ISFA - Traditional Indonesian Music & Dance Traditional Indonesian Music & Dance Gamelan Ensemble A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems: sléndro and pélog. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own style. In Indonesia, gamelan usually accompanies dance, wayang puppet perfonnances, or rituals or ceremonies. Saman Dance "Saman" the most popular dance in Aceh and the dance that has become well-known abroad with the name "Thousand hands". It has its origin from the Alas ethnic group and is normally performed to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad [S] and other important occasions. Eight to twenty male perfonners kneel in a row on the floor and make different kinds of torso movements accompanied by songs, clapping hands, slapping chests, slapping hands on the floor, etc.

The songs are praises to Allah or prayers. The dance starts with slow movements and increases its tempo gradually to great speed and finally come to a sudden stop. There are many differcnt regional versions of "Saman". Baris Dance Baris Dance is a ceremonial dance from Bali. The word Baris itself means "lines" or can also be associated with soldiers forming lines, which is why this dance shows skills of a group of soldiers. This dance is a group dance performed by males, which is usually performed by 8 to 40 dancers with lively and dynamic yet sturdy music, accompanied by Gongs. The dancers usually bring weapons as well as tools of the ceremony and use different colored costumes. Sasando Sasando is a traditional string musical instrument from Rote, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. The shape of sasando is quite similar with other types of string instrument such as guitar, violin, or kacapi. The sasando consists of a body made from a hollow piece of bamboo, with a wooden head and foot. The old version of the sasando has 10 strings, stretched from the head to foot, and fastened at both ends with nails.

The nails at the head can also be turned to adjust the tuning by altering the tension of the strings. This sound source sits inside a semi-spherical resonator made from leaves of the palmyra palm tree. A small sasando can be 30 cm wide, while a large one can be 50 cm long and 30 cm wide. Sasando music is used within the Timorese community for all kinds of social events, such as to celebrate the birth of baby, a wedding or death. Golek Dance The Golek Dance originated from the Yogyakarta Hadiningrat Court in Central Java. Compared to average Javanese court dances, the Golek dances have vivid characteristics because their choreography is inspired by dance outside the Javanese courts. This dance depicts court ladies who are preparing for a court festivity. They realise that one can be dressed with external beauty as well as with intcrnal beauty. The ladies try to see through the mcaning of beauty in human life, while observing themselves in the mirror.

Yapong Dance Yapong dance is a contemporary dance from Jakarta, Indonesia, composed by Bagong Kussudiardjo, a famous choreographer from Yogyakarta, Java in 1970. Yapong is based on Betawi traditional style female dance. The music is very lively; it is a combination of a new Javanese melodic gamelan style with a modem beat. Angklung Angklung is a traditional musical instrument that originated from Sunda, West Java, Indonesia. It is made of two bamboo tubes that resonate and produce a note when struck. Each angklung is tuned to play a particular note in an octave. The history of angklung can be dated back more than a thousand years ago during Sunda Kingdom when it was used as a way to foster community spirit as well as to praise the Goddess of Padi Dewi Sri. Angklung is played by shaking the instrument rapidly from side to side. It can be played solo or in an ensemble where each person plays a particular note. Indonesian Choir Choir is called "Paduan Suara" in Indonesian. It plays a relatively important role in Indonesian culture, often performed during important events such as wedding or special celebrations.

Kicir Kicir This is a traditional song of Betawi people from Jakarta. The lyrics of the song actually consists of poems that have rhymes at the end of each sentence (similar to limericks). Each of these poems contains advice or consolation with a sense of humor, a very typical character of Betawi people. Ondel Ondel Ondel-ondel is a traditional song from Jakarta. Ondel-ondel is a giant puppet mascot used in Betawi's marriage, ceremonies, or the city of Jakatia's anniversary festivals. These puppets represent Betawi's ancestors who always guard and look after their descendants. The size of an Ondel-ondel puppet can be as high as 2.5 m and 80 cm in diameter. It is made of bamboo webbing and the hairs are made of fibre of palm tree. This traditional song contains invitation for watching the Ondel-ondel parade, accompanied by a lively musical arrangement and lyrics full of humor.

Pencak Silat: Traditional Indonesian Music & Dance in Pencak Silat Traditional Indonesian Music & Dance in Pencak Silat Gamelan Ensemble A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems: sléndro and pélog. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own style. In Indonesia, gamelan usually accompanies dance, wayang puppet perfonnances, or rituals or ceremonies. Saman Dance "Saman" the most popular dance in Aceh and the dance that has become well-known abroad with the name "Thousand hands". It has its origin from the Alas ethnic group and is normally performed to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad [S] and other important occasions.

