Tuned bamboo sliding rattle of Java, Madura, Bali, South Sumatra, Central and South Sulawesi, south-western Kalimantan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. It is especially popular in West Java. Its two or three bamboo tubes, tuned to as many octaves, are closed with a node at the bottom. A tongue-shaped segment is cut out of one side of each tube, the size of the segment determining the pitch (see illustration). The tubes sit in small troughs cut in the base of the square bamboo frame; attached to narrow vertical tubes tied with rattan, they slide to and fro when shaken. They are normally played in groups of three or more, each instrument being shaken sideways by one person, and traditionally in an interlocking, hocket-like manner, sometimes together with an oboe (the Tarompet in West Java, the selompret in Central and East Java), drums and gongs to accompany dances. The angklung sometimes employ complete or incomplete pentatonic tunings of the sléndro (saléndro) or pélog type, but sets have more recently been tuned diatonically and also suspended from a frame, enabling the whole set to be played by one performer.
In Banyuwangi, East Java, the angklung is a xylophone consisting of 12 to 14 bamboo tubes in a frame; the tubes are cut on the slant at the top and closed by a node at the bottom. It forms part of the gamelan angklung (see Gamelan, §I, 5(iii)).
The angklung bungko, an ensemble of the Bungko area near Cirebon, West Java, consists of four large angklung, a large iron gong, a kempul(smaller gong), a kenong and ketuk (small gongs), three kebluk(small gongs with deep rims) and two kendang (double-headed cylindrical drums). The ensemble accompanies local dances.
Music played on sets of diatonically tuned angklung is included in tourist shows in Thailand (where it is called angkalung) and also Malaysia, where it was formerly featured in kuda kepang horse trance dance but is now a popular school instrument.
The sléndro-based four-tone gamelan angklung of Bali no longer regularly contains angklung, despite its name. It comprises small gongs, metallophones, cymbals, drums and flute (see Indonesia, §II, 1(iii)(b)).
J. Kunst: De toonkunst van Java (The Hague, 1934; Eng. trans., rev. 2/1949 as Music in Java, enlarged 3/1973 by E.L. Heins)
A.B. Perris: ‘The Rebirth of the Javanese Angklung’, EthM, xv (1971), 403–7
MARGARET J. KARTOMI