Music of Indonesia

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Indonesia is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, and its music is also highly diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region has its own distinct culture and art, and as a result traditional music differs from area to area. For example, each traditional type of music is often accompanied by its very own dance and theatre. Contemporary music scene has also been heavily shaped by various foreign influences, such as those from America, Britain, Japan, Korea, and India.

The music of Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, Bali, Flores (Lesser Sunda Islands) and other islands have been well documented and recorded,

and further research by Indonesian and international scholars is also ongoing. The music in Indonesia predates historical records, various Native Indonesian tribes often incorporate chants and songs accompanied with musical instruments in their rituals. The contemporary music of Indonesia today is also popular amongst neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

In general, the traditional music and songs of Indonesia comprise a strong beat and harmony with strong influence from Indian, Javanese, Arab, Chinese and Malay classical music. The influence is strongly visible in the popular traditional music genre of Dangdut.

Musical instruments

thumb|left|260px|Musicians performing musical ensemble, The 8th century bas-relief of [[Borobudur Temple, Central Java, Indonesia]]

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. Traditional musics of Indonesian tribes often uses percussion instruments, especially gongs and gendang (drums). Some of them developed elaborate and distinctive musical instruments, such as sasando string instrument of Rote island, angklung of Sundanese people, and the complex and sophisticated gamelan orchestra of Java and Bali.

Indonesia is the home of gong chime; 'gong chime' is a generic term for a set of small, high-pitched bossed pot gongs. The gongs are ordinarily placed in order of pitch, with the boss upward on cords held in a low wooden frame. The frames can be rectangular or circular (the latter are sometimes called "gong circles"), and may have one or two rows of gongs. They are played by one to four musicians, each using two padded sticks to strike them. They are an important instrument in many Indonesian musical ensembles, such as gamelan, kulintang, and talempong.

Gong

thumb|right|360px|Indonesian [[kempul gong.]]

The gong is a mainly metallic percussion instrument family in various sizes originating from Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, it is usually used by gamelan ensembles.

Bonang and talempong

thumb|right|[[Talempong performance]]

The bonang is an instrument from the gong family used in the gamelan device. Talempong is a traditional instrument of the Minangkabau of West Sumatra with a shape almost the same as the bonang. Talempongs can be made of brass, but some are made of wood and stone. Talempongs are played by being hit using a wooden rod or a stick. Talempong is usually used to accompany dance or welcoming performances, such as the typical Tari Piring, Tari Pasambahan, Tari Alang, Tari Suntiang Pangulu and Tari Gelombang. Talempong is usually performed with an accordion accompaniment, a type of organ supported and played with the right hand. In addition to the accordion, instruments such as saluang, gandang, serunai and other traditional Minangkabau instruments are commonly played with talempong.

Kulintang

thumb|left|Replica of a kulintang musical instrument, similar to the [[Gambang (instrument)|Gambang.]]

Kolintang, or kulintang, is a bronze and wooden percussion instrument native to eastern Indonesia and also The Philippines. In Indonesia it is particularly associated with the Minahasa people of North Sulawesi; however, it is also popular in Maluku and Timor. The instrument consists of a row/set of 5 to 9 graduated pot gongs, horizontally laid upon a frame arranged in order of pitch with the lowest gong found on the players' left. The gongs are laid in the instrument face side up atop two cords/strings running parallel to the entire length of the frame, with bamboo/wooden sticks/bars resting perpendicular across the frame, creating an entire kulintang set called a "pasangan".

The main purpose for kulintang music in the community social entertainment at a professional, folk level. This music is unique in that it is considered a public music in the sense everyone is allowed to participate. Not only do the players play, but audience members are also expected to participate. These performances are important in that they bring people in the community and adjacent regions together, helping unify communities that otherwise may not have interacted with one another. Traditionally, when performers play kulintang music, their participation is voluntary. Musicians see performances as an opportunity to receive recognition, prestige and respect from the community and nothing more.

Kulintang music differs in many aspects from gamelan music, primarily in the way the latter constructs melodies within a framework of skeletal tones and prescribed time interval of entry for each instruments. The framework of kulintang music is more flexible and time intervals are nonexistent, allowing for such things as improvisations to be more prevalent.

Angklung

thumb|[[Angklung performance]]

Angklung is a bamboo musical instrument native to Sundanese people of West Java. It is made out of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved so that they have a distinctive resonant pitch when being vibrated. Each angklung only plays one note.

