Balinese Gamelan: Types

Gamelan Jegog

Gamelan jegog is a style of gamelan played on bamboo marimbas. It originates from Jembrana, in western Bali. The melodies of this ensemble weave together a complex melodic texture from a four tone scale, which is unique within the gamelan sphere.

The ensemble includes three Barangan, which plays the main melody, three kantilan and three suir, playing an interlocking figuration. The melody is played by two undir, two celuluk at a higher octave and a jegog at a lower octave. A bamboo flute, the suling, accompanies the melody. There might also be drum(Kendang), cymbals(ceng-ceng) and a small gong(tawa-tawa) in the ensemble.

Gamelan gong gede

The Gamelan gong gede is a traditional ceremonial form of music using large gongs. It originates from the court societies of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are associated with important festivities such as temple festivals.

It is usually performed by a temple orchestra, which consists of more than 40 musicians. In contrast to other forms of Balinese gamelan, it has a slow tempo and can be describe as graceful. It fluctuates in cycles - one loud, one soft, one fast, one slow. The largest gong provides the main cyclical beat.

Gamelan gambang

The gamelan gambang consists of four gambang, a xylophone-like instrument and two sarons. It is performed mainly for temple or funeral rights and is considered sacred and ancient.

Gamelan Selunding

The Selunding variety of the gamelan ensemble originates from the village of Tenganan in East Bali.

Gamelan Semar Pegulingan

The gamelan Semar Pegulingan, named after the Hindu god of love, is a style that originates from seventeenth century Bali. It was initially used for lulling the royal family to sleep. It has a sweeter and more reserved sound as compared to other forms of Balinese gamelan. This style of ensemble includes the suling and trompong.

Balinese Gamelan: Instruments

Core Instruments

Gong, Jegog

Calung, Penyacah

The core instruments lay out the basic melody and structure of the music. The gong marks the cyclical end of the piece, the calung plays a simplified melody and the Jegog doubles the melody of the Calung at a lower octave.

The Gangsa

The Gansa section of the ensemble is made up of the Ugal, Kantilan and Pemade. The Ugal, the lower pitched of the three, usually plays the core melody or the elaboration of it. The other two instruments decorate the core melody with the interlocking, rapid patterns(Ketokan).

The Kettle Gongs

The kettle gongs of the Balinese gamelan ensemble are called the Trompong and Reyong. They have a variety of uses, depending on the type of gamelan they are used in. They can be solo instruments or as an decoration of the musical piece. They are also used for rapid patterns, similar to the gangsa.

Balinese Gamelan: Overview

Bali is a home to various style of Gamelan ensembles, much like the rest of the Indonesian archipelago. With the island itself, there are many forms of Gamelan, but generally has its own styles that makes it distinct from the rest of the regions.

Balinese music is generally described as vigorous, explosive and energetic as compared to their Javanese counterparts. The sound is bright and percussive, with the use of hard hammers or horns used for many instruments and the frequent clash of the cymbals.

Kotekan

A prominent musical characteristic of Balinese gamelan would be the Kotek, which is the sharing of the musical line by two players sharing pitches, making for a much faster pace of performance.

A Balinese dance performance featuring Angsel
Another characteristic of Balinese Gamelan would be Angsel, which is a break during a continuous line for emphasis on a dance move or musical gesture.

Kalimantan, Borneo - Sampek

A Sampek is a traditional instrument of the Dayak Kenyah tribe of Kalimantan. It is a boat lute instrument - shaped like a boat with a hollow stern. They are carved from a single tree trunk and are decorated with traditional tribal patterns in black and red plakat paint. The tuning head is carved in the form a of deer or a hornbill bird, which are sacred animals to the tribe.

Sampek

The Sampek is usually performed during folk celebrations such as the rice harvest celebrations of Gawai Padai. It can be played alone, or in an ensemble, and is often paired with a Datun Julut dance.

There is a legend amongst the Dayak behind the creation of the Sampek. It was that of a man caught in a shipwreck being healed to health by a melodious tune. It is believed that he was rescued by his ancestors and brought home safely. The man then created the instrument upon his homecoming.

Kalimantan, Borneo - Tingkilan

Tingkilan group orchestras are a common form of traditional music for the Kutai tribes in Kalimantan.

