The Music of Java embraces a wide variety of styles, both traditional and contemporary, reflecting the diversity of the island and its lengthy

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. Apart from traditional forms that maintain connections to musical styles many centuries old, there are also many unique styles and conventions which combine elements from many other regional influences, including those of neighbouring Asian cultures and European colonial forms.

Gamelan

The

gamelan Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...

orchestra, based on metallic

idiophone An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air flow (as with aerophones), strings (chordophones), membranes (membranophones) or electricity ( electrophone ...

s and

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s, is perhaps the form which is most readily identified as being distinctly "Javanese" by outsiders. In various forms, it is ubiquitous to Southeast

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. In Java, the full

also adds a

bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow (music), bow rubbing the string (music), strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous spe ...

(the

rebab ''Rebab'' (, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading rout ...

, a name illustrative of

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

influence), plucked siter, vertical flute suling and voices. The rebab is one of the main melodic instruments of the ensemble, together with the metallophone gendér; these and the

kendang A ''kendang'' or ''gendang'' (, , , Tausug language, Tausug/Bajau/Maranao language, Maranao: ''gandang'', Buginese language, Bugis: ''gendrang'' and Makassarese language, Makassar: ''gandrang'' or ''ganrang'') is a two-headed drum used by peop ...

drums are often played by the most experienced musicians. Voices usually consist of a male chorus gerong, together with a female soloist pesindhen; however, the voices are not usually featured in court gamelan (as opposed to

wayang kulit ( ) is a traditional form of shadow puppetry originally found in the cultures of Java and Bali in Indonesia. In a performance, the puppet figures are rear-projected on a taut linen screen with a coconut oil (or electric) light. The (shadow ...

, shadow puppet theatre) and are supposed to be heard discreetly in the middle of the orchestral sound. In these abstract pieces, the words are largely secondary to the music itself. There are two tuning systems in Javanese gamelan music, slendro ( pentatonic) and pelog (

heptatonic A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include: * the diatonic scale; including the major scale and its modes (notably the natural minor scale, or Aeolian mode) * the melodic minor scale, l ...

in full, but focusing on a pentatonic group). Tuning is not standard, rather each gamelan set will have a distinctive tuning. There are also distinct melodic modes (

pathet Pathet (, also patet) is an organizing concept in central Javanese gamelan music in Indonesia. It is a system of tonal hierarchies in which some notes are emphasized more than others. The word means '"to damp, or to restrain from" in Javanese ...

) associated with each tuning system. A complete gamelan consists of two of sets of instrument, one in each tuning system. Different gamelan sets have different sonorities, and are used for different pieces of music; many are very old, and used for only one specific piece. Musical forms are defined by the

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

ic cycles. These consist of major cycles punctuated by the large

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

, subdivided by smaller divisions marked by the striking of smaller

s such as

kenong The Kenong is a musical instrument of Indonesia used in the gamelan. It is a kind of gong and is placed on its side. It has the same length and width. Thus, it is similar to the bonang, kempyang, and ketuk, which are also cradled gongs. Kenongs ...

, kempul and kethuk. The melodic interplay takes place within this framework (technically called " colotomic structure").

References

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Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Javanese culture

Gamelan

See also

References