Eight to twenty male perfonners kneel in a row on the floor and make different kinds of torso movements accompanied by songs, clapping hands, slapping chests, slapping hands on the floor, etc. The songs are praises to Allah or prayers. The dance starts with slow movements and increases its tempo gradually to great speed and finally come to a sudden stop. There are many differcnt regional versions of "Saman". Baris Dance Baris Dance is a ceremonial dance from Bali. The word Baris itself means "lines" or can also be associated with soldiers forming lines, which is why this dance shows skills of a group of soldiers. This dance is a group dance performed by males, which is usually performed by 8 to 40 dancers with lively and dynamic yet sturdy music, accompanied by Gongs. The dancers usually bring weapons as well as tools of the ceremony and use different colored costumes. Sasando Sasando is a traditional string musical instrument from Rote, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. The shape of sasando is quite similar with other types of string instrument such as guitar, violin, or kacapi.

The sasando consists of a body made from a hollow piece of bamboo, with a wooden head and foot. The old version of the sasando has 10 strings, stretched from the head to foot, and fastened at both ends with nails. The nails at the head can also be turned to adjust the tuning by altering the tension of the strings. This sound source sits inside a semi-spherical resonator made from leaves of the palmyra palm tree. A small sasando can be 30 cm wide, while a large one can be 50 cm long and 30 cm wide. Sasando music is used within the Timorese community for all kinds of social events, such as to celebrate the birth of baby, a wedding or death. Golek Dance The Golek Dance originated from the Yogyakarta Hadiningrat Court in Central Java. Compared to average Javanese court dances, the Golek dances have vivid characteristics because their choreography is inspired by dance outside the Javanese courts. This dance depicts court ladies who are preparing for a court festivity. They realise that one can be dressed with external beauty as well as with intcrnal beauty.

The ladies try to see through the mcaning of beauty in human life, while observing themselves in the mirror. Yapong Dance Yapong dance is a contemporary dance from Jakarta, Indonesia, composed by Bagong Kussudiardjo, a famous choreographer from Yogyakarta, Java in 1970. Yapong is based on Betawi traditional style female dance. The music is very lively; it is a combination of a new Javanese melodic gamelan style with a modem beat. Angklung Angklung is a traditional musical instrument that originated from Sunda, West Java, Indonesia. It is made of two bamboo tubes that resonate and produce a note when struck. Each angklung is tuned to play a particular note in an octave. The history of angklung can be dated back more than a thousand years ago during Sunda Kingdom when it was used as a way to foster community spirit as well as to praise the Goddess of Padi Dewi Sri. Angklung is played by shaking the instrument rapidly from side to side. It can be played solo or in an ensemble where each person plays a particular note. Indonesian Choir Choir is called "Paduan Suara" in Indonesian.

It plays a relatively important role in Indonesian culture, often performed during important events such as wedding or special celebrations. Kicir Kicir This is a traditional song of Betawi people from Jakarta. The lyrics of the song actually consists of poems that have rhymes at the end of each sentence (similar to limericks). Each of these poems contains advice or consolation with a sense of humor, a very typical character of Betawi people. Ondel Ondel Ondel-ondel is a traditional song from Jakarta. Ondel-ondel is a giant puppet mascot used in Betawi's marriage, ceremonies, or the city of Jakatia's anniversary festivals. These puppets represent Betawi's ancestors who always guard and look after their descendants. The size of an Ondel-ondel puppet can be as high as 2.5 m and 80 cm in diameter. It is made of bamboo webbing and the hairs are made of fibre of palm tree. This traditional song contains invitation for watching the Ondel-ondel parade, accompanied by a lively musical arrangement and lyrics full of humor.

Posted by Selamat Hari Raya Idul Adha 1432 H Taqabalallahu minna wa min-kum Gamelan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gamelan Sunda A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia , typically from the islands of Bali or Java , featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones , xylophones , drums and gongs ; bamboo flutes , bowed and plucked strings . Vocalists may also be included. The term refers more to the set of instruments than to the players of those instruments. A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together – instruments from different gamelan are generally not interchangeable. The word gamelan comes from the Javanese word gamels, meaning "to strike or hammer", and the suffix an, which makes the root a collective noun. Contents History of gamelan music[ edit ] Musicians performing musical ensemble, bas-relief of Borobudur Gamelan orchestra (1870-1891) The gamelan predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture that dominated Indonesia in its earliest records and instead represents a native art form. The instruments developed into their current form during the Majapahit Empire .

