A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included.
The term refers more to the set of instruments than to the players of
those instruments. A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct
entity, built and tuned to stay together – instruments from different
gamelan are generally not interchangeable.
The word gamelan comes from the Javanese word gamels, meaning "to strike or hammer", and the suffix an, which makes the root a collective noun.
History of gamelan music
The gamelan predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture
that dominated Indonesia in its earliest records and instead represents
a native art form. The instruments developed into their current form
during the Majapahit Empire.[1] In contrast to the heavy Indian influence in other art forms, the only obvious Indian influence in gamelan music is in the Javanese style of singing.[2]
In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountains in Medangkamulan (now Mount Lawu).
He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong. For
more complex messages, he invented two other Gongs, thus forming the
original gamelan set.[3]
The earliest image of a musical ensemble is found on the 8th century Borobudur
temple, Central Java. Musical instruments such as the bamboo flute,
bells, drums in various sizes, lute, and bowed and plucked string
instruments were identified in this image. However it lacks
metallophones and xylophones. Nevertheless, the image of this musical
ensemble is suggested to be the ancient form of the gamelan.
In the palaces of Java are the oldest known ensembles, the Munggang
and Kodokngorek gamelans, apparently from the 12th century. These
formed the basis of a "loud style". A different, "soft style" developed
out of the kemanak tradition and is related to the traditions of singing Javanese poetry, in a manner which is often believed to be similar to performance of modern bedhaya
dance. In the 17th century, these loud and soft styles mixed, and to a
large extent the variety of modern gamelan styles of Bali, Java, and
Sunda resulted from different ways of mixing these elements. Thus,
despite the seeming diversity of styles, many of the same theoretical
concepts, instruments, and techniques are shared between the styles.[4]
Varieties of gamelan ensembles
Varying
forms of gamelan ensembles are distinguished by their collection of
instruments and use of voice, tunings, repertoire, style, and cultural
context. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those
that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own
style. Certain styles may also be shared by nearby ensembles, leading to
a regional style.
The varieties are generally grouped geographically, with the principal division between the styles favored by the Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese
peoples. The Madurese also had their own style of gamelan, although it
is no longer in use, and the last orchestra is kept at the Sumenep
palace.[5] Sundanese gamelan is often associated with Gamelan Degung, a Sundanese musical ensemble that utilises a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of pelog scale. Balinese gamelan is often associated with the virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo and dynamics of Gamelan gong kebyar, its best-known style. Other popular Balinese styles include Gamelan and kecak,
also known as the "monkey chant." Javanese gamelan was largely
dominated by the courts of the 19th century central Javanese rulers,
each with its own style, but overall is known for a slower, more
meditative style than that of Bali. Although Javanese gamelan can be
made from steel, the better instruments are made of cast brass. The two
kinds of instruments are tuned in different ways.
Outside of the main core on Java and Bali,
gamelans have spread through migration and cultural interest, new
styles sometimes resulting as well. Malay gamelans are designed in ways
that are similar to the Javanese gamelan except they lack most of the
elaborating instruments and are tuned in a near-equidistant slendro,
often using a western Bb or C as a tuning basis. Javanese emigrants to
Suriname play gamelan in a style close to that found in Central Javanese
villages. Gamelan is also related to the Filipino kulintang ensemble. There is also a wide variety of gamelan in the West, including both traditional and experimental ensembles.
In
oral Javanese culture distinctions are made between complete or
incomplete, archaic and modern, and large standard and small village
gamelan (On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments,
Margaret Kartomi, 1990, U. of Chicago Press, p. 91). The various archaic
ensembles are distinguished by their unique combinations of instruments
and possession of obsolete instruments such as the bell-tree (byong) in the 3-toned gamelan kodhok ngorek. Regionally variable village gamelan are often distinguished from standard gamelan (which have the rebab as the main melodic instrument) by their inclusion of a double-reed wind (selompret, slompret, or sompret) in addition to variable drum and gong components, with some also including the shaken bamboo angklung or other instruments not usually associated with gamelan.
MAU LIHAT PERMAINAN GAM3LAN? KLIK DISINI
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