This musical instrument made of bamboo is played by shaking it. The sound of the Angklung is generated from the impact of bamboo tubes. It has a distinctive sound that vibrates in a composition of 2, 3, to 4 notes in each size.

Angklung existed before the Hindu era in Indonesia. In the days of the Sundanese kingdom (12th to 16th centuries), Angklung became a musical instrument that was always used in various events or celebrations, especially traditional events in farming. At that time, Angklung was played as worship of "Dewi Sri", namely the Goddess of Rice or the Goddess of Fertility to be given blessings to the plants she planted and also to prosper in life. Not only that, during the Sundanese kingdom, Angklung was also used as a trigger for the spirit of war.

The types of bamboo that are commonly used as musical instruments are black bamboo (awi wulung) and ater bamboo (awi temen), which when dry are whitish yellow. Each note (barrel) is produced from the sound of the bamboo tube in the form of a blade (wilahan) for each bamboo segment from small to large. Each bamboo size has a different pitch. UNESCO designated the angklung a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 18 November 2010.

Suling

thumb|left|Boy playing suling

Suling is the Sundanese word for seruling the word of Indonesian, which means 'flute'. Made from bamboo, Indonesian flutes are always end blown and vary in size. The fingering position changes the wavelength of sound resonance inside the suling's body. Depending on the distance of nearest hole to the suling's head, different notes can be produced. The airflow speed also can modify the tone's frequency. A note with twice frequency can be produced mostly by blowing the air into suling's head's hole with twice speed. Generally, the shorter the suling the higher the pitch. This simple suling produces tunes or melodies that have traditionally been interpreted as the sound of joyful learning. There are many regions in Indonesia that use suling as a traditional instrument and have different local names for it. In Java, Sunda, and Bali, this instrument is commonly called suling, in Minang it is called saluang, in Toraja, it is called Lembang flute, in Halmahera, it is called bangsil, and in West Nusa Tenggara it is called silu. Suling is an Indonesian bamboo ring flute which is used in various traditional musical ensemble performances, including gamelan, gambus, and dangdut. This flute is made of a long, thin-walled bamboo tube called tamiang and a thin rattan band encircles the mouthpiece.

Kacapi suling

thumb|right|[[Sundanese people|Sundanese men playing the Kecapi suling]]

Kacapi suling is a type of instrumental music that is highly improvisational and popular in parts of West Java that employs two instruments, kacapi (zither) and suling (bamboo flute). It is related to tembang sunda. The rhythmic strains of the kecapi are slow in tempo, produced by strings that blend into soft music when combined with the melody of the suling or melismatic vocals. The kacapi is a traditional zither of Sundanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese , and similar to the Japanese koto, the Mongolian , the Korean , the Vietnamese and the Kazakh jetigen, and suling is a bamboo flute.

Kendang

thumb|left|Gendang beleg performance in Lombok, [[West Nusa Tenggara.]]

Kendang or Gendang is a two-headed drum used by peoples from Indonesian archipelago. Among the Javanese, Sundanese, or Balinese peoples, the kendang has one side larger than the other, with the larger, lower-pitched side usually placed to the right, and are usually placed on stands horizontally and hit with the hands on either side while seated on the floor. Amongst groups like the Balinese both sides are of equal size, and are played on either one or both sides using a combination of hands and/or sticks. Among the Makassarese, the Ganrang drums have much more importance, with it considered the most sacred of all musical instruments, comparable to gongs in Java.

One of the best known variations of the Kendang is the Gendang beleq. Gendang beleq is a traditional music from Lombok island, Indonesia. The name gendang beleq is a Sasak language term, which means "big drum (big gendang)", as the performance is about a group of musicians playing, dancing and marching with their traditional instruments, centered on two big drum (gendang). The drum is made from a wood frame with goat skin drum-head. The wood is selected from woods which is hard yet light. In a Gendang beleq performance, the drummers carry and play gendang and dance a dramatic and confrontational duet. The drummers play interlocking tune with their large drums. Aside from able to play their instruments, the players must have the agility and stamina to perform the dance and marching with their instrument.

Sasando

thumb|Man playing sasando

Sasando is a plucked string instrument native of Rote island of East Nusa Tenggara. The parts of sasando are a bamboo cylinder surrounded by several wedges where the strings are stretched, surrounded by a bag-like fan of dried lontar or palmyra leaves (Borassus flabellifer), functioned as the resonator of the instrument.

