I Wayan Balawan was born in Bali, Indonesia, and grew up with Balinese gamelan music. At the age of eight he began to study guitar and by the time he was 14 he had started his own band. In 1993, he received a scholarship to study jazz at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. Two years later, in 1997, he returned to his native Bali, where the 32-year-old formed Batuan Ethnic Fusion. The group played a mixture Balinese gamelan and jazz and released one album in 1999.

One of Indonesia's most versatile musicians, BALAWAN developed his own style of "tapping" on the guitar to create and imitate the sounds of piano, percussion and myriad other instruments. He has earned a reputation for his diverse solo performances but often plays with local and foreign musicians, both in Indonesia and overseas.