A generic term used for various types of Indonesian orchestra. These vary in size, function, musical style and instrumentation, but generally include tuned single bronze gongs, gong-chimes, single- and multi-octave metallophones, drums, flutes, bowed and plucked chordophones, a xylophone, small cymbals and singers. See also Indonesia, §§II, 1(iii); III, 4; IV, 2; and V, 1(ii)(e); Mode, §V, 3; and Suriname, §5.
MARGARET J. KARTOMI/R (I), MARIA MENDONÇA (II)
The present article deals with gamelan as ensembles; for information on individual instruments see separate entries. Discussion of context, musical structure and performing practice can be found in the respective country entries.
6. Related ensembles in South-east Asia.
An accurate history of gamelan awaits an adequate accumulation of sources. Bronze kettledrums of the Dongson culture of the 3rd and 2nd centuries bce found in Sumatra, Java, Bali and other parts of South-east Asia suggest that a high level of workmanship in metal had been reached by that period and that bronze and other metal instruments in the region are very old. However, there is no evidence of a direct line of development between the Bronze drum and the bronze instruments of gamelan and related orchestras. Perishable instruments made of wood, leather and bamboo have also presumably existed in South-east Asia since ancient times, but there is no direct evidence of this.
Kunst (1927, 2/1968) accumulated a number of archaeological, iconographical and literary sources proving the existence of prototypes of most Javanese and Balinese gamelan instruments in the latter part of the 1st millennium ce or the early part of the 2nd. For example, xylophones, bamboo flutes and double-headed drums are depicted in reliefs on the 9th-century Borobudur temple in central Java. Other important sources include the Kediri-period carvings in Java (1043–1222), reliefs on the 14th-century Candi Panataran and a number of Old Javanese literary texts. The Rāmāyana, probably dating from the the 1st or the early 2nd millennium ce, uses the word ‘gong’ and other musical terms.
The sources suggest that a distinction has long been made between loud-sounding and soft-sounding gamelan. The former consisted of drums, gongs, oboes and the like and were used for outdoor occasions such as processions and trance ceremonies, as they still are today. The latter included soft metallophones, xylophones and the flute and were reserved largely for indoor occasions. Kunst (1934) postulated that loud and soft ensembles were combined into large gamelan in Java from about the 16th century. Speculations by him and other scholars about some historical implications of archaic Javanese gamelan await the discovery of convincing data, as do theories about which of the two major tuning systems, pélog (‘seven-note’) and sléndro (‘five-note’) came first.
Resemblances between gamelan and similar ensembles in West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali and other parts of the region may be explained by a common Central and East Javanese origin, as has been suggested, but they are more likely to have resulted from constant contact over the centuries between the changing centres of power in the southern part of South-east Asia. Some Balinese orchestras appear to be a direct continuation of 15th-century Hindu-Javanese orchestras brought to Bali by refugees from the Majapahit kingdom in the early 16th century. Some Sundanese gamelan in West Java are also direct descendants of orchestras moved there from Central Java after the fall of the Hindu-Sundanese kingdom of Pajajaran in 1579.
The combination in Java of two gamelan, one tuned in sléndro and the other in pélog (see §4), seems to have become widespread during the second half of the 19th century with the development of some forms of musical theatre, mostly in the courts. However, separate sléndro and pélog orchestras are still found. For example, although incorporation of the pélog gamelan into Central Javanese shadow puppet performance (wayang kulit) is increasingly common, more traditional forms of wayang kulit usually feature the sléndro gamelan alone, following a centuries-old practice. Some ensembles exist that predate the development of sléndro and pélog and contain some obsolete instruments and instrumental combinations. Archaic ceremonial gamelan housed in the Central Javanese courts include the gamelan carabalèn (tuned to a four- or six-note pélog scale) in which there are two gong-chimes (bonang klènang and bonang gambyong), one or two large horizontally-suspended gongs (kenong and penontong), drums (kendhang gendhing and kendhang ketipung) and a gong ageng. Another archaic ensemble is the gamelan kodhok ngorèk (‘croaking frog’), tuned to a three-note scale and generally comprising two bonang, a byong (bell tree), kenong japan (horizontally-suspended gong), rojèh (cymbals), kendhang gendhing, kendhang ketipung and gong ageng. In Yogyakarta, the ensemble is enlarged with saron-type instruments, and in Surakarta, with the gendèr (14-keyed metallophone). The ensemble known as gamelan monggang (fig.1), like the carabalèn and kodhok ngorèk, is thought to have originated in the Majapahit period (late 15th to early 16th centuries). It is tuned to a three-note pélog scale and consists of four bonang-type gong-chimes each with three notes, kenong japan, a pair of penontong, kendhang gendhing, kendhang ketipung, two gong ageng and a pair of rojèh. The instrumentation of the 16th-century gamelan sekati (sekaten), tuned to a seven-note pélog scale, is similar to that of the regular ‘loud’ gamelan (gongs, metal-keyed instruments, drums and gong-chimes) but the instruments are much larger in size. The ensemble comprises several types of saron, two gong ageng with only one double-row bonang (played by two players), a pair of kempyang and a bedhug; there are no kendhang or kempul.
Archaic Balinese gamelan include the gamelan caruk, consisting of two saron and a caruk (bamboo xylophone); the gamelan gambang, comprising four gambang, played with an unusual technique (see Gambang), and two pairs of saron, each pair played by one person; the gamelan luang, where bronze and bamboo instruments are combined so that each luang has a unique instrumentation; and the gamelan salunding, featuring only iron-keyed metallophones and primarily associated with the Bali Aga peoples who trace their culture back to pre-Hindu times. These ensembles are used mainly for specific ritual contexts, and with salunding, for example, are so sacred that people are not permitted to see the instruments except on ceremonial occasions.