[1] In contrast to the heavy Indian influence in other art forms, the only obvious Indian influence in gamelan music is in the Javanese style of singing. [2] In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountains in Medangkamulan (now Mount Lawu ). He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong. For more complex messages, he invented two other Gongs, thus forming the original gamelan set. [3] The earliest image of a musical ensemble is found on the 8th century Borobudur temple, Central Java. Musical instruments such as the bamboo flute, bells, drums in various sizes, lute, and bowed and plucked string instruments were identified in this image. However it lacks metallophones and xylophones. Nevertheless, the image of this musical ensemble is suggested to be the ancient form of the gamelan.

In the palaces of Java are the oldest known ensembles, the Munggang and Kodokngorek gamelans, apparently from the 12th century. These formed the basis of a "loud style". A different, "soft style" developed out of the kemanak tradition and is related to the traditions of singing Javanese poetry , in a manner which is often believed to be similar to performance of modern bedhaya dance. In the 17th century, these loud and soft styles mixed, and to a large extent the variety of modern gamelan styles of Bali, Java, and Sunda resulted from different ways of mixing these elements. Thus, despite the seeming diversity of styles, many of the same theoretical concepts, instruments, and techniques are shared between the styles. [4] Varieties of gamelan ensembles[ edit ] See also: List of gamelan varieties Varying forms of gamelan ensembles are distinguished by their collection of instruments and use of voice, tunings, repertoire, style, and cultural context. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own style.

Certain styles may also be shared by nearby ensembles, leading to a regional style. The varieties are generally grouped geographically, with the principal division between the styles favored by the Balinese , Javanese , and Sundanese peoples. The Madurese also had their own style of gamelan, although it is no longer in use, and the last orchestra is kept at the Sumenep palace. [5] Sundanese gamelan is often associated with Gamelan Degung , a Sundanese musical ensemble that utilises a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of pelog scale. Balinese gamelan is often associated with the virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo and dynamics of Gamelan gong kebyar , its best-known style. Other popular Balinese styles include Gamelan and kecak , also known as the "monkey chant." Javanese gamelan was largely dominated by the courts of the 19th century central Javanese rulers, each with its own style, but overall is known for a slower, more meditative style than that of Bali. Although Javanese gamelan can be made from steel, the better instruments are made of cast brass.

The two kinds of instruments are tuned in different ways. Outside of the main core on Java and Bali , gamelans have spread through migration and cultural interest, new styles sometimes resulting as well. Malay gamelans are designed in ways that are similar to the Javanese gamelan except they lack most of the elaborating instruments and are tuned in a near-equidistant slendro, often using a western Bb or C as a tuning basis. Javanese emigrants to Suriname play gamelan in a style close to that found in Central Javanese villages. Gamelan is also related to the Filipino kulintang ensemble. There is also a wide variety of gamelan in the West, including both traditional and experimental ensembles. In oral Javanese culture distinctions are made between complete or incomplete, archaic and modern, and large standard and small village gamelan (On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments, Margaret Kartomi, 1990, U. of Chicago Press, p. 91). The various archaic ensembles are distinguished by their unique combinations of instruments and possession of obsolete instruments such as the bell-tree (byong) in the 3-toned gamelan kodhok ngorek.

Regionally variable village gamelan are often distinguished from standard gamelan (which have the rebab as the main melodic instrument) by their inclusion of a double-reed wind (selompret, slompret, or sompret) in addition to variable drum and gong components, with some also including the shaken bamboo angklung or other instruments not usually associated with gamelan. Cultural context[ edit ] In Indonesia, gamelan usually accompanies dance wayang puppet performances, or rituals or ceremonies. Typically players in the gamelan will be familiar with dance moves and poetry, while dancers are able to play in the ensemble. In wayang , the dhalang (puppeteer) must have a thorough knowledge of gamelan, as he gives the cues for the music. Gamelan can be performed by itself – in "klenengan" style, or for radio broadcasts – but concerts in the Western style are not traditional. [6] Gamelan's role in rituals is so important that there is a Javanese saying, "It is not official until the gong is hung". [7] Some performances are associated with royalty, such as visits by the sultan of Yogyakarta .