Tapanuli ogong

Musical performance from Tapanuli area of North Sumatra. Tapanuli ogong is a form of dance music played with a type of lute, trumpet and flute.

thumb|Man playing Sape

Sape Dayak

The sapeʼ (sampek, sampeʼ, sapek) is a traditional lute of the Kenyah and Kayan community who live in the longhouses that line the rivers of East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and North Kalimantan. Sape' are carved from a single bole of wood, with many modern instruments reaching over a metre in length. Technically, the sape is a relatively simple instrument, with one string carrying the melody and the accompanying strings as rhythmic drones. In practice, the music is quite complex, with many ornamentations and thematic variations.

Traditional genres

thumb|left|360px|Javanese women singing with [[Sindhen style]]

The diversity of Indonesian music genres is the result of the musical creativity of its people, and also the subsequent cultural encounters with foreign musical influences into the archipelago. Alongside distinctive native forms of music, several genres can trace their origins to foreign influences; such as gambus and qasidah from Middle Eastern Islamic music, keroncong from Portuguese influences, and dangdut with notable Hindi music influence.

Folk music

thumb|[[SambaSunda music performance, featuring traditional Sundanese music instruments.]]

Indonesian regional folk pop music reflects the diversity of Indonesian culture and Indonesian ethnicity, mostly use local languages and a mix of western and regional style music and instruments. Indonesian folk music is quite diverse, and today includes pop, rock, house, hip hop and other genres, as well as distinct Indonesian forms. There are several kinds of "ethnic" pop music, generally grouped together as Pop Daerah (regional pop). These include Pop sunda, Pop Minang, Pop Batak, Pop Melayu, Pop Ambon, Pop Minahasa and others. Other than featuring the legacy of Lagu Daerah (regional traditional songs) of each regional cultures, musicians also create some new compositions in their own native language.

Gamelan

thumb|left|360px|Javanese gamelan in [[Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore]]

thumb|left|360px|Gamelan xylophone solo.

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, Singapore and Malaysia, however gamelan is originated from Java, Bali, and Lombok.

thumb|right|The Sundanese Degung gamelan performance in [[Museo Nacional de las Culturas Mexico, Indra Swara group.]]

In central Java, gamelan is intricate and meticulously laid out. The central melody is played on a metallophone in the centre of the orchestra, with the front elaboration and ornamentation on the melody, and at the back, the gongs slowly punctuate the music. There are two tuning systems. Each gamelan is tuned to itself, and the intervals between notes on the scale vary between ensembles. The metallophones cover four octaves, and include types like the slenthem, demung, saron panerus and balungan. The soul of the gamelan is believed to reside in the large gong, or gong ageng. Other gongs are tuned to each note of the scale and include ketuk, kenong and kempul. The front section of the orchestra is diverse, and includes rebab, suling, siter, bonang and gambang. Male choruses (gerong) and female (pesindhen) solo vocalists are common. With the arrival of the Dutch colonisers, a number system called kepatihan was developed to record the music. Music and dance at the time were divided into several styles based on the main courts in the area—Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Pakualaman and Mangkunegaran.

Gamelan in eastern Java is less well-known than central or western parts of the island. Perhaps most distinctive of the area is the extremely large gamyak drum. In West Java, formerly Sunda, has several types of gamelan. Gamelan Degung, gamelan salendro and tembang sunda are three primary types. The Osing Javanese minority in eastern Java are known for social music for weddings and other celebrations called gandrung, as well as angklung, played by young amateur boys, which is very similar to Balinese gamelan.

thumb|left|Gamelan Sekaten Kanjeng Kiai Guntur Madu (One of Some Javanese Sacred Gamelan) is usually beaten every day for a week during the [[Sekaten celebration at the Keraton Yogyakarta.]]

In Indonesia, gamelan often accompanies dance, wayang puppet performances, or rituals and ceremonies. Typically players in the gamelan will be familiar with dance moves and poetry, while dancers are able to play in the ensemble. In wayang, the dalang (puppeteer) must have a thorough knowledge of gamelan, as he gives the cues for the music. Gamelan can be performed by itself&nbsp;– in "klenengan" style, or for radio broadcasts&nbsp;– and concerts presentation are common in national arts conservatories founded in the middle of the 20th century.

thumb|right|Gamelan ensemble (or [[Beleganjur|gambelan in Balinese term) accompanying barong.]]