Gamelan and related ensembles have traditionally been used to accompany religious rites and dances which have survived from pre-Muslim times (before about the 15th century ce). The instruments are shown respect; no-one may walk over them and special offerings of incense are made before an ensemble is played. In Java a gamelan is often given a revered name of its own. The gamelan's main function is still to accompany ceremonial or religious rituals, held chiefly in the temples in Bali and in village or court environments in Java and elsewhere. Gamelan are played in rain-inducing ceremonies in Central Javanese ricefields, in processional dance genres such as réyog in East Java, and for erotic dances such as that of the singer-dancer in tayuban in Java. They are also played to welcome guests at weddings and other ceremonies, although cheaper recorded music has often been substituted in recent times.
Gamelan in Bali are used primarily to accompany dance and dance-drama on religious and (in recent times) secular occasions. In Central Java and Sunda they are likewise used to accompany dance and dance-dramas and also to accompany shadow (Central Java) or three-dimensional (West Java) puppet theatre and to provide music for contemplative listening (Central Java, klenèngan), sometimes at concerts or similar gatherings.
Thousands of gamelan in Java and Bali are owned by puppeteers and other private individuals, communal organizations, government offices, radio and television stations, theatres, museums and palaces. Kunst (1934, 3/1973) showed that gamelan were widely distributed throughout the villages and towns of Java in the 1930s; no similar survey has been published since then. Some gamelan were destroyed during World War II and the war for Indonesian independence, which ended in 1949; some have been broken up since then and sold, instrument by instrument, by impoverished owners; and some have been exported overseas. However, gamelan instruments are still being made in West and Central Java, Bali and elsewhere.
The export of gamelan has grown in recent years (see §II), however export of antique gamelan is forbidden by law. Composers in many South-east Asian countries have increasingly incorporated musical ideas derived from gamelan into their works.
There are no ‘correct’ standard tunings for gamelan, and no two gamelan are tuned exactly alike. However, most modern gamelan are tuned in either an anhemitonic five-note system or a hemitonic seven-note system. The former is called sléndro in Central and East Java, saléndro in West Java, and saih gender wayang in Bali; the latter is called pélog in Central, West and East Java, and saih pitu (‘row of seven’) in Bali. In addition, Balinese gamelan are characterised by paired tuning, where the individual instruments of a pair are carefully tuned slightly apart from one another, creating a ‘beating’ effect which is part of the characteristic shimmering timbre of most ensembles.
Rarely are all seven notes of the pélog-type scale used in a piece, but rather five-note modal scales derived from the seven available. In Central Java both hemitonic and anhemitonic systems are divided into three main pathet (modes). The sléndro modes (nem, sanga and manyura) all use the same five basic tones of the tuning system, but in pélog, one mode (barang) uses a different subset of tones (2 3 5 6 7) from the other two (nem and lima, using tones 1 2 3 5 6). Thus, while gamelan tuned in sléndro usually include only one of each type or size of instrument, those tuned in pélog must have two of each of the instruments that are tuned to a five-note scale, but only one of each type or size tuned to the seven-note scale. Pélog gamelan have therefore two gendèr barung (low-pitched metallophones), two gendèr panerus (high-pitched metallophones) and two celempung (zithers) in order to accommodate the two modal tunings; as it is possible to quickly swap the keys concerned on gambang (xylophone), two instruments are not always necessary (for a detailed discussion of pathet, see Mode, §V, 4(ii)).
Complete Central Javanese gamelan (gamelan seprangkat) consist of two sets of instruments, one tuned in sléndro and one in pélog, with a few instruments doubling for both. Instruments tuned in pélog are usually placed at right angles to those tuned in sléndro, so that players can move easily and quickly from one to the other.
Gamelan in sléndro-type tunings only are traditioanlly used to accompany wayang kulit purwa (‘ancient’ shadow puppet plays) in Central Java and wayang golék purwa (‘ancient’ three-dimensional puppet plays) and sandiwara (plays with music) in West Java. The Balinese wayang kulit is also accompanied by instruments tuned in the saih gender wayang (the scale of the quartet of gender for wayang theatre. Most East Javanese traditional pieces, including those for the gamelan asli Jawa Timur, the wayang kulit and the ludruk theatre, are played on sléndro orchestras, as are the angklung and gandrung pieces of the Osinger people in East Java. Saih angklung, an anhemitonic four-note version of the gender wayang scale, is used for the gamelan angklung in Bali (in some areas, principally North Bali, a fifth tone has been added to the ensemble). Some gamelan arja in Bali are tuned in anhemitonic four- or five-note scales which resemble those of the gender quartet.
In Java, gamelan in pélog tunings only are found in some rural parts of the central and eastern regions, for example the prajuritan ensemble of the mountainous Kopeng area. Pieces played in the almost extinct wayang gedog (drama enacting stories of the hero Panji) are almost always in pélog. Most archaic gamelan, including the three-note gamelan monggang, the four- or six-note gamelan carabalen and the seven-note gamelan sekati, are considered to be forms of pélog. In West Java seven-note pélog tunings are found only in gamelan pélog, but the gamelan degung and the goong rénténg use two different types of five-note pélog tunings.
