6 | Nineteenth Century

Indonesian Gamelan

Peter Kun Frary

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Javanese Music Comes to Paris

At the 1889 Paris Exposition (World's Fair), a concert of elegant and ancient Asian orchestra music was introduced to the West. Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, and other French composers attended and were deeply affected by the music. Debussy wrote, “Javanese music obeys laws of counterpoint that make Palestrina seem like child’s play... our own music is not much more than a barbarous kind of noise more fit for a traveling circus.” What was this music that caused such an impact on Debussy and other composers?

Welcome to Paradise (c. 1929) | Balinese gamelan and bathhouse drawing by an anonymous Balinese artist. | Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Cross-Cultural Influences

What Debussy and friends heard at the Paris Exposition was gamelan: an ensemble consisting of gongs, metallophones (xylophone-like instruments), flutes, voices, and sometimes bowed and plucked strings. Originating in ancient Indonesia, gamelan continues to be performed for ceremonies and events, solidifying its status as a longstanding and integral aspect of Indonesian culture. The cross-cultural impact of gamelan textures, rhythms, and melodic structure is evident in the works of Western composers such as Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Benjamin Britten, Lou Harrison, Steve Reich, Béla Bartók, and many others.

Indonesia | Wikimedia Commons

Origin of Gamelan

Indonesia, a country nestled between the Pacific and Indian Oceans in Southeast Asia, boasts over seventeen thousand islands and a population of more than two hundred sixty-one million people. It is the world’s largest island nation, with a rich history dating back to the first century CE when villages, towns, and kingdoms flourished. Indonesia’s unique sea-lane location played a pivotal role in fostering inter-island and international trade, making it a conduit for culture and technology exchange between India, China, mainland Southeast Asia, and Europe. Indonesia's ideal climate for spice production and sea-lane location was also a liability, and the principal reason they suffered centuries of colonization by the Dutch.

Submission of Prince Dipo Negoro to General De Kock | N. Pieneman (1809-60) | Indonesia was emancipated from Dutch rule in 1949. | Rijksmuseum

Gamelan predates the arrival of Hinduism to Java (c. 100-200 CE). Javanese mythology indicates gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru, a Javanese god king, in 230 CE. Guru used his gong to summon fellow gods. He needed additional instruments for more involved messages, so he built more gongs, forming the first set of gamelan instruments.

The earliest archaeological evidence of gamelan exists on an eighth-century Buddhist monument in Borobudur, Java. Depicted musicians play lutes, drums, flutes, cymbals, and bells, but lack the metallophones common to modern gamelan.

Modern Gamelan

Gamelan instruments evolved into their current form during Java’s Majapahit Empire, spanning from approximately 1293 to 1500. This period coincided with Europe’s late Middle Ages and Renaissance, as well as China’s Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Art held significant importance in Javanese culture, and the Empire established a government bureau dedicated to overseeing performing arts, including gamelan. This bureau regulated the manufacture of instruments and the performance of gamelan at the royal court. 

Compared to most acoustic instruments, gamelan is relatively loud and thus well suited to outdoor performances. Indeed, gamelan performances are traditionally held in open courtyards and pavilions.

Gong and Chime Music in Southeast Asia | Gong and chime ensembles, related to Gamelan, are found throughout Southeast Asia. | Wikimedia Commons

Cross-Cultural Exchange in Asia

Although Java and Bali are the centers of the gamelan universe, Indonesians are not the only practitioners. Gamelan-related “gong and chime” ensembles have spread throughout Southeast Asia through migration, colonization, and cultural interest. This cross-cultural interaction and exchange resulted in three major regional styles: Celempung (Malaysia), Piphat (Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia), and Kulintang (Philippines).

The influence of gamelan goes beyond Java's neighboring countries: varieties of gamelan exist in over twenty-five countries outside Indonesia. Moreover, many major Western universities offer gamelan ensembles as college courses, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa (MUS 311H). UHM has a dedicated gamelan building that opens into a courtyard for performances.

Instruments

Gamelan instruments are an example of a unique cultural tradition surviving relatively unchanged despite centuries of colonization and cross-cultural interactions with the West. Although gamelan ensembles vary in size, style, tuning, scales, repertoire, function, and instrumentation, all consist primarily of bronze percussive instruments such as gongs, chimes, cymbals, and metallophones (metal xylophones). Many ensembles also contain drums, plucked and bowed string instruments, winds, and singers.

