The Calung () is a type of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

originating from Baduy culture and commonly used in Baduy, Bantenese, Sundanese, Banyumasan, and Balinese performances. The calung (instrument) consists of multiple bamboo tubes which are struck at the base to produce a woody sound. In the

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

nese Gamelan gong kebyar, the

metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usual ...

jublag can also be known as ''Calung'', it has a one-octave range, and is generally utilized to play mid-range melodies. In

Banyumas Banyumas (, formerly spelled "Banjoemas") Regency is an inland regency () in the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is the town of Purwokerto, but that town no longer has a central administration and is split o ...

, southwestern

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

, when Calung is referred to as an ensemble, it uses multiple bamboo instruments and is composed of singers and dancers.
(2007). The ensemble is characterized by a variety of traits that include: interlocking melodies and

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 ...

, abrupt changes in

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

, as well as syncopated rhythm and humorous vocals. Calung (the ensemble) is present at many celebratory gatherings, and its dancers are sometimes related to prostitution. On November 18, 2010,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

officially recognized the Indonesian which includes a musical instrument of calung as a

Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage—such traditions, rituals, dance, and knowledge—and ...

, and encouraged the Indonesian people and the Indonesian government to safeguard, transmit, promote performances and to encourage the craftsmanship of the . In 2011, calung traditions are recognized as National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

Etymology

Calung is actually the name for the '' Diospyros macrophylla'' tree in

Sundanese language Sundanese ( ; , Sundanese script: , ) is an Austronesian language spoken in Java, primarily by the Sundanese. It has approximately 32 million native speakers in the western third of Java; they represent about 15% of Indonesia's total pop ...

( ''ki calung'', literally: calung wood), as a musical instrument, according to the ''A Dictionary of the Sunda language'' by Jonathan Rigg (1862), calung is a rude musical instrument so called, being half a dozen slips of bambu fastened to a string, like the steps of a ladder, and when hung up, tapped with a bit of wood.

Instrument

The calung works by cutting away multiple pieces of

tubes to create a pitch when struck.
Section (b): Village music. To make the Calung in the Sundanese tradition, a set of bamboo tubes are strung together through holes cut into the tubes. You are then able to play the Calung either suspended; you play the tubes while they are in hanging in front of you, or you can put them across a bamboo frame and play it like a

Gallery

File:Angklung-kolintang.jpg, performance in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. File:Baduy van de residentie Banten, West-Java, Jannes Theodorus Bik (attributed to), c. 1816 - c. 1846.jpg, An illustration of a Sundanese Baduy man playing a calung by Jannes Theodorus Bik, c. 1816–1846 . File:Bali, gamelan player 2.jpg, A Rindhik musical instrument (Balinese calung style) from

. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Slaginstrument van bamboe met vijf buizen TMnr 1057-4a.jpg, Calung Jinjing

References

External links

*(August 2, 2011).
Calung Traditional Art from West java
, ''Antique-Teak-Furniture.BlogSpot.com''. An example of a Calung ensemble can be found in the video halfway down the page. Indonesian musical instruments Gamelan instruments Keyboard percussion instruments Music of West Java Sundanese culture {{Mallet-stub

Etymology

Instrument

Gallery

See also

References

External links