Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones and a set of hand-drums called kendang, which keep the beat. The kemanak, a banana-shaped idiophone, and the gangsa, another metallophone, are also commonly used gamelan instruments on Bali. Other notable instruments include xylophones, bamboo flutes, a bowed string instrument called a rebab, and a zither-like instrument called a siter, used in Javanese gamelan. Additionally, vocalists may be featured, being referred to as sindhen for females or gerong for males.
Indonesia is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, and its music is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region has its own culture and art, and as a result traditional music from area to area also uniquely differs from one another. For example, each traditional type of music is often accompanied by its very own dance and theatre. Contemporary music scene have also been heavily shaped by various foreign influences, such as America, Britain, Japan, Korea, and India.
West Java is an Indonesian province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to the west, the Java Sea to the north, the province of Central Java to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south. With Banten, this province is the native homeland of the Sundanese people, the second-largest ethnic group in Indonesia.
Javanese is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 68 million people.
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian folk music that is partly derived and fused from Hindustani, Arabic, and, to a lesser extent, Malay, Minangkabau, Javanese, Sundanese and local folk music. Dangdut is the most popular musical genre in Indonesia and very popular in other Maritime Southeast Asian countries because of its melodious instrumentation and vocals. Dangdut features a tabla and gendang beat.
Central Java is a 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 Yogyakarta in the south, East Java in the east, and the Java Sea in the north. It has a total area of 33,750.37 km2, with a population of 36,516,035 at the 2020 Census making it the third-most populous province in both Java and Indonesia after West Java and East Java. The official population estimate in mid-2023 was 37,608,336 The province also includes a number of offshore islands, including the island of Nusakambangan in the south, and the Karimun Jawa Islands in the Java Sea.
The Osing or Using are indigenous ethnic group native to easternmost part of the Java island, Indonesia. They are the descendants of the people of the ancient Kingdom of Blambangan. The population of Osing people are approximately 400,000 which concentrated in the Banyuwangi Regency of East Java Province.
Ronggeng is a type of Javanese dance in which couples exchange poetic verses as they dance to the music of a rebab or violin and a gong. Ronggeng originated in Java, Indonesia.
Notation plays a relatively minor role in the oral traditions of Indonesian gamelan but, in Java and Bali, several systems of gamelan notation were devised beginning at the end of the 19th century, initially for archival purposes.
Langgam jawa is a regional form of Indonesian kroncong music most often associated with the city of Surakarta (Solo). As is the case with traditional kroncong music, langgam jawa utilizes a variety of non-native instruments, such as the flute, guitar, ukulele, cello and violin. However, these instruments are performed using a seven-tone Javanese gamelan scale known as pelog. The cello typically plays the role of a gamelan ciblon drum, with the performer slowly plucking or slapping the strings in a percussive fashion.
Kroncong is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong. A kroncong orchestra or ensemble traditionally consists of a flute, a violin, at least one, but usually a pair of kroncongs, a cello in Pizzicato style, string bass in pizzicato style, and a vocalist. Kroncong originated as an adaptation of a Portuguese musical tradition, brought by sailors to Indonesian port cities in the 16th century. By the late 19th century, kroncong reached popular music status throughout the Indonesian archipelago.
Sapeh, also spelled sape, sapeʼ, sapek, sapeik, sapeq, sampeh, sampeʼ, sampek, or sampeq is a traditional string instrument of Borneo-origin that developed in northern, eastern, and central regions of Kalimantan. It is a wooden-base instrument with strings attached, and works in a manner similar to the guitar.
The cuk is a stringed musical instrument from Indonesia. It has 3 strings in 3 courses. It is tuned G4 B3 E4. The strings are made of thick nylon.
Banyumasan or Banyumasan Javanese is a collective term for a Javanese subgroup native to the Indonesia's westernmost part of Central Java. At approximately ±9 million people, they are concentrated in Banyumas, Cilacap, Kebumen, Purworejo, Purbalingga, and Banjarnegara regencies. The Banyumasan-Javanese speak Banyumasan dialect of Javanese language, a dialect which is often called "basa ngapak-ngapak".
Roti gambang or ganjel rel is an Indonesian rectangular-shaped brown bread with sesame seeds, flavoured with cinnamon and palm sugar.
Sundanese Music is an umbrella term that encompasses diverse musical traditions of the West Java and Banten in western part of Java, Indonesia. The term of "West Java" is preferred by scholars in this field. The word "Sundanese" originally referred to western part of Java Island and has a strong association with the highly centralized Sunda Kingdom based on Java Island and its high culture practiced by the nobleman class in its capital Parahyangan. By contrast, scholars who cover a much broader region lay emphasis on folk culture.
Tarawangsa is a traditional Sundanese musical instrument from West Java, Indonesia, in the form of a stringed instrument that has two strings made of steel or iron wire. Tarawangsa is an ensemble of chordophones of two musical instruments. One is called tarawangsa itself, played by swiping and the other is called jentreng played by picking. The art of Tarawangsa is performed in the Ngalaksa ceremony, which is a ceremony for abundant harvests. The ceremony in the traditional agrarian society of the Sundanese is always identified with the figure of Nyai Sri Pohaci or Nyi Pohaci Sanghyang Dangdayang Asri or Dewi Asri or Dewi Sri as the Sundanese goddess of rice.
Kompang is a traditional Balinese and Javanese musical instrument part of gamelan in the percussion family originated from the Indonesian region of Ponorogo in East Java. Kompang has existed in Indonesia since at least the 8th century and has spread to various regions of Indonesia as well as the Southeast Asia in general, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand, which later became known as Kompang Jawa.