Gamelan's role in rituals is so important that there is a Javanese saying, "It is not official until the gong is hung". Some performances are associated with royalty, such as visits by the sultan of Yogyakarta. Certain gamelans are associated with specific rituals, such as the Gamelan Sekaten, which is used in celebration of the Mawlid (Muhammad's birthday). In Bali, almost all religious rituals include gamelan performance. Gamelan is also used in the ceremonies of the Catholic church in Indonesia. Certain pieces are designated for starting and ending performances or ceremonies. When an "ending" piece (such as "Udan Mas") is begun, the audience will know that the event is nearly finished and will begin to leave. Certain pieces are also believed to possess magic powers, and can be used to ward off evil spirits.

The contemporary form of Islamic Middle Eastern-influenced music in Indonesia is exemplified by the band Debu, that feature a sufism approach on music to spread their message.

Nasheed

In Indonesia, as a predominantly Muslim country, many singers perform tradisional or contemporary nasheed, a genre of Islamic vocal music, either primarily or in addition to their repertoire.

Kroncong

thumb|[[Keroncong singer, Waldjinah in a kroncong performance at the 55th Tong Tong Fair at The Hague in 2013.]]

Kroncong (alternative spelling: Keroncong) has been evolving since the arrival of the Portuguese, who brought European instruments. By the early 1900s, it was considered a low-class urban music. This changed in the 1930s, when the rising Indonesian film industry began incorporating kroncong. And then even more so in the mid- to late 1940s, it became associated with the struggle for independence.

Perhaps the most famous song in the kroncong style is "Bengawan Solo", written in 1940 by Gesang Martohartono, a Solonese musician. Written during the Japanese Imperial Army occupation of the island in World War II, the song (about the Bengawan Solo River, Java's longest and most important river) became widely popular among the Javanese, and then later nationally when recordings were broadcast over the local radio stations. The song also became quite popular with the Japanese soldiers, and when they returned to Japan at the end of the war re-recordings of it (by Japanese artists) became best-sellers. Over the years it has been re-released many times by notable artists, mainly within Asia but also beyond (like Anneke Grönloh), and in some places it is seen as typifying Indonesian music. Gesang himself remains the most renowned exponent of the style, which although it is seen now as a somewhat starchy and "dated" form is still popular among large segments of the population, particularly the older generation.

After World War II, during Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949), and since then, kroncong has been associated with patriotism, since many Indonesian poets and patriotic songwriters use kroncong and jazz fusion genres in their works. Patriotic themes and romantic wartime romance were featured in the works of Ismail Marzuki, such as "Rayuan Pulau Kelapa", "Indonesia Pusaka", "Sepasang Mata Bola", "Keroncong Serenata" and "Juwita Malam". These patriotic songs can be sung in hymn or even in orchestra, but are most often sung in kroncong style, known as kroncong perjuangan (struggle kroncong). The kroncong divas; Waldjinah, Sundari Sukoco and Hetty Koes Endang, were instrumental in reviving the style in the 1980s.

Langgam Jawa

There is a style of kroncong native to Surakarta (Solo) called langgam jawa, which fuses kroncong with the gamelan seven-note scale, adopted from its original keroncong.

Gambang kromong

thumb|right|[[Gambang kromong, a music performed on melodic percussion instruments and brass, is native to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.]]

Early in the 20th century, kroncong was used in a type of theatre called Komedi Stambul; adapted for this purpose, the music was called gambang kromong. Gambang kromong is quite prevalent in the Betawi culture of Jakarta.

Tanjidor

Tanjidor is a traditional Betawi musical ensemble of Jakarta. The instruments used are similar to that of a military marching band apt corps of drums/drum and bugle corps, usually consisting of tuba or sousaphone, trumpet, clarinet, tambourine and drums. The term tanjidor was derived from Portuguese tanger (playing music) and tangedor (playing music outdoors), subsequently adopted in Betawi language as tanji (music).

Contemporary genres

The contemporary music of Indonesia is diverse and vibrant. Throughout its history, Indonesian musicians were open to foreign influences of various music genres of the world. American jazz was heavily marketed in Asia, and foxtrots, tangos, rumbas, blues and Hawaiian guitar styles were all imitated by Indonesian musicians. As the result, various genres were developed within Indonesian music frame: Indonesian pop, rock, gospel, jazz, R&B, and hip hop.

Indonesian music also plays a vital role in the Indonesian creative pop culture, especially as the soundtracks or theme songs of Indonesian cinema and sinetrons (Indonesian TV drama). For example, Indonesian film Badai Pasti Berlalu (1977) a produced successful soundtrack hit of the same name. In 1999, the soundtrack was remade with Chrisye as the main singer and rendered by Erwin Gutawa in orchestra style, and in 2007, the film was remade again with a new soundtrack featuring the same songs performed by new artists. Another popular Indonesian coming of age teen movie, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta (2002) also produced hits from its soundtrack, with most songs written and performed by Melly Goeslaw.

