Musical Instruments
In many parts of Indonesia percussions are the most widespread type of instruments. Percussions have accompanied folk dances and singing since antiquity. Gamelan, the indigenous orchestra that originated in early medieval Java and that gradually spread to other islands of the archipelago, consists primarily of percussions. Gamelan is truly the pinnacle of Indonesian music.
Performances by the gamelan orchestra at the Bali arts festival.
In addition to various gongs, drums, xylophones, and bells, a gamelan includes suling, a bamboo flute; rebab, a bowed string instrument; the plucked celempung, which is a type of zither; and others. During large performances a gamelan orchestra can include up to 80 instruments. Because of its extraordinarily delicate sound the gamelan is often described as otherworldly.
The angklung, an idiophone invented by the Javans approximately in the 13th century, occupies a particular place among musical instruments. This unusual percussion is made of a varying number of bamboo tubes between 15 cm and one meter in length, that are attached to a wooden frame. The longer the tube, the lower the sound, and the instrument is traditionally tuned to a pentatonic scale.
It is typical for idiophones to be played in an ensemble, and an anklung orchestra can consist of 100 instruments or more. In 2010 UNESCO designated the angklung a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Among the percussions, the Papua peoples favor slit drums and one-sided drums with long conical or hourglass-shaped wooden bodies and membranes made of snakeskin, the skin of a large lizard, or some other animal.
Melodic improvisations are performed on a bamboo flute that some tribes consider sacred: women are not allowed to touch it.
The sounds of bamboo trumpets and musical bows are perceived to be the voices of ancestors.
The sounds produced by a jaw harp, one of the most ancient instruments of the Malay Archipelago, are considered holy.
The modern layer of musical culture includes a massive instrument that looks like an upright bass with a painted rectangular body, which today is made by the craftsmen from Lake Sentani. In recent decades the Papua of the Baliem Valley have begun playing small-bodied guitars.