Of the many different types of Balinese gamelan, the most commonly found tuning is the five-note selisir (of unequally-spaced tones and therefore bearing resemblance to pélog tunings), used for such orchestras as the gamelan gong gede, gamelan gong kebyar and gamelan palegongan, and for some pieces of the gamelan arja. The selisir scale is derived from the gamelan gambuh tuning, but omits the auxiliary pitches (for detailed discussion of Balinese gamelan tunings, see Indonesia §II, 1(ii)–(iii)).
The tunings of the numerous related ensembles in other parts of South-east Asia are extremely varied. Various pentatonic and heptatonic scales are used, together with three- and four-note scales and others with varying intervallic structures. In Sumatra heptatonic scales are the norm in many coastal areas, and pentatonic, four-note, three-note and other scales, are often typical of inland areas. As in Java and Bali, the concept of absolute pitch is not relevant, and in some areas the same type of ensemble may vary in tuning from village to village. A complete picture awaits detailed research in all the relevant regions.
(vi) South and East Kalimantan.
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
A ‘complete’ gamelan, called gamelan seprangkat (or gamelan sléndro-pélog; fig.3), comprises two sets of instruments, one tuned in the sléndro system and the other in the pélog system (see §4). Each is complete in itself and has a total range of seven octaves (about 40 to 2200 cycles per second). Normally the two tuning systems have one note in common: tumbuk (‘to collide’).
A complete gamelan includes three sizes of saron (one-octave slab metallophone), of which there are usually several of the middle size (saron barung) and one or two of the largest size (saron demung), two or three sizes of bonang (double-row gong-chimes), a gambang (20-key trough xylophone), two sizes of gendèr (two-and-a-half-octave metallophone with thin keys suspended over resonating tubes) and the deeper-toned slenthem or gendèr panembung (similar in construction to the gendèr but with a range of one octave only). Horizontally-suspended gongs include a set of kenong (large gongs), a kethuk (low-pitched single gong) and the kempyang (high-pitched small gong). All instruments or instrument sets exist in both scales: in the case of the gambang and the gendèr there are three each (see§4).
The complete gamelan includes also three sizes of vertically suspended gongs, the kempul being the highest-pitched; there may be as many as 12 of these, tuned in pélog and sléndro. There are several gong suwukan (or gong siyem, an octave lower than the kempul) and one or two gong ageng (large single gongs). The string instruments are the rebab (two-string spike fiddle) and the celempung (zither), which can be replaced by the smaller siter (zither). The only wind instrument is the suling (bamboo flute). There are three sizes of kendhang (double-headed laced drum) and a bedhug (double-headed barrel-shaped drum). Some additional instruments, either obsolete or rarely used, are the kemanak (a pair of banana-shaped bronze handbells), the slento (a saron demung with a boss on each key) and a gambang gangsa (bronze gambang). A female vocalist (pesindhèn) and choral group (gérongan) are an integral part of the soft-style ensemble.
The complete gamelan in Central Java belongs in court, urban and village contexts; there are additional small village ensembles which are sometimes referred to locally as gamelan. One such rural ensemble in the Banyumas area is the èbèg ensemble, consisting of selomprèt (oboe), saron wesi (‘iron saron’), gongs and drums; it is used to accompany hobby-horse trance dancing which in other areas is also called jaranan, kuda képang, kuda lumping or jathilan. The jaranan ensemble of Central and East Java is similarly constituted. Another gamelan-like ensemble of the Banyumas area is the Calung, consisting of tuned bamboo idiophones plus drum; the melody instruments are bamboo xylophones and a blown bamboo tube serves as a gong. Also made up mainly of bamboo instruments is the small gamelan bumbung (‘bamboo gamelan’) in the rural areas in and around Kediri and also in Surakarta and Yogyakarta; it usually consists of stick-beaten bamboo zithers, a bamboo xylophone and a kendhang.
A small ensemble of small bossed gongs and drums (prajuritan) accompanies the prajuritan folk drama in eastern parts of Central Java and in East Java; this relates the story of the mythical battle fought between the Majapahit and Blambangan kingdoms in the 15th century. Also from Central and East Java was the gamelan kethoprak which accompanied performances of the kethoprak dance-drama. It originated in the 1920s in Surakarta and consisted of wooden instruments: three slit-drums, a lesung (log-drum) and a suling. The instrumentation was later radically altered, gongs and drums replacing the wooden percussion, and the drama is now accompanied in the theatre by a common gamelan.
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
In Sundanese-speaking areas of West Java the main orchestras are the gamelan degung, the gamelan rénténg, the gamelan saléndro and gamelan pélog. Gamelan degung was formerly associated with courts and gamelan rénténg with villages. The gamelan saléndro is used for a variety of contexts including wayang golék (puppet theatre), sandiwara (plays with music) and dance, and the gamelan pélog for dance and wayang cepak rod puppet theatre originating from Cirebon and based on local stories. The instrumentarium of each orchestra varies, but a gamelan degung may consist of a bonang, a panerus or cémprés (three-octave keyed metallophones), one or two single-octave saron, a jengglong (set of bossed gongs, either vertically suspended or lying on crossed cords in a frame), a goong (large gong), a set of kendang (double-headed drums) and a suling degung (small bamboo flute).
The sacred goong rénténg is used for harvest purification rituals, communal gatherings and, in some areas, to accompany kuda lumping (hobby-horse trance dancing). In Lebukwangi the ensemble comprises a U-shaped rénténg (gong-chime), a rebab, a suling, a saron (multi-octave eleven-keyed metallophone), kecrék (idiophone of hanging metal plates), jengglong, and one or two goong. In Klayan, Cirebon, a hobby-horse trance ensemble comprises an L-shaped rénténg, a selomprèt, kecrék, a kenong, two kethuk, three kebluk (horizontal bossed gongs in a frame), a pair of goong and a kendang and ketipung (large and small drums).