In the late 1990s, within Indonesian popular music, contemporary Islamic songs emerged, with performers making music as a tool for preaching. The main genres are nasheed (Aa Gym), Islamic rock (Ahmad Dhani and Dewa 19), and fusion style (Cak Nun and Kiai Kanjeng).

Today, the Indonesian music industry enjoys nationwide popularity. Thanks to common culture and mutually intelligible languages between Indonesian and Malay, Indonesian music also enjoys regional popularity in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. However, the overwhelming popularity of Indonesian music in Malaysia has alarmed the Malaysian music industry. In 2008 Malaysian music industry demanded the restriction of Indonesian songs on Malaysian radio broadcasts.

Orchestra and classical music

Western classical music reached Indonesia in the era of Dutch East Indies as early as the 18th century, but it was enjoyed only by a handful of wealthy Dutch plantation owners and officers in elite social clubs and ballrooms such as Societeit Harmonie in Batavia and Societeit Concordia in Bandung. De Schouwburg van Batavia (today Gedung Kesenian Jakarta) was designed as a concert hall in the 19th century. Classical music had been restricted to the refined, wealthy and educated high-class citizen, and never penetrated the rest of the population during the East Indies colonial era. The type of western-derived music that transcended the social barrier at that time was Kroncong, known as lower-class music.

An amateur group called Bataviasche Philharmonic Orchestra was established in Dutch colonial times. It became the NIROM orchestra when the radio broadcasting station Nederlandsch-Indische Radio Omroep Maatschappij was born in 1912. Today it is known as Jakarta Symphony Orchestra, which has existed in the country's musical world for almost a century through its changing formats to suit prevailing trends and needs. In 1950, a merger of the Cosmopolitan Orchestra under Joel Cleber, and the Jakarta Studio Orchestra under Sutedjo and Iskandar appeared as the Djakarta Radio Orchestra under Henkie Strake for classical repertoires, and the Jakarta Studio Orchestra led by Syaiful Bachri specialised in Indonesian pieces. In 2010 Jakarta Symphony Orchestra staged a comeback after a fairly long absence. The Jakarta Symphony was emerged in '70s.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, classical music in Indonesia aired on the national radio broadcasting service, Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), and the national TV station Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI). During these decades, classical orchestra mainly developed in universities as an extracurricular activity for students which included choir. In the 1990s, professional symphony orchestras started to take form, such as the Twilite Orchestra led by Addie MS, founded in June 1991. Initially an ensemble with 20 musicians, the ensemble has since developed into a full symphonic orchestra with 70 musicians, a 63-member Twilite Chorus, and a repertoire that ranges from Beethoven to The Beatles. The orchestra has played a role in promoting Indonesian music, especially in the preservation of national songs by Indonesian composers, and traditional songs. Aided by the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra with the Twilite Chorus, Addie MS re-recorded the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya, by WR Supratman in its original orchestral arrangement by Jos Cleber, as well as other Indonesian popular national songs in the album Simfoni Negeriku.

An Indonesian composer who is well known in contemporary classical music is Ananda Sukarlan (born 1968), with many orchestral works, chamber and instrumental. His most celebrated works are a series of virtuosic Rapsodia Nusantara for piano solo, with musical motifs based on Indonesian folktunes. He has written works for musicians such as from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, violinist Midori Goto etc., and his works are widely performed worldwide.

Today, major cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Batam are no strangers to orchestral music, with their own symphony groups. Jakarta, for instance, has its Nusantara Symphony Orchestra, the Twilite Orchestra and the Jakarta Chamber

Orchestra.

Among contemporary Indonesian musicians who associated with classical music are: the composers Ananda Sukarlan and Sinta Wullur; the pianists Hendry Wijaya, Eduardus Halim, Esther Budiardjo, and Victoria Audrey Sarasvathi; the flautist Embong Rahardjo; the soprano singers Pranawengrum Katamsi, Aning Katamsi, and Isyana Sarasvati (she is also successful pop sentimental ballad vocalist).

Pop

thumbnail|JKT48 performs at Jakarta–Japan Matsuri 2012

Indonesian pop music today, known simply as I-pop or Indo pop ("pop Indonesia") sometimes influenced by trends and recordings from West music,.