Batuan resident Wayan Balawan listened to Balinese gamelan, rock and jazz music while growing up in Gianyar. At the age of eight he taught himself to play guitar. He joined his first band when he was 14 years old. In 1997, After studying jazz at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney for about five years, Balawan formed a band called Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which combined the traditional Balinese gamelan music with jazz/fusion style.

Batuan Ethnic Fusion plays a combination of ethnic and modern music with emphasis on the ethnic. The group introduced the concept of an orchestra with 5 members playing seruling bambu, and using musical dynamics, rhythm and tempo changes which are characteristic of Balinese gamelan.

Batuan Ethnic Fusion consists of Balawan, Wayan Suastika, Wayan Sudarsana, Nyoman Marcono, Nyoman Suwidha, Gusti Agung Bagus Mantra, Gusti Agung Ayu Risna Dewi and Ito Kurdhi. Batuan Ethnic play a selection of traditional instruments including reong (rows of gongs), suling (bamboo flutes), rindik (bamboo xylophone), genggong (bamboo jaw’s harp), kendang (hand drum) and cengceng (cymbals).

Besides being a band member, Balawan is also working on his solo career and has released three albums. His first solo album was "Balawan", which released in 1997 by the Acoustic Music Label, a German company. Later, he worked with an Indonesian company, and with his band, he released his first band album, "GloBALIsm", under Chico&Ira production in 1999. Recently Balawan launched his second solo album, "Magic Fingers", under the Sony-BMG Music Indonesia label. Magic Fingers really showcases Balawan's abilities in arranging and composing and his ability to blend modern music with traditional Balinese gamelan.

Balawan has developed and expanded a technique called "Fingering Tapping" style. The technique enables the guitarist to play two or even three different music progressions at the same time using the same instrument continuously. Another notable player of this technique is Stanley Jordan, an American jazz/fusion guitarist. Balawan developed the same progression with Stanley Jordan, that he is able to produce a piano, bass and guitar at the same time using just one instrument.

Usually Balawan uses all four fingers of his right hand to create the melody progressions and his left hand to create the bass and rhythmic sounds. Another unique thing is that there is no pattern or repetition whatsoever between the left and right hand. Thus Balawan has a very exceptional skill of playing guitar.^[1]

Balawan also plays drums, both to fill the tracks on his albums and to develop the "Touch Tapping" style.

For more info, go to http://wayanbalawan.com/batuanethnicfusion.html

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