Certain gamelans are associated with specific rituals, such as the Gamelan Sekaten , which is used in celebration of Mawlid an-Nabi ( Muhammad 's birthday). In Bali , almost all religious rituals include gamelan performance. Gamelan is also used in the ceremonies of the Catholic church in Indonesia . [8] Certain pieces are designated for starting and ending performances or ceremonies. When a "leaving" piece (such as " Udan Mas ") is begun, the audience will know that the event is nearly finished and will begin to leave. Certain pieces are also believed to possess magic powers, and can be used to ward off evil spirits. [7] Javanese gamelan ensemble with two female sindhen (choral singer) during traditional Javanese wedding at Sasono Utomo, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah , Jakarta , Indonesia Gamelan is frequently played on the radio. For example, the Pura Pakualaman gamelan performs live on the radio every Minggu Pon (a day in the 35-day cycle of the Javanese calendar ). [7] In major towns, the Radio Republik Indonesia employs professional musicians and actors, and broadcast programs of a wide variety of gamelan music and drama.

[9] In the court tradition of central Java , gamelan is often played in the pendopo , an open pavilion with a cavernous, double-pitched roof, no side walls, and a hard marble or tile floor. The instruments are placed on a platform to one side, which allows the sound to reverberate in the roof space and enhances the acoustics. [10] In Bali , the Gamelan instruments are all kept together in the balai banjar, a community meeting hall that has a large open space with a roof over the top of it and several open sides. The instruments are all kept there together because people believe that all the instruments belong to the community as a whole and that no one person has ownership over an instrument. Not only is this where the instruments are stored, but this is also the practice space for the sekaha (Gamelan orchestra). The open walls allow for the music to flow out into the community where the rest of the people can enjoy it. The sekaha is led by a single instructor whose job it is in the community to lead this group and to come up with new songs.

When they are working on a new song, the instructor will lead the group in practice and help the group form the new piece of music as they are practicing. When the instructor creates a new song, he leaves enough open for interpretation that the group can improvise, so the group will write the music as they practice it. The Balinese Gamelan groups constantly change their music by taking older pieces they know and mixing them together, as well as trying new variations on their music. Their music constantly changes because they believe that music should grow and change; the only exception to this is with their most sacred songs which they do not change. A single new piece of music can take several months before it is completed. Men and women usually perform in separate groups, with the exception of the pesindhen , the female singer who performs with male groups. [9] In the West, gamelan is often performed in a concert context, but may also incorporate dance or wayang . Celempung – Indonesian Embassy in Canberra The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems : sléndro and pélog .

There are other tuning systems such as degung (exclusive to Sunda, or West Java), and madenda (also known as diatonis, similar to a European natural minor scale ). In central Javanese gamelan, sléndro is a system with five notes to the diapason ( octave ), fairly evenly spaced, while pélog has seven notes to the octave, with uneven intervals, usually played in five note subsets of the seven-tone collection. This results in sound quite different from music played in a western tuning system. Many gamelan orchestras will include instruments in each tuning, but each individual instrument will only be able to play notes in one. The precise tuning used differs from ensemble to ensemble, and give each ensemble its own particular flavour. The intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within each gamelan, but the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next.

Colin McPhee remarked, "Deviations in what is considered the same scale are so large that one might with reason state that there are as many scales as there are gamelans." [11] However, this view is contested by some teachers of gamelan, and there have been efforts to combine multiple ensembles and tuning structures into one gamelan to ease transportation at festival time. One such ensemble is gamelan Manikasanti, which can play the repertoire of many different ensembles. Balinese gamelan instruments are commonly played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats , ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. It is thought that this contributes to the very "busy" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state. As well as the non-western octave and the use of beats, Javanese gamelan uses a combination of tempo and density known as Irama , relating how many beats on the saron panerus instrument there are to notes in the core melody or balungan ; density is considered primary.

[12] Notation[ edit ] Gamelan music is traditionally not notated and began as an oral tradition . In the 19th century, however, the kratons of Yogyakarta and Surakarta developed distinct notations for transcribing the repertoire. These were not used to read the music, which was memorized, but to preserve pieces in the court records. The Yogyanese notation is a checkerboard notation, which uses six or seven vertical lines to represent notes of higher pitch in the balungan (core melody), and horizontal lines which represent the series of beats, read downward with time. The fourth vertical line and every fourth horizontal line (completing a gatra ) are darkened for legibility. Symbols on the left indicate the colotomic structure of gongs and so forth, while specific drum features are notated in symbols to the right. The Solonese notation reads horizontally, like Western notation, but does not use barlines. Instead, note values and rests are squiggled between the notes. [13] Today this notation is relatively rare, and has been replaced by kepatihan notation , which is a cipher system.