They consists of one Gambus, five maruas, one cello and some singers(male or female).

Gambus

Gambus is a short necked lute that has its origins in Yemen. It has twelve nylon strings that are plucked with a plastic plectrum much like a guitar, but it has no frets.

Maruas

Maruas is a drum, with a wooden frame and leather pinned onto its sides.

Tingkilan music is usually performed with two singers with the frequent content of love advice or a dialogue between the two characters.

Sunda, West Java - Kecapi Suling

Kecapi Suling is a form of Sundanese music from West Java. It is essentially Tembang Sunda minus vocals, and also interludes between songs at a typical Tembang Sunda performance. The higher pitched is kecapi rincik and the lower pitched is  kecapi indung. Suling is used during a kecapi suling performance. Kecapi Suling has instrumental pieces performed in two different scales; the first four in laras pelog convey a light mood, the last four, in laras sorog are more slow and grave. 

Kecapi Suling is a genre of Sundanese music that emerged around the middle of the twentieth century developed from an earlier tradition of Tembang Cianjuran, more specifically from improvised interludes played between the songs during its performance by the accompanying ensemble. 

It consists of one or two kecapi (zithers), one suling (flute) and occasionally a set of kendang (drums). It is essentially Tembang Cianjuran without vocalist, sharing the repertoire and playing techniques. Discarding the vocalist from the ensemble does however result in several differences in sound - as the ensemble without vocalist is no longer "aristocratic" it is effectively much less confined to formal music rigor, giving it more freedom for improvisation, rhythm changes and variable track lengths. Lack of vocalist also tends to result in a higher emphasis being put on flute player virtuosity.

Sunda - Gamelan Degung

Sunda, West Java - Gamelan Degung

Gamelan Degung is exclusive to Sunda. In the 19th century, this ensemble appeared in the courts of the Bupati or Regents. Since Independence, Degung has become increasingly known among the general populace. Nowadays it is often played at wedding banquets or as background music. Owing to the fact that it was closely linked to former aristocratic connections, the middle class consider it more ‘high-class’ than Gamelan Saléndro. Degung was played exclusively by men in the courts or Kabupatén, but now it is more often played by groups of women (apart from the suling and kendang).

The music usually played on Gamelan Degung has changed considerably since the time when it was first played in Court. Formerly the repertoire consisted primarily of long, rather austere pieces without singing. This style is sometimes referred to as Degung Klasik. Later, Degung came to be used as accompaniment for female solo singer, or juru kawih.

In general, Gamelan Degung consists of the seven instruments which include Gong, Jengglong, Kendang, Bonang, Panerus, Suling and Peking/Saron.

Jengglong

In older Gamelan Degung ensemble, the jengglong pots are hung from a frame, facing the player. This however has changed over time in which now jengglong are placed on horizontal frames instead.

Bonang

The bonang comprises of 14 pots arranged in a single row. Sometimes it is arranged in two frames set at angle in a V-shape. In more recent ensemble however, bonang are often placed on three shorter frames seta at right angle in U-shape.

Peking

Peking look almost similar to saron in Gamelan Salendro but both have different range of about two and a half octaves. The exact ranges of the two instruments differ in different Gamelan Degung but they always overlap, with the peking having higher pitch.

Kendang and Kulanter

In Gamelan Degung, the kendang is placed on its stand with the edge of the small head resting on the floor, and the large head facing the player. The two kulanter are then placed upright on either side of the large kendang. The right-hand kulanter has its large head facing upwards and the left-hand one its small head facing upwards. In this style the large kendang and the right-hand kulanter are beaten with a stick, while the left-hand kulanter is slapped with the hand. 

Suling

The suling (bamboo flute) used in Gamelan Degung is quite short (a little over 30 cm long) and has four holes. Its effective range is two octaves.

Gondang Batak - Batara Guru & Sihutur Sanggul

Classical Music of North Sumatra, Batak Toba – Gondang Sabangunan

Gondang performance is central to Batak Toba religious and cultural practices and is an integral part of adat. Gondang Sabangunan ensemble are often played during  ritual ceremonies in Batak Toba. This ensemble is played by a group of man called pargonsi. The instruments of Gondang Sabangunan are one or two Sarune Bolon (double-reed oboe), five Taganing (single headed-braced drum) and one Gordang or bass drum (single headed), four Ogung (suspended gong) they are: Ogung Oloan, Ogung Ihutan, Ogung Doal and Ogung Panggora; one Hesek (struck idiophone).