Modern Javanese Gamelan | The bonang (small tuned gongs) is played on the left. | Photo, Gunawan Kartapranata | Wikimedia Commons

Metallophones

The most common gamelan instruments are metallophones, definite pitch idiophones similar to xylophones. For example, the slenthem, a metallophone, is a prominent instrument within the gamelan ensemble.

Slenthem | The slenthem is a metallophone (metal xylophone) | Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Other common gamelan instruments include metallophones of varying sizes, flutes, rebab, and the human voice. Gamelan instruments are tuned slightly out of phase with one another, creating a shimmering sound.

The video below introduces popular gamelan instruments.

Gamelan Instruments | (4:07)

Kendhang | Two-headed drum | Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Kendhang

Sets of two-headed drums, called kendhang, control tempo, rhythm, and musical transitions in the gamelan, similar to kakko's role in Japanese gagaku orchestras. Kendhang are positioned near the front of the ensemble (see video below). Major sections are marked by strokes of another indefinite pitch percussion instrument, the ketuk, a large gong placed at the rear of the ensemble.

Saron | A small metallophone | Fir0002/Flagstaffotos | Creative Commons

In gamelan ensembles, higher-pitched metallophones like the saron play faster notes than lower-pitched instruments like the slenthem. Lower-pitched instruments mark important beats in colotomic meter, the underlying rhythmic structure of the work. This cyclical pattern, similar to Western meter but closer to Hindustani tala, is indicated by the largest gong. For example, in the 16-beat colotomic cycle known as ketawang, the largest gong is struck only on a single beat. When this gong sounds, it indicates the start of the piece and each subsequent cycle. Faster melodic and rhythmic parts play over this cycle.

Gamelan Styles

Gamelan musical style is an example of a unique cultural tradition surviving relatively unchanged despite centuries of cross-cultural interactions with the West. There are currently three main Indonesian gamelan styles, classified according to region: Balinese (Bali), Javanese (Central Java), and Sundanese (Western Java). These styles share similar instruments, techniques, and scales but differ in details of style and performance practice. For example, the two main scales used in gamelan music—the five-tone slendro and seven-tone pelog—are common elements of all three regional styles.

The Javanese regional style evolved as court music for Central Java nobles. This style is characterized by a slow and meditative quality. On the other hand, Balinese gamelan is the rock 'n roll of gamelan: virtuosic playing, fast tempos, and rapid changes of tempo and dynamics. While Balinese gamelan is a minority style in Indonesia, it has a huge international following due to the booming tourist industry on Bali. We'll focus on Balinese gamelan for our listening assignment.

Balinese Prada Cloth | Gold leaf clothing is worn on special occasions such as a concert or wedding. | Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Manuk Anguci

Manuk Anguci (The Chirping of Birds) is an example of Balinese gamelan music, specifically Gamelan Gong Kebyar. This piece, like most gamelan pieces, is organized in a cyclical structure and lacks the sense of beginning, middle, and end common to Western music. Instead, gamelan musicians cycle through a series of musical episodes, contrasting sections of intense melody, rhythm, and texture with softer, more meditative sections. The melodic structure is based on a pentatonic scale—a gapped five-note scale—known as slendro and is spun out in waves of intense repetition between groups of instruments.

The main theme is played on a metallophone in the center of the orchestra. To the rear, the larger metallophones and gongs punctuate the musical patterns from the front metallophones. The animated conductor in the center, called an ugal, cues his musicians with gestures. For example, he glides them by lifting his mallet and moving his head and shoulders. To enhance visibility, his metallophone is placed higher than those to either side.

Manuk Anguci (Chirping of Birds) | Semara Ratih Balinese Gamelan performing in Ubud, Bali (8:45)

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More Information

Know Your Gamelan Instruments

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Vocabulary

gamelan, metallophones, bonang, kendhang, slenthem, colotomic meter. ketuk, pentatonic scale, Kulintang, ugal, slendro, pelog

©Copyright 2018-26 by Peter Kun Frary | All Rights Reserved

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