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In the country of Indonesia, on the island of Java, started the ancient musical tradition of gamelan. Since then, it spread to the neighbouring island of Bali where, over the centuries, it has evolved all on its own. This page, however, focuses on Javanese gamelan, as I have been in various Javanese gamelan ensembles for two and a half years.
Technically, a gamelan is a group of intruments; an ensemble. However the word "gamelan" usually refers to an ensemble of a specific set of instruments. A standard ensemble may consist of gongs, kempuls, kenongs, sarons,bonangs, gender, rehbab, kendhung, and sometimes vocals (which are meant to blend with the music, not be "on top" of the music). The exact composition of instruments varies. (If you would like to see a series of pictures of the UCSB Gamelan Ensemble, click here. Note that this page has many large images on it!)
There are two main styles of music in Javanese gamelan: The loud style and the soft style. The loud playing style, which sounds very percussive, focuses on the use of the sarons (which are like metal xylophones that are hit with wooden mallots). The loud playing style is mainly used for outside ceremonies and festivals, as well as some dances. The soft playing style, which is often sleep condusive for the listeners, focuses on the use of the soft instruments, like gender and rehbab (the gender is a metallic xylophone that is hit with padded mallots, and the rehbab sounds much like a violin). The soft playing style is usually used for wyang (dance dramas and shadow puppet playes), and has even been used in the royal courts to help the kings to fall asleep.
The eerie sounds of a gamelan are indescribable to anyone who has not heard them. Indeed, they are so different, that the ears of western people are often repelled by its sound. However, for the open minded, the sounds of the gamelan can be quie pleasurable, and often haunting.
One of the main reasons that gamelans sound so different, is that the musical scales the use, contain intervals which are not used in any western music. Furthermore, every gamelan is tuned differently (on purpose). Therefore the same piece will sound different on different on different gamelans. In the case of UCSB, the slendro gamelan (slendro is their 5 note tuning scale), sounds similar to the normal pentatonic scale. However, our pelog gamelan (which is a 7 note tuning scale), has a haunting sound which is nothing like anything the average westerner has ever heard.
Gamelan pieces are usually made up of a repeating melody, or sometimes a series of melodies which may be cycled through (in certain ways). Therefore some gamelan pieces sound quite repetative, and all of them are of variable length. Most are usually performed for ten to twenty minutes, however the actual length of a piece is up to the drummer, and is decided during the performance time.
In a gamelan, the largest gong is considered sacred. Before performances, the gong is given an offering of food and inscence, which then sits in front of the gong during the entire performance. Also, it is interesting to note that the whole gamelan takes its identity from the gong.
What I've given here is only the tip of the iceberg. The There is such a rich history of tradition surrounding gamelans, and I encourage everyone to seek out the nearest gamelan and take the time to hear it.
There is no better way to experience gamelan music than to listen to it. What follows is a series of links to mp3 recordings of several songs from a UCSB concert of the gamelan "Kyai Selamet". These are not the best gamelan recordings I have (the bonangs were mixed too loud in this recording), however since I was the bonang panerus player for this concert, I can give you access to them. PLEASE NOTE: These recordings are the property of the University of California. Any unauthorized duplication or distribution is prohibited by law.
(c)2005, Jeff Reinecke. |