• for Chinese string trio, vibraphone and an ensemble of Solonese, Balinese and Burmese metallophones (1 er hu, 1 zhong hu, 1 ge hu, 6 percussionists: vibraphone + Balinese jegog + kempuls [suwuk slendro 2, slendro 3, slendro 5]; gender slendro barung and panerus + ceng ceng; gender pelog barung nem and slentem slendro + kenong pelog 1 + high kecer; all bonangs + kenong slendro 6 + low kecer; sarun slendro panerus + pelog panerus + triangle; sarun slendro barung + pelog barung and demung + small suspended cymbal)

• Duration: 4' 10"
• In 1 movement, feasible without conductor
• Composed in 2002
• Commissioned by the Contemporary Asian Arts Centre
• First performance: 16.04.02 Sculpture Square (Singapore) for the inauguration of the Contemporary Asian Arts Centre
• Parts: To rent the parts, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Recording: To purchase Kreisleriana cd, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  Bali.pdf
• Recording: to purchase the cd Kreisleriana, please e mail

Composers like to play with time. Hidden in Casteels’ secret garden, Bali is the isle joyeuse, or happy island, where Casteels imagines meeting Claude and Béla. L’(autre) fille aux cheveux de Bali is derived from the transcreation of Béla Bartók’s Bali szigetén from Mikrosmos with Claude-Achille Debussy’s prelude la fille aux cheveux de lin. L’(autre) fille aux cheveux de Bali was commissioned by the Contemporary Asian Arts Centre and performed at its official launch in 2002. 

Quote
Casteels’ rejection of serious intent enables him to ‘play’ with musical cultures –arguably- without privileging one or the other. He shows an irreverent attitude towards the Western canon, distorting the music with ethnic instruments that have tuning systems jarringly different from their temperament. The ethnic instruments used are abstracted from their traditions, yet point cheekily to their original cultures.
Lee Shin-Kang, Singapore