Layang-layang, which means kites in Indonesian, is inspired by the Balinese Kite Festival. The annual kite festival started as symbolic means to send messages for ample rain and prosperous harvests to the Hindu gods. Today, the festival continues to mesmerise, featuring beautiful scenes and some of the world’s most challenging kites to fly.

 

Written in an adapted Pelog scale, the piece portrays the sights and sounds of the festival. From the pluck-strings section that bejewel the piece like gamelan ensembles with their crisp and mysterious sounds to the flutes which sound like whistles tied to the traditional kites. One might even notice the sounds similar to kite-string spools unrolling throughout the piece.