Kepatihan notation developed around 1900 at the kepatihan in Surakarta. The pitches are numbered (see the articles on the scales slendro and pélog for an explanation of how), and are read across with dots and lines indicating the register and time values. Like the palace notations, however, they record only the balungan part, and to a large extent what is heard relies on memorized patterns the performers call upon during performance. However, teachers have also devised certain notations, generally using kepatihan principles, for the cengkok (melodic patterns) of each elaborating instrument . In ethnomusicological studies, transcriptions are often made onto a Western staff, sometimes with unusual clefs . [14] Influence on Western music[ edit ] The gamelan has been appreciated by several western composers of classical music , most famously Claude Debussy who heard a Javanese gamelan play at the Paris Exposition of 1889 ( World's Fair ). (The gamelan Debussy heard was in the slendro scale and was played by Central Javanese musicians.

[15] ) Despite his enthusiasm, direct citations of gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, or ensemble textures have not been located in any of Debussy's own compositions. However, the equal-tempered whole tone scale appears in his music of this time and afterward, [16] and a Javanese gamelan-like heterophonic texture is emulated on occasion, particularly in "Pagodes", from Estampes (solo piano, 1903), in which the great gong 's cyclic punctuation is symbolized by a prominent perfect fifth. The composer Erik Satie , an influential contemporary of Debussy, also heard the Javanese gamelan play at the Paris Exposition of 1889. The repetitively hypnotic effects of the gamelan were incorporated into Satie's exotic Gnossienne set for piano. [17] Direct homages to gamelan music are to be found in works for western instruments by John Cage , particularly his prepared piano pieces, Colin McPhee , Lou Harrison , Béla Bartók , Francis Poulenc , Olivier Messiaen , Pierre Boulez , Bronislaw Kaper and Benjamin Britten .

In more recent times, American composers such as Henry Brant , Steve Reich , Philip Glass , Dennis Murphy , Loren Nerell , Michael Tenzer , Evan Ziporyn , Daniel James Wolf and Jody Diamond as well as Australian composers such as Peter Sculthorpe , Andrew Schultz and Ross Edwards have written several works with parts for gamelan instruments or full gamelan ensembles. I Nyoman Windha is among contemporary Indonesian composers that have written compositions using western instruments along with Gamelan. Hungarian composer György Ligeti wrote a piano étude called Galamb Borong influenced by gamelan. American folk guitarist John Fahey included elements of gamelan in many of his late-60s sound collages, and again in his 1997 collaboration with Cul de Sac , The Epiphany of Glenn Jones. The experimental art-rock band King Crimson , while not using gamelan instruments, used interlocking rhythmic paired guitars that were influenced by gamelan. [18] On the debut EP of Sonic Youth the track 'She's not Alone' has a gamelan timbre.

Experimental pop groups The Residents , 23 Skidoo (whose 1984 album was even titled Urban Gamelan), Mouse on Mars , His Name Is Alive , Xiu Xiu , Macha , Saudade , The Raincoats and the Sun City Girls have used gamelan percussion. The gamelan has also been used by British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield at least three times, "Woodhenge" (1979), "The Wind Chimes (Part II)" (1987) and "Nightshade" (2005). Avant-garde performance band Melted Men uses Balinese gamelan instruments as well as gamelan-influenced costumes and dance in their shows. The Moodswinger built by Yuri Landman gives gamelan–like clock and bell sounds, because of its 3rd bridge construction. Indonesian-Dutch composer Sinta Wullur has integrated Western music and gamelan for opera. Influence on contemporary music[ edit ] In contemporary Indonesian music scene, some groups fuse contemporary westernized jazz fusion music with the legacy of traditional ethnic music traditions of their people.

In the case of Krakatau and SambaSunda , the bands from West Java, the traditional Sundanese kacapi suling and gamelan degung Sunda orchestra is performed alongside drum set, keyboard and guitars. Other bands such as Bossanova Java were fused Javanese music with bossanova , while the Kulkul band fuse jazz with Balinese gamelan. The Indonesian singer Anggun , often incorporated Indonesian traditional tunes of gamelan and tembang style of singing in her works. Typical gamelan tunes can be trace in several songs in her album Snow on the Sahara such as " Snow on the Sahara ", " A Rose in the Wind ", and also in her collaboration works with Deep Forest on "Deep Blue Sea" on their 2002 album, Music Detected. Philippines born Indonesian singer Maribeth Pascua also featuring gamelan tunes in her songs Denpasar Moon and Borobudur. Recently, many Americans were first introduced to the sounds of gamelan by the popular anime film Akira . Gamelan elements are used in this film to punctuate several exciting fight scenes, as well as to symbolize the emerging psychic powers of the tragic hero, Tetsuo.