Taganing

From a technical perspective, taganing plays the melody together with sarune and also control the repertoire. Taganing serves as a "pengaba" or "conductor". Taganing is one of the Batak Toba  musical instruments, which comprises five drums that serve as carriers of melody and rhythm as well as a variable in some songs. Taganing is also a melodic drum set (drum-chime), which consists of five gendang that hang in a rack. The shape is almost similar to gordang. Taganing is played by one or two people using two sticks. Compared to gordang which is relatively constant, taganing is much more melodic.

 

Gordang

Gordang is almost similar to taganing but it is much bigger and responsible to bring about a constant and variable rhythm for the ensemble. It is known as the ‘bass’ for Gondang Sabangunan ensemble.

Sarune

Sarune serves as an accompaniment to the melody played by taganing. It is a wind instrument in Gondang Sabangunan and it is also in the same category as Serunai. There are two types of sarune, first is sarune etek which has single reed while sarune bolon has double reed.

Ogung Oloan

Ogung Oloan presents a low-pitched sound of the rhythm and is acts the base that remains to be followed by another ogung. It will also lead all other ogung rhythm. Oloan greeted by Ogung Ihutan.

Ogung Ihutan

 Named Ogung Ihutan because it follows the sound of Ogung Oloan. It is also known as Ogung Pangalusi and has a higher pitch than Ogung Oloan.


Ogung Panggora

 This instrument is one of the different type of Ogung that exist in the Batak community. Ogung Panggora produces loud and blaring sound compared to other types of ogung.

Ogung Doal

Ogung Doal adds variation and additional rhythm to the whole ensemble.

Hesek

Hesek is to be played together with other instruments. Without hesek, a musical piece played on Gondang Sabangunan would be incomplete. Although hesek play only simple melody, it plays and important and decisive role in the ensemble.

Talempong Minangkabau Performance

Classical Music of West Sumatra, Minangkabau – Talempong

One of the most devoutly Muslim areas in Indonesia is the Minangkabau region in the province of West Sumatra. The Minangkabau distinguish two cultural areas: the coastal lowland or pasisir and the largely mountainous interior or darat. Music in the pasisir is strongly influenced by foreign Muslims and neighbouring people along the northwest and northeast Sumatran coasts and in Aceh, northern Sumatra. 

But the darat retains many pre-Muslim characteristics and it is here that one must go to find the oldest forms of Minangkabau musical culture. Bronze kettles and gongs played today in ensemble with drums and sometimes wind instrument belong to one of the oldest musical strata in western Sumatra. There are fewer varieties of bronze instruments to be found among the Minangkabau than in Java and Bali whose inhabitants have developed their bronze orchestras to a very complex degree. 

The Minangkabau equivalent of gamelan is known as talempong ensemble which comprises mainly of small and large bronze, knobbed kettle gongs called talempong and canang respectively. The term can refer to the instrument, the ensemble or the genre of music. There is a good deal of local variation in the size, tuning and instrumental components of the ensemble but a common combination consists of five or six kettles, two or three canang and a pair of large and small two-headed drums or gendang. Musicians play static texture consisting fast interlocking rhythms on the kettles which may be tuned as follows. It can be used to play a wide variety of music, including both traditional and modern. Talempong are largely made from brass         but there are some which are produced from woods.

Each player holds one or two kettles in the left hand and wooden stick for beating the instrument in the right. Sometimes the kettles are arranged in a long frame, holding five to nine kettles, played by one musician. 

Talempong ensembles are still sometimes played during ceremonies for instance; the ceremony to become a village elder or during a rice ceremony to ensure a good harvest or to give thanks for a successful harvest which can be heard on local radio. Talempong ensembles are also used to accompany dances such as Tari Lilin, Tari Piring, Tari Pasambahan and Tari Galombang and as interludes in Minangkabau randai theatre. They may also be played in accompaniment to a solo melody on one of the Minangkabau single and double-reed wind instruments known as pupuih of which there are many types or on the plucked bamboo zither, kacapi bamboo. Alternatively, a pair of tambourine instruments knows as rabana may combine with the talempong and gendang.