While the flute and oboe play the main melodic role in the degung and rénténg orchestras respectively, the rebab (spike fiddle) and pasindén (female vocalist) are prominent in the gamelan saléndro and gamelan pélog, together with the gambang. A standard gamelan saléndro in addition includes two saron, a bonang, a kempul, a goong and three kendang, metallophones peking and panerus, and the two gong-chimes rincik and jengglong. Kenong and kethuk may also be added.
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
The halus (‘refined’) gamelan centring on the cities of Surabaya and Majakerta in the eastern part of East Java is called gamelan asli Jawa Timur (or gamelan Surabaya). Although its instrumentarium is similar to a large Central Javanese gamelan, its musical style, performing practice, repertory and pathet (modal) system are different. In the extreme eastern part of East Java, among the Osinger people of Banyuwangi Regency, two styles of sléndro-tuned angklung ensemble are found. The new-style ensemble has one or two pairs of angklung (bamboo xylophone), slenthem, saron barung, saron panerus (all made of iron), one kendang, one suling or double-reed aerophone and one gong . The Osinger people also play the gandrung ensemble, which uses a sléndro tuning. It comprises two biola (violins), kendang, a kempul, two kethuk, a kloncing (small triangle) and a small gong. It takes its name from the female dancer-singer it accompanies, and is used at important all-night functions such as wedding receptions.
In the Ponorogo area of East Java the réyog ensemble (fig.4) accompanies the processional dance of the same name. The ensemble may consist of selomprèt (oboe), two angklung (of the rattle variety), a kendhang and ketipung (large and small double-headed drums) and various gongs. The saronèn (or tètèt) is the most widespread type of kasar (‘coarse’) ensemble in the eastern part of East Java and the offshore island of Madura (where it is called gamelan kerapan sapi because it accompanies the bull races known as kerapan sapi). The saronèn (wooden oboe) is the principal, or only, melodic instrument; the others vary considerably, but may include large and small kethuk and kendhang.
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
Balinese theatrical gamelan include the gamelan gambuh, notable for its use of suling gambuh (long flutes) and rebab rather than melodic percussion instruments; it includes also a pair of kendang, several gongs, a pair of rincik and a pair of kangsi (cymbals), a rack of bells and the gumanak (a struck copper or iron cylinder). The seven-tone gambuh tuning system (from which many modes are derived) is believed to be the foundation for many other Balinese gamelan tuning systems. Another theatrical ensemble is the gamelan arja, using four- and five-note scales of both hemitonic and anhemitonic varieties, and consisting of three suling, two guntang (tube zithers), kelenang (small gong), a pair of kendang and a pair of rincik (cymbals).
There exist in Bali various large ensembles more commonly referred to as gong. The stately gamelan gong (or gamelan gong gede; fig.5) may consist of jegogan, jublag and panyacah (metallophones), trompong pangarep and trompong barangan (gong-chimes), kendang wadon and kendang lanang (double-headed ‘female’ and ‘male’ drums), bende (suspended gong), two gong ageng (wadon and lanang, suspended gongs), kempur (smaller suspended gongs) and ceng-ceng (cymbals). Once a court ensemble of about 40 instruments, it is now a village ensemble of some 25 instruments. About half of these are single-octave gangsa (gender- and saron-type metallophones) which play the nuclear melody in unison and octaves. The expanded melody is played on one or two trompong, and a four-kettle reyong is used for simple figuration. The modern development of the gamelan gong, the virtuoso gamelan gong kebyar, is the most vigorously creative musical medium among contemporary Balinese musicians; it uses the gamelan gong repertory as well as its own continuously expanding one. Many instruments are derived from the gong gede, but are all on a much smaller scale. In addition there are some significant alterations: these include the addition of the reyong, a 12–kettle gong chime played by four people and the expansion of the range of the gangsa to two octaves (ten keys). In North Bali a harder, more brilliant tone is preferred, and saron are used as metallophones in the kebyar ensemble, suitably adapted to accommodate bamboo resonators.
The gamelan semar pagulingan (‘gamelan of the god of love’) is a delicate-sounding seven-tone gamelan on which some six-tone and five-tone modes are played, including five-tone selisir instrumentarium resembles that of the gamelan gong but low-pitched saron or large cymbals; as a court gamelan it became rare, but has been revived as part of the recent interest in seven-tone tunings. Even more delicate in timbre is the gamelan palegongan, used to accompany the legong dance and other dances and dramas. It replaces the trompong with two pairs of 13-key gender and includes a pair of smaller drums. The slendro-tuned gamelan pajogedan replaces the metallophones with instruments with split-bamboo keys over bamboo tube resonators and the gong with two bronze slabs of slightly different pitch, struck simultaneously; Suling are also featured. It is known colloquially as joged bumbung.
The gamelan bebonangan (known also as balaganjur or kalaganjur) is a processional ensemble consisting of a pair of gongs a pair of ceng-ceng kopyak and a pair of kendang plus other portable instruments extracted from the larger staionary ensemble of the village (usually a gamelan gong kebyar). Particulary featured are reyong kettles (sometimes referred to in Bali by their Javanese name, bonang), each held by one player and played in an intricate interlocking style. The gamelan gegenggongan, used for dance and musical performance, consists of genggong (bamboo jew's harps), suling, kendang, guntang and ceng-ceng. The gamelan angklung is a small Balinese ensemble used for temple festivals, processions and cremations. Tuned in four-tone equidistant saih angklung, it features single-octave metallophones, gongs, reyong, kendang and ceng-ceng; the bamboo slide-rattles (angklung) which gave the ensemble its name are no longer included.
