the project?
The project is led by ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst, Marlowe Bandem (ITB STIKOM Bali), and Allan Evans (Arbiter of Cultural Traditions), in collaboration with institutions and archives around the world.
What materials does the archive focus on?
The project centres on the first commercial recordings made in Bali (1928–29) by the German labels Odeon and Beka, and also includes related films and photographs produced by scholars, artists, and storytellers who visited Bali during the 1930s.
Why are the recordings important for Balinese music today?
Among the archive’s 111 aural recordings are early examples of gong kebyar and tembang (vocal music) that in many cases had fallen out of circulation. These recordings allow contemporary musicians to study pre-war tunings, phrasing, ornamentation, and compositional structures, and to adapt or reinterpret them within current performance practice. What risked being lost becomes a living reference.
What does repatriation change?
Repatriation helps shift interpretive power. Materials once held mainly in European and American institutions are increasingly accessible in Bali, so educators, and village communities can interpret and use them on their own terms—as tools for local reflection, pedagogy, and cultural strategy, not only as objects of foreign scholarship.
Why is this considered both healing and generative?
Because repatriation can be healing, by repairing some fractures created by colonial collecting and displacement, and also generative, by creating new ground for experimentation, imagination, and cultural renewal.
Is it just an archive?
No. Bali 1928 is not only a repository of historical media. It is an evolving relationship between archival materials and present-day Balinese communities, shaped through return, listening, community engagement, and reinterpretation.
How does Bali 1928 support intergenerational dialogue?
Through Cinema Bali 1928, recordings and films are brought back to the villages where they were originally made. Descendants can see and hear the artistry of their grandparents and great-grandparents. These encounters often spark (1) new choices in composition, costume, and staging today; (2) family stories and local memories; (3) corrections to received historical narratives; and (4) renewed pride in village styles.
Does the project “preserve” culture in the past?
Not in a freezing sense. The restored materials are catalysts for new creativity: new compositions, dance reconstructions, films, theatre works, museum installations, and digital projects. The Bali 1928 Archives demonstrates that looking back can open new aesthetic and intellectual paths, rather than locking culture into 1930.
How can I access the archive or get involved?
If you wish to engage more directly with the archive or its repatriation activities, personal access and further information can be arranged by contacting Marlowe Bandem, the program manager in Indonesia.
Got questions?
Feel free to reach out.