The gamelan in the film's score was performed by the members of the Japanese musical collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi , using their semar pegulingan and jegog ensembles. Gamelan and kecak are also used in the soundtrack to the video games Secret of Mana and Sonic Unleashed . The two opening credits of 1998 Japanese Anime Neo Ranga use Balinese music (Kecak and Gamelan gong kebyar ). Each "waking up" of Ranga in the anime uses the Gong Kebyar theme. The musical soundtrack for the Sci Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica features extensive use of the gamelan, particularly in the 3rd season, [19] as do Alexandre Desplat 's scores for Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Golden Compass . Loops of gamelan music appear in electronic music.

An early example is the Texas band Drain 's album Offspeed and In There, which contains two tracks where trip-hop beats are matched with gamelan loops from Java and Bali and recent popular examples include the Sofa Surfers ' piece Gamelan, or EXEC_PURGER/.#AURICA extracting, a song sung by Haruka Shimotsuki as part of the Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia soundtracks. Gamelan outside Indonesia[ edit ] Gamelan Son of Lion , a Javanese-style iron American gamelan based in New York City that is devoted to new music, playing in a loft in Soho , Manhattan in 2007 References[ edit ] ^ The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, Bulletin for National Museum of Canada (Ottawa: April 1961), p.2, cited in Donald A. Lentz. The Gamelan Music of Java and Bali: An Artistic Anomaly Complementary to Primary Tonal Theoretical Systems. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. Page 5. ^ Lentz, 5. ^ R.T. Warsodiningrat, Serat Weda Pradangga. Cited in Roth, A. R.

New Compositions for Javanese Gamelan. University of Durham, Doctoral Thesis, 1986. Page 4. ^ Roth, 4–8 ^ Across Madura Strait: the dynamics of an insular society, edited by Kees van Dijk, Huub de Jonge and Elly Touwen-Bouwsma. ^ Broughton, Simon, et al., eds. World Music: The Rough Guide. London: The Rough Guides, 1994. ISBN 1858280176 . Page 419–420 Balinese gamelan[ edit ] Balinese Music (1991) by Michael Tenzer , ISBN 0-945971-30-3 . Included is an excellent sampler CD of Balinese Music. Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music (2000) by Michael Tenzer, ISBN 0-226-79281-1 and ISBN 0-226-79283-8 . Music in Bali (1966) by Colin McPhee .

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Music in Bali: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (2007) by Lisa Gold, Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 0-195-14149-0 (paper) Javanese gamelan[ edit ] Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java (1995) by Sumarsam , ISBN 0-226-78010-4 (cloth) 0226780112 (paper) Music in Central Java: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (2007) by Benjamin Brinner, Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 0-195-14737-5 (paper) Music in Java: History Its Theory and Its Technique (1949) edited by Jaap Kunst , ISBN 90-247-1519-9 . An appendix of this book includes some statistical data on intervals in scales used by gamelans.

A Gamelan Manual: A Player's Guide to the Central Javanese Gamelan (2005) by Richard Pickvance, Jaman Mas Books, London, ISBN 0-9550295-0-3 Kartomi, Margaret J. (2002). Eastman Studies in Music #15 ; The Gamelan Digul and the Prison Camp Musician Who Built It : An Australian Link with the Indonesian Revolution (hardcover, bibliography, index, with CD)|format= requires |url= ( help ). University of Rochester Press. p. 123. ISBN 10:1580460887 Check |isbn= value: invalid character ( help ). Lay summary (May 2006). When the prison camp at Tanah Merah, on the Digul river in West Papua, was evacuated by the Dutch in 1943, the prisoners brought with them to Australia a gamelan they had constructed. |access-date= requires |url= ( help ) Gamelan Gong Kebyar - Paksi Neglayang - YouTube Gamelan Gong Kebyar - Paksi Neglayang Want to watch this again later?

Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jan 23, 2011 A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Gamelan gong kebyar is a modern style or genre of Balinese gamelan music. Kebyar means "the process of flowering", and refers to the explosive changes in tempo and dynamics characteristic of the style. Gong kebyar music is based on a five-tone scale called pelog selisir (tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the 7-tone pelog scale), and is characterized by brilliant sounds, syncopations, sudden and gradual changes in sound colour, dynamics, tempo and articulation, and complex, complementary interlocking melodic and rhythmic patterns called kotekan. This results in sound quite different from music played in a western tuning system.