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
Joget gamelan (also known as gamelan Terengganu or gamelan Pahang), has its origins in Central Javanese gamelan. It was first known in the mid-18th century Malay court in Riau-Lingga (Indonesia), where the dance and music genre flourished for around 150 years. When the last Sultan of Riau-Lingga abdicated in 1912 it ceased to be performed there, but had reached the fief territory of Pahang in the early 19th century, where it was heard by Frank H. Swettenham in 1875. When the Sultan of Pahang died in 1914 the practice of gamelan also died out in Pahang. His daughter, however, borrowed the Pahang gamelan and brought it to the palace of her husband, the Sultan of Terengganu, where it continued to develop as entertainment for royalty in various court celebrations and ceremonies. Performance ceased in 1942, following the Japanese invasion and death of the Sultan, but in the 1960s it was revived and sponsored by the Terengganu government. It is now considered a national art, performed on state occasions. Though the genre is danced by women, joget gamelan is played by men. The ensemble comprises gong agung, gong suwukan, five kenong, kerumong (gong-chime), saron barung and peking (metallophones), gambang (xylophone) and gendang (double-headed drum).
Gamelan, §I, 5: South-east Asia: Instrumentation
The gamelan culture and related ensembles of South and East Kalimantan are almost totally unknown outside those two provinces. Gamelan and wayang kulit (leather shadow puppet) sets were transplanted (probably in the 17th century) into the Banjarese community near the coast of South Kalimantan. They are said to have been gifts from the Sultan of Demak (in north-east coastal Java) to the first Sultan of Banjar (near Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan) after he converted from Hinduism to Islam. Although the last Sultan of Banjar lost power to the Dutch in 1860, his descendants kept the performance of the repertory alive until Indonesia's independence in 1945, after which knowledge of the performance practice and repertory declined sharply. These formerly Sultan-owned ensembles of large Javanese-style bronze instruments are now preserved and sometimes played in state museums in Banjar Baru (near Banjarmasin) and Tenggerong (near Samarinda, East Kalimantan) as well as in the National Museum in Jakarta. The set in Samarinda comprises 35 instruments tuned in selindero (Jav.: sléndro, but with four modes) and a smaller number tuned in pelok (Jav.: pélog).
Related ensembles or offshoots of the court gamelan are still alive, however. They accompany shadow puppetry (wayang kulit Banjar) and hobby-horse dance (kuda gipang) performances as well as providing interludes or postludes in modern mamanda theatre shows among the Banjarese in West and East Kalimantan. A modern gamelan Banjar used to accompany wayang kulit (tuned in selindero only) comprises between 8 and 13 musicians playing a babun (large, two-headed drum), gongs (agung ganal and agung kecil), two seven-key saron, a dawo (double-row, ten-piece bossed-keyed gong-chime), with an optional angkelong or kurung-kurung (shaken bamboo idiophone), five kanong (bossed keys), a katrak (wooden hammer). Metal instruments are usually made of iron. In South Kalimantan the gamelan also often includes a rebab, suling, gambang and gendir (Jav.: gendèr).
A gamelan kuda gipang comprises two or three saron, a pair of cup cymbals (kangsi), a pair of suspended gongs (kampul) and a babun (drum).
A partly gamelan-like Malay orchestra called orkes panting, used to accompany local mamanda theatre shows, usually comprises one or two violins (biul), a pair of gongs (gaduk), a pair of small two-headed drums (ketipung), a pair of lutes (panting) and a singer. Other gamelan instruments such as the babun may also be added.
Gamelan are related in their instruments and musical qualities to other ensembles throughout the southern part of South-east Asia. Whether this is due to diffusion from one or from several sources it is not possible to say, although the high level of metal workmanship in Java since ancient times suggests that this island may have been a main source of diffusion of metal instruments. Most ensembles in the area broadly consist of double-headed drums and gongs (or their substitutes), to which gong-chimes, wind and string instruments are often added. Gongs may be vertically-or horizontally-suspended; wind instruments are normally oboes or flutes; and strings are either bowed, as in the case of the rebab and biola, or plucked, as in the case of the kacapi and celempung. Less common instruments include xylophones, keyed metallophones and percussion bars. Solo or choral singing may also be a feature of some ensembles.
Ensembles comprising only drums and gongs include gendang bergung in Riau and the genrang dan gong in the Buginese area of Sulawesi. Orchestras consisting essentially of drums, gongs and gong-chimes include the kulintang in the southern Philippines, the gendang in Pakpak Dairi (Sumatra), the keromong and kelintang in Jambi, the kelittang (keromong or tabuhan) in Lampung, the keromongan in south Sumatra and the keromong duabelas in Bengkulu. Drum, gong and wind or string ensembles are exemplified by the gendang gung in Serdang, the nobat in Riau and West Malaysia (with cymbals in the latter case) and the genderang of the Pakpak (Dairi) to which cymbals and two types of percussion plates are added.
Ensembles combining drums, gongs, gong-chimes and wind are exemplified by the Mandailing gondang and gordang ensembles, the Serdang type of alat-alat makyong ensemble (to which bamboo clappers are added), the gendang gung in Langkat and the kelintang in Bengkulu (to which a string instrument is added). The talempong in West Sumatra minimally comprises drums and gong-chimes, but a wind instrument or gong may be added in some areas.
