Music of Indonesia
The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character.[1] This results in hundreds of different forms of music, which often accompanies dance and theater. The musics of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Flores and other islands have been documented and recorded, and research by Indonesian and international scholars is ongoing. The music in Indonesia predates historical records, various Native Indonesian tribes often incorporate chants and songs accompanied with musics instruments in their rituals. Today the contemporary music of Indonesia is popular in the region, including neighboring countries; Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.[2]
-------------------------------------------------
Musical instruments
The musical identity of Indonesia as we know it today began as the Bronze Age culture migrated to the Indonesian archipelago in the 2nd-3rd century BC.[3] Traditional musics of Indonesian tribes often uses percussion instruments, especially gendang (drums) and gongs. Some of them developed elaborate and distinctive musical instruments, such as sasando string instrument ofRote island, angklung of Sundanese people, and the complex and sophisticated gamelanorchestra of Java and Bali.
[edit]Gamelan
Main article: Gamelan
The most popular and famous form of Indonesian music is probably gamelan, an ensemble of tuned percussion instruments that include metallophones, drums, gongs and spike fiddles along with bamboo flutes. Similar ensembles are prevalent throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, however gamelan is originated from Java, Bali, and Lombok.
In Central Java, gamelan is intricate and meticulously laid out. The central melody is played on a metallophone in the center of the