Many gamelan orchestras will include instruments in each tuning, but each individual instrument will only be able to play notes in one. The precise tuning used differs from ensemble to ensemble, and give each ensemble its own particular flavour. The intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within each gamelan, but the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next. Balinese gamelan instruments are commonly played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats, ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. It is thought that this contributes to the very "busy" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state. The music is divided into 4 beat groups called Keteg, this whole rhythmic cycle is called the gongan. The gongs divide gongan into sections, gong ageng, the largest gong, marks the end of gongen, the smaller gongs mark the 4th or 8th keteg and the smallest gongs outline the pulse.

There is no standard pitch in any Balinese music. Generally speaking, all instruments in a gamelan gong kebyar ensemble are made and tuned at the same time. Each ensemble is tuned to itself, making it nearly impossible to remove an instrument from one ensemble to use it in another and have it match pitch. In any ensemble, however, instruments are gendered, and their individual tuning depends on that instruments gender. Almost every instrument in a kebyar ensemble is paired with a male and female counterpart. Each instrument in a pair is tuned differently from its counterpart, one higher and one lower. Played at the same time, the higher instrument (known as pengisep or "inhaler") and the lower instrument (known as the pengumbang or "exhaler"), produce a beating effect (ombak), creating an overall shimmering, pulsating quality. The female instrument is tuned lower, while the male instrument is tuned higher. For example, one note on a female gangsa pemadé might be tuned to 220 Hz, while the male gansa pemadé might be tuned slightly higher to 228 Hz.

A kebyar ensemble is usually tuned so that the number of beats per second stays consistent throughout the range of the ensemble, although sometimes an ensemble is tuned so that the beats are slightly faster for higher frequencies. Category Gamelan - The Beautiful Javanese Orchestra - Southeast Asia BellaOnline's Southeast Asia Editor Gamelan - The Beautiful Javanese Orchestra Gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from the islands of Java and Bali, Indonesia. A gamelan is a set of instruments featuring traditional percussion, metallophones, xylophones, bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, drums, iron gongs, gong chimes, cymbals, bells and two headed drums. The word ï¿½Gamelanï¿½ comes from the ancient Javanese word meaning to hammer something by striking a musical instrument such as a gong or a drum. A Javanese court-style gamelan consists of two sets of instruments, one for each tuning system: slendro (a five-tone scale) and pelog (a seven-tone scale). Within each of these tunings there are three pathet, referring to mode and mood. Each ensemble is unique and no two gamelans are tuned the same.

Usually a solo female vocalist (Pesindhen) may sing popular poetic texts. The Culture Gamelan is performed as a musical ensemble and usually plays to accompany traditional cultural events such as dances, wayang puppet performances, palace rituals and ceremonies like weddings, funerals, village cleansing rituals or important events. The role of Gamelan in Javanese rituals is very important and related to specific event such as to celebrate Muhammadï¿½s birthday. In Bali, Gamelan is almost used in all religious rituals. Traditionally, in central Java and Bali, gamelan is usually played in a large open space with a roof on top, without walls to allow the sound to flow out into the community. However, Javanese and Balinese gamelan are somewhat different in style. Javanese gamelan is known for a slower moving, subtler kind and more meditative style while the Balinese gamelan is more dynamics and faster with the rapid changes of tempo. Today, Gamelan is also performed at social and cultural events; many hotels in Bali welcome their guests with gamelan performance. The History The ancient image of gamelan was found on the 8th century Borobudur temple in Central Java.

Some musical instruments such as bamboo flute, bells, drums, lute, and bowed and plucked strings were identified and some musicians were performing musical ensemble were found in the bas-relief of Borobudur. In Javanese belief, the gamelan was created in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230) by Sang Hyang Guru, the god who ruled as a king of Java. In the Javanese palaces you will find the oldest gamelans like the Munggang and Kodokngorek from the 12th century. Some Javanese and Balinese people still believe that gamelan is sacred and have supernatural power. They put respect to the gamelan and believe that each instrument is guided by spirits. In Javanese gamelan, it is believed that Gong Ageng (the Big Gong) is the main spirit of the whole gamelan instruments. Now Gamelan has spread well beyond Indonesia and become popular in the Western countries. Many universities offer the gamelan studies and workshops to their students. There are about 400 gamelan communities in the US, particularly in colleges which regularly giving beautiful performances.