In bamboo or wooden ensembles which do not possess drums or metal gongs, other instruments often have similar functions; for example, in the kolintang ensemble of Minahasa the nine xylophones play drum-like, gong-like and melodyic roles. Drums play an important role in most South-east Asian ensembles, but in exceptional cases they are omitted altogether, as in the kulintang lunik in Lampung. Gongs or gong substitutes also play an important role, except in the talempong as it occurs in most areas of West Sumatra, where gongs are traditionally reserved for special royal and theatrical occasions.
Grove6 (‘Indonesia’, M. Hood and others)
T.S. Raffles: The History of Java (London, 1817)
Gending-gending saking kraton ngajogjakarta [Javanese treatise on the art of music] (MS, Kraton Yogyakarta Library, Java, 1888) [xerox of microfilm copy at UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive]
R.S. Soerawidjaja: Gandroeng lan gamboeh [Gandrung and gambuh] (Batavia, 1907)
Djakoeb and Wignjaroemeska: Over de gamelan (Batavia, 1913)
Buku piwulang nabuh gamelan [Instructions on gamelan playing] (Surakarta, 1924)
S. Hardasukarta: Titiasri (Surakarta, 1925)
J. Kunst: Hindoe-Javaansche muziekinstrumenten, speciaal die van Oost Java (Weltevreden, 1927; Eng. trans., 1963, enlarged 1968 as Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments).
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)
C. McPhee: ‘The Five-tone Gamelan Music of Bali’, MQ, xxxv (1949), 250–81
M. Hood: ‘Sléndro and pélog Redefined’, Selected Reports, i/1 (1966), 28–
C. McPhee: Music in Bali (New Haven and London, 1966/R)
R. Ornstein: Gamelan Gong Kebjar: the Development of a Balinese Musical Tradition (diss., UCLA, 1971)
M. Hood: ‘The Five-tone Gamelan Angklung of North Bali’, EthM, xv (1971), 71–80
M.J. Kartomi: ‘Music and Trance in Central Java’, EthM, xvii (1973), 163–208
M. Harrell: The Music of the Gamelan Degung of West Java (diss., UCLA, 1974)
M.J. Kartomi: ‘Performance, Music and Meaning of Reyog Ponorogo’, Ind,onesia, xxii (1976) 85–130
E. Schlager: Rituelle Siebenton-Musik auf Bali (Berne, 1976)
E. Heins: Goöng renteng: Aspects of Orchestral Music in a Sundanese Village (diss., U. of Amsterdam, 1977)
M.F. D'Cruz: Joget Gamelan, a Study of its Contemporary Practice (thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 1979)
I M. Bandem: Ensiklopedi Gambelan Bali [Encyclopedia of Balinese gamelan] (Denpasar, 1983)
M.J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments (Chicago, 1990)
N. Sorrell: A Guide to the Gamelan (London, 1990, 2/2000)
R.A. Sutton: Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java: Musical Pluralism and Regional Identity (Cambridge, 1991)
M. Tenzer: Balinese Music (Berkeley, 1991)
M.J. Kartomi: ‘The Gamelan Digul’, Canang, no.1 (1992), 1–8
A.N. Weintraub: ‘Theory in Institutional Pedagogy and “Theory in Practice” for Sundanese Gamelan Music’, EthM, xxxvii (1993), 29–40
Sumarsam: Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java (Chicago, 1995)
Music of Indonesia 14: Lombok, Kalimantan, Banyumas – Little-Known Forms of Gamelan and Wayang, rec. P.Yampolsky, Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40441 (1997)
Although ensembles of instruments appear not to have been imported from the East Indies until the 19th century, it seems that individual gamelan instruments, unallied to cultural or performance context, were circulating in Europe before this time, probably as a result of trading in the East Indies. One intriguing example is suggested by Klotz (1984), regarding the bell-making Hemony brothers (François and Pieter) , who were active in the 17th century. Known for the refinements they introduced to the bell-tuning process, it is reported that they ‘compared the pitches obtained with those of a metallophone (perhaps from Indonesia) made up of a series of metal rods’ (Klotz, 1984). The composer Rameau owned in his private instrument collection a ‘gambang’, (see Xylophone, fig.1) which has been the subject of some scholarly detective work. It was believed by early commentators (including musicologist Charles Burney) to be of Chinese origin, although Schaeffner (1955) and later, Burns (1983) present strong arguments that the instrument was of Javanese rather than Chinese origin.
The first gamelan ensembles outside South-east Asia were brought to England by Stamford Raffles at the end of his governorship of Java in 1816. Raffles brought over two sets, one currently housed in the British Museum's Department of Ethnology, and the other which for several generations has been in the possession of the Verney family, and is on display at Claydon House, their home in Buckinghamshire. These sets have been the subject of much speculation as a result of their unusual (and in some cases, seemingly unique) carving, instrumentation and tuning. Quigley (1996) has concluded that these sets were built on or around the northeastern coast of Java and, rather than representing older, now-defunct Javanese ensembles, were probably commissioned by Raffles specifically for his return to England. As a result of conforming to his aesthetic preferences they omit certain instruments, are carved unusually and approximate diatonic tuning. The first mention of European gamelan performance (in an extremely limited sense) also dates from Raffles' return to England; he was accompanied by the Javanese nobleman Rana Radèn Dipura who took part in musical demonstrations and whom (as noted in Raffles, 1817, p.470) ‘played upon this instrument [the xylophone gambang kayu] several of his national melodies before an eminent composer [William Crotch]’.
