Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones and a set of hand-drums called kendang, which keep the beat. The kemanak, a banana-shaped idiophone, and the gangsa, another metallophone, are also commonly used gamelan instruments on Bali. Other notable instruments include xylophones, bamboo flutes, a bowed string instrument called a rebab, and a zither-like instrument called a siter, used in Javanese gamelan. Additionally, vocalists may be featured, being referred to as sindhen for females or gerong for males.
A gamelan player playing bonang. Gamelan Yogyakarta style during a Javanese wedding.
Gamelan musical instrument
Musicians performing musical ensemble, The 8th century bas-relief of Borobudur Temple, Central Java, Indonesia
Gamelan is mentioned in the Kakawin Nagarakertagama in a palm-leaf manuscript called lontar that was written by Mpu Prapanca in 1365 AD. A collection of National Library of Indonesia in Jakarta
The Javanese are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the central and eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java. With more than 100 million people, Javanese people are the largest ethnic group in both Indonesia and in Southeast Asia as a whole. Their native language is Javanese, it is the largest of the Austronesian languages in number of native speakers and also the largest regional language in Southeast Asia. The Javanese as the largest ethnic group in the region have dominated the historical, social, and political landscape in the past as well as in modern Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
A Javanese bride and groom wearing their traditional garb
Samudra Raksa, a 2003 reconstruction of the 9th century Borobudur ship.
A perahu with outrigger, Central Java, between 1924 and 1932.
Cross-section of an outrigger boat, between 1863 and 1900.