How to make Gamelan music instrument | Indonesia traditional music - YouTube How to make Gamelan music instrument | Indonesia traditional music Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 18, 2014 A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included. The term refers more to the set of instruments than to the players of those instruments. A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together — instruments from different gamelan are generally not interchangeable. The word gamelan comes from the Javanese word gamels, meaning "to strike or hammer", and the suffix an, which makes the root a collective noun.

History of gamelan music The gamelan predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture that dominated Indonesia in its earliest records and instead represents a native art form. The instruments developed into their current form during the Majapahit Empire.[1] In contrast to the heavy Indian influence in other art forms, the only obvious Indian influence in gamelan music is in the Javanese style of singing.[2] In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountains in Medangkamulan (now Mount Lawu). He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong. For more complex messages, he invented two other Gongs, thus forming the original gamelan set.[3] The earliest image of a musical ensemble is found on the 8th century Borobudur temple, Central Java. Musical instruments such as the bamboo flute, bells, drums in various sizes, lute, and bowed and plucked string instruments were identified in this image. However it lacks metallophones and xylophones.

Nevertheless, the image of this musical ensemble is suggested to be the ancient form of the gamelan. In the palaces of Java are the oldest known ensembles, the Munggang and Kodokngorek gamelans, apparently from the 12th century. These formed the basis of a "loud style". A different, "soft style" developed out of the kemanak tradition and is related to the traditions of singing Javanese poetry, in a manner which is often believed to be similar to performance of modern bedhaya dance. In the 17th century, these loud and soft styles mixed, and to a large extent the variety of modern gamelan styles of Bali, Java, and Sunda resulted from different ways of mixing these elements. Thus, despite the seeming diversity of styles, many of the same theoretical concepts, instruments, and techniques are shared between the styles. Category The Java Culture About Watch and Favorite Watch Watching this resources will notify you when proposed changes or new versions are created so you can keep track of improvements that have been made. Favorite Favoriting this resource allows you to save it in the “My Resources” tab of your account.

There, you can easily access this resource later when you’re ready to customize it or assign it to your students. The Java Culture The art of Java is the result of a complex cultural mixture that is very different from the original indigenous cultures. Learning Objective Describe the Wayang puppet shows, gamelan music, and silat martial art of Java Key Points The culture of Indonesia has been shaped by its long interactions between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Wayang is a Javanese word for particular kinds of shadow puppet theater. Performances of shadow puppet theater are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java. Gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, kendang (drums), gongs, bamboo flutes, and bowed and plucked strings. The martial art of silat was created and first developed in the islands of Java and Sumatra; it is an art for survival and practiced throughout Indonesian archipelago . Java culture is known for its advances in blacksmithing and wood carving for both tools and cultural objects. Architecture in Java is notable for its trapezoidal roof patterns and pendopo, or pavilions with open sides and four large pillars .

Terms Full Text Introduction: The Culture of Java The culture of the Javanese ethnic group in Indonesia is entered in the Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java provinces. Due to various migrations, it can also be found in other parts of the world, such as Suriname (where 15% of the population are of Javanese descent), the broader Indonesian archipelago region, Cape Malay, Malaysia, Singapore, Netherlands, and other countries. The culture of Java has been shaped by its long interactions between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Indonesia is centrally located along ancient trading routes between the Far East and the Middle East; as a result, many cultural practices are strongly influenced by a multitude of local religions. These include Hinduism , Buddhism , Confucianism , Islam , and Christianity, all of which are strong in the major trading cities. The result is a complex cultural mixture that is very different from the original indigenous cultures. A cultural mingling occurred in the southwestern part of Central Java and brought together Javanese culture and Sundanese culture to create the Banyumasan culture. This area was also named the Banyumasan region.

In the central Javanese court cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, contemporary kings trace their lineages back to the pre-colonial Islamic kingdoms that ruled the region, making those places especially strong repositories of classical Javanese culture. The classic arts of Java include wayang puppet shows, gamelan music, and the martial art silat. Java Art Wayang Theater Wayang is a Javanese word for a theatrical performance with puppets or human dancers. The term wayang is the Javanese word for shadow; in modern daily Javanese and Indonesian vocabulary, wayang is most often associated with the puppet itself or the whole puppet theater performance. Performances of shadow puppet theatre are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java (a musical ensemble made up of mostly percussion instruments).

Question: A traditional music ensemble from Indonesia, featuring instruments such as xylophones, gongs, bells, bamboo flutes, and strings is known as what?
Answer: Gamelan