Instruments from the Raffles gamelans featured in the 19th-century acoustical experiments of Charles Wheatstone (acoustician and inventor of instruments, including the English concertina) and, more significantly, Alexander Ellis, who also drew on a wide range of European gamelan sources (instruments based in Europe, scholars' measurements of Europe-based gamelan sets, a performance in Europe by a visiting Javanese group, other scholars' written observations of such performances) for his work ‘On the Various Scales of Musical Nations’ (1885), which is considered by many to be one of the first publications of the then-nascent discipline of ethnomusicology.
However, apart from occasional soundings of the instruments, ensemble performance on sets of gamelan instruments outside South-east Asia only began to occur in the latter half of the 19th century, by visiting troupes which were predominantly from Java. Examples include the Mangkunegaran Palace troupe's performances at the Arnhem exhibition (1879), observed by J.P.N. Land and the 1882 performances at the London Aquarium, described in Mitchell (1882). The most famous is perhaps the Java village of the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where Claude Debussy first encountered gamelan performance; however the idea of importing a whole performing community was initiated earlier at the 1883 International and Colonial Exhibition in Amsterdam. Groups of Balinese performers began to tour somewhat later: the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris appears to be the first major performance of Balinese gamelan outside South-east Asia. Occasionally such groups left behind the instruments they brought with them, for example the gamelan featured in the 1893 Chicago-based World's Columbian Exposition, which is currently housed at the Field Museum in Chicago.
It should not be assumed that the repertory performed by such groups necessarily conformed to ‘traditional’ regional gamelan material. The ensembles featured at the expositions were part of larger commercial concerns (the promotion of foodstuffs from the Dutch East Indies, for example) and repertory often included material familiar to the audience at these expositions, in addition to traditional pieces. The 1883 Amsterdam group, for example, included arrangements of patriotic Dutch and English songs in their performances for the visits of the monarchs Wilhelmina and Victoria. (Unfortunately there was some confusion, and ‘God Save the Queen’ greeted Wilhelmina, while ‘Wien Neerlandsch Bloed door den Aâdren vloeit’ and ‘Wilhelmus’ accompanied Victoria's visit.) The 1893 Chicago gamelan performed not only Javanese and Sundanese repertory, but also Western music: wax cylinder recordings made by folklorist Benjamin Ives Gilman of the performances at the exhibition include tunes such as ‘America’ and ‘Yankee Doodle’ as well other more traditional repertory.
Aside from visiting groups from Indonesia, diasporic gamelan activity during this period seems to have been confined to the Netherlands. Around the turn of the 20th century, Indonesian students instigated gamelan performances for other students (and later the Dutch public) with the aim of raising awareness of East Indies culture and highlighting the Indies independence debate. Several of these students went on to become leading figures in the Indonesian independence movement, such as Soewardi (who later adopted the name Ki Hadjar Dewantara), Noto Soeroto and Soerjo Poetro. In the 1920s onwards, groups such as Insulinde and Ardjoeno (made up of Indonesian students and workers) incorporated gamelan and other Indonesian musics in a dance context and enjoyed considerable success not only within the Netherlands, but also across Europe.
Prior to World War II, gamelan performance by peoples other than South-east Asians seems to be limited to one occasion. On 5 May 1857 in Delft, trainee Dutch civil servants, bound for the East Indies, undertook a procession involving the performance of a ‘garebeg’ ensemble (see Heins, 1989). The first instance of more long-term gamelan performance by non-Indonesians also occurred later in the Netherlands. Babar Layar (named after the Javanese composition) was formed by teenagers in German-occupied Harlem in 1941. Led by Bernard Ijzerdraat (who later adopted the name Suryabrata), the group studied Central Javanese repertory under the guidance of ethnomusicologist Jaap Kunst, in the process constructing their own set of Javanese-style instruments. Babar Layar performed in the Netherlands and (after the War) throughout Europe until the early 1950s.
After World War II, interest in the gamelan ensemble and its various regional performance traditions has spread considerably outside South-east Asia, resulting in the wide distribution of sets of instruments all over Europe (including over 40 sets of instruments in Britain), North America (where there are over 150 sets), East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as parts of Latin America and also Africa. Although Central Javanese gamelan could be said to dominate above other regional gamelan ensembles outside South-east Asia, Balinese and Sundanese gamelans are also represented. This interest in gamelan has resulted not only in the increased export of ensembles from Indonesia, but also (in several locations) in the construction of self-made instruments after Indonesian models. Although the history and nature of gamelan development varies considerably from location to location, there are several important general characteristics which can be identified.
The discipline of ethnomusicology has often played an important role in the spread of gamelan outside South-east Asia. Although Jaap Kunst (sometimes identified as the ‘father’ of ethnomusicology) never performed gamelan, his student Ki Mantle Hood (who observed Babar Layar whilst studying in the Netherlands) researched gamelan performance in Java and went on to become one of the first to champion the inclusion of performance in the discipline of ethnomusicology. His interest in gamelan performance was central to this stance, which had considerable impact upon the discipline, particularly in the US. Indeed, a large proportion of the gamelan sets now in the US are attached to ethnomusicology programmes at universities. Gamelan performance within American ethnomusicology has also influenced the development of gamelan performance in other parts of the world. In Japan, for example, ethnomusicologist Koizumi Fumio was inspired to initiate Javanese gamelan performance as a result of observing the ethnomusicology programme at Wesleyan University (CT) during a sabbatical leave. Similarly, the first gamelan ensembles in Taiwan (Balinese, followed by Javanese) arrived as a result of ethnomusicologist Han Kuo-Hang's exposure to gamelan performance at Northern Illinois University.
Another important force behind the spread of gamelan outside South-east Asia has been the Indonesian embassy. In several global locations the embassy has been the sole possessor (at least initially) of instruments (predominantly, but not exclusively, Javanese). The embassy has also facilitated the development of gamelan performance by providing scholarships for foreign nationals to study in major Indonesian performing arts institutions, as well as employing Indonesian musicians and dancers in its overseas administration.
However, although the Indonesian embassy has played an important supportive role, it is notable that, with the exception of the Javanese in Suriname (see Surinam, §5), the spread of gamelan has not necessarily been driven by the migration of a South-east Asian ethnic group. This makes gamelan unlike many other musics ‘transplanted’ from their country of origin. Indonesian musicians living outside of the country certainly play an important part in the spread of regional gamelan repertories. However, in general the majority of participants in gamelan performance outside South-east Asia have, interestingly, tended not to be of Indonesian or Malaysian ethnicity, their connection with the music lying instead in the realm of ‘affinity’ (see Slobin, 1993).
New contexts for gamelan performance have inspired modifications to instruments created in Java. These range from increasing the number of metallophones in the ensemble to accommodate large school workshop groups, to incorporating motifs in carving designs which are specific to the commissioning body (for example, several gamelans commissioned for British schools and institutions feature the institution's crest or logo carved on the cases of the instruments). Other modifications have been more fundamental, ranging from combining sounding parts made in Java with frames made by local furniture makers for portablility (e.g. the Manchester Mobile gamelan), to commissioning traditional instruments from Javanese makers, but in western (rather than Javanese) tuning.
In several locations, interest in the gamelan ensemble has intersected with instrument building. This is perhaps epitomised by the American composer Lou Harrison, who with William Colvig has built several gamelan ensembles (‘American gamelan’) which draw on traditional Javanese models but incorporate important innovations in design, in the material used (aluminium instead of bronze or iron for the sounding parts) and in tuning (just intonation interpretations of Javanese sléndro and pélog). Whereas Harrison's construction of gamelan has arisen from a broader interest in composition (an interest which has also led others to build their own gamelan), the creation of gamelan instruments has sometimes been a response to different circumstances. Both Babar Layar (see above) and the Boston Village Gamelan, for example, constructed their Javanese-style instruments in order to play traditional repertory and to experiment with replicating traditional Javanese instrument- building processes. However the majority of self-built ensembles (whatever the motivations behind their construction) have generally been produced by ‘cold’ techniques rather than forging.
It is difficult to make any generalisations about the repertory performed on gamelan ensembles outside South-east Asia. While many groups solely perform regional South-east Asian gamelan styles, others focus instead on the creation and performance of new repertory. An increasingly large number of groups combine both. Although, as mentioned above, the desire to compose new repertory for gamelan has often prompted the creation of self-made instruments, this has not always been the case. There are several groups specialising in new composition for gamelan (for example, Gending, in the Netherlands) that have performed on and commissioned pieces for a traditional set of gamelan instruments (in this case, Javanese). Similarly, several groups based around self-made instruments perform traditional material. Whatever the nature of the repertory performed, in the majority of cases gamelan activity outside South-east Asia is characterised by dialogue and exchange with performers, composers and makers within South-east Asia, which is facilitated by several national and international organisations and festivals.
GroveI (‘Hemony’; H. Klotz)
S. Raffles: History of Java (London, 1817)
W.S. Mitchell: ‘Musical Instruments of the Javanese’, Journal of the Society of Arts, xxx (1882), 1019–21; 1072–3
A.J. Ellis: ‘On the Musical Scales of Various Nations’, Journal of the Society of Arts, xxxiii (1885), 485–527
C. Wheatstone: ‘One the Resonances, or Reciprocated Vibrations of Columns of Air’, Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and Art, xxv (1928), 175–83
J. Kunst: ‘Een novum op Indonesisch muziekgebied’ Cultureel Indië, vii (1945), 200–4
Begdja, the Gamelan Boy: a Story from the Isle of Java told by Jaap Kunst with Musical Illustrations by the Study Group for Gamelan Music ‘Babar Layar’, Philips 00165L (1953)
A. Schaeffner: ‘Orgue de Barbarie de Rameau’, Langes d'histoire et d'esthetique musicales offerts à Paul-Marie Masson (Paris, 1955/R)
G.D. van Wengen: The Cultural Inheritance of the Javanese in Sudan (Leiden, 1975)
S.C. de Vale: A Sundanese Gamelan: a Gestalt Approach to Organology (diss., Northwestern University, 1977)
R.E. Burns: Rameau's gambang (Response to André Schaeffner): Music and Cultural Relativity in Eighteenth Century France (thesis, Wesleyan University, 1983)
H.A. Poeze: In het land van de overheerser: Indonesiërs in Nederland 1600–1950 (Dordrecht, 1986)
M. Yukitoshi and N. Shin: ‘An Informal Chronology of Gamelan in Japan’, Balungan, iii/2 (1988), 15–18
E. Heins: ‘132 jaar gamelan in Nederland’, Wereldmuziek, no.2 (1989), 4–7
N. Sorrell: A Guide to the Gamelan (London, 1990, 2/2000)
M. Slobin: Subcultural Sounds (London, 1993)
M. Perlman: ‘American Gamelan in the Garden of Eden: Intonation in a Cross-Cultural Encounter’, MQ, lxxviii (1994), 484–529
S. Quigley: ‘The Raffles Gamelan at Claydon House’, JAMIS, xxii (1996), 5–41
M. Mendonça: Javanese Gamelan Performance in Britain (diss., Wesleyan University, 2000)