Part III: Island Southeast
Asia
Island Southeast Asia: an Introduction
The archipelago
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chapters: Indonesia, the Philippines, Borneo
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nations: Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the
Philippines
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physical and cultural geography
Musical instruments depend on
available materials
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Bronze
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Wood
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bamboo
Musical styles bear similarities across
the region
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layers of parts in stratification
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interlocking patterns
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composite rhythms and melodies
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vocal music crosses many genres
Questions for Discussion

Why are the chapters divided by geography,
not by nation?

What do natural resources have to do with
music production?

Can one talk about the separate islands as
being part of a unified culture group?
Indonesia: Sumatra
Introduction to island diversity

independence from the Dutch in 1945
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at least 13,000 islands, including Sumatra,
Java, Bali, and others
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prevalence of gong-chime ensembles
Sumatran cultural history
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bronze kettledrums
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Buddhist and Hindu temples and kingdoms
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entry of Islam in the 13th century
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European conquest in the 16th century
Sumatran regional music: special
region of Aceh
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Muslim devotional arts
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rapa’i frame drum
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daboih: religious acts of chanting and selfmortification
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seudati: choral singing with body percussion
Sumatran regional music: North
Sumatra province
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animist stratum (songs, xylophones,
tilempong)
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Muslim stratum (devotional songs, rebana
frame drum, gambus lute)
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Portuguese-Malay stratum (secular songs
and Western instruments)
Sumatran regional music: West
Sumatra province
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Minangkabau highlands (talempong and
saluang; randai theater)
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coastal areas (localized talempong, 3stringed fiddles, long tales)

Mentawai islands (slit drums and other
percussion, ritual songs)
Sumatran regional music: Riau
province
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animist beliefs, ritual songs, sempelong flute
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bronze bells, gambang xylophone
ensembles, celempong ensembles

storytelling, improvised poetry, long songs

erotic dancing
Sumatran regional music: Jambi
province

pre-Islamic genres (healing ceremonies, self
defense, courting music)

post-Portuguese music (orkes Melayu,
kelintang gong music)

nomadic people play portable instruments
Sumatran regional music: Bengkulu
province

famous for megalithic monuments and large
national park

many ceremonial dances around a wooden
pole

vocal genre dendang
Sumatran regional music: South
Sumatra province

pre-Hindu-Buddhist traditions still exist
(songs, flutes)

bronze gong-and-drum ensembles represent
Hindu-Buddhist stratum

orkes Melayu and orkes gambus represent
the Muslim stratum
Sumatran regional music: Lampung
province

huge impact of Javanese in-migration

music for Jew’s harp, flute, and songs belong
to ancient Abung culture

pre-Muslim bronze ensembles
Questions for Discussion

What do most of these regions have in
common?

How do the different layers of influence
interact with each other?

What aspects of Sumatran music are
animist?
Indonesia: Java
Javanese introduction

dense population contrasts with expansive
rice fields and volcanoes

distinctions between Central and East Java,
Cirebon, and Sunda
Central and East Javanese history
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Hindu-Javanese period: Majapahit
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Islamic period: Mataram
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European period: Dutch East-India Company
Central Javanese cultural geography

court traditions of Surakarta and Yogyakarta
in Central Java

distinctions between alus (refined, subtle)
and gagah (strong, robust)

East Java as a culturally distinct area
Central Javanese gamelan instruments
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gongs
metallophones
stringed instruments
percussion
singers
Central Javanese non-gamelan
instruments
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gamelan klenèngan (soft-playing instruments)
calung (bamboo xylophone ensemble)
gandrung (violins, drums, gong, triangle)
angklung (multioctave bambook xylophone,
metallphones, flute/oboe)
hobby-horse trance dance, small percussion
ensembles
The relationship between Central
Javanese music, dance, and theater
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singer-dancer traditions
acting dances
puppet theater (wayang kulit)
Central Javanese tuning systems,
scales, and modes

laras (scale, tuning)
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sléndro and pélog

pathet (tonal hierarchy, range, intervallic
structure)
Central Javanese repertoires and
formal structures

gendhing (gamelan pieces with cyclic
structures)

balungan (skeletal melody and basis for
improvisation)

different aspects of formal organization
Central Javanese vocal music

tembang (sung poetry)

pathetan (mood songs, sung by dhalang
puppeteers)
Central Javanese performance practice

irama (subdivisions of the basic pulse)

relationship between the balungan and the
garapan (rendering of balungan)

role of the drummer
Central Javanese music and the mass
media

Radio

recording industry

television
Central Javanese performers and
composers

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traditional ideas of performance
separation by gender
traditional and modern concepts of
composition
New Central Javanese developments in
music
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new compositions in the post-Independence
era
popular music
experimental composition
Cirebon

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the cultural boundary between the Central
Javanese and the Sundanese
influences on (and from) Javanese and
Sundanese arts
division of Cirebon into kingdoms:
Kasepuhan, Kanoman, Kacirebonan and
Kaprabonan courts
contexts of musical performance (ritual,
weddings, circumcisions, theater)
Cirebonese music and Islam
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
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musical instruments (frame drums, doubleheaded drums)
transformation of Hindu arts (wayang,
gamelan)
growing Islamization of the region
Cirebonese musical systems
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gamelan prawa (sléndro tuning)
gamelan pélog (pélog tuning)
cyclic pieces
genjring frame drum ensemble
ketuk tilu kettle gong ensemble
New developments in Cirebonese
music
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Western-style bands
Sundanese influences
incorporation of diatonic melodies
Sundanese cultural geography
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layers of cultural influence
Hindu-Buddhism and the kingdom of
Pajajaran
Islam and the kingdom of Mataram
Structures of Sundanese music

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organization in cycles
tuning: pélog, sorog, saléndro
Sundanese gamelan genres
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gamelan saléndro (gamelan for dance,
puppetry, and entertainment)
gamelan degung (aristocratic gamelan)
ketuk tilu and jaipongan dance
Sundanese bamboo genres
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
angklung (tuned bamboo rattles)
calung (beaten bamboo tubes)
Sundanese zither-based genres
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pantun (epic narrative)
tembang Sunda (aristocratic sung poetry)
kacapi-suling (instrumental zither and flute
music)
Sundanese music and musicians
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
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contexts for performance
joining in (kaul)
ambivalence toward music specialists
Questions for Discussion
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What are the differences between Javanese
and Sundanese music?
What is the relationship between the
Javanese balungan and garapan?
What is the relationship between music and
dance in Java?
Indonesia: Bali
Balinese overview
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importance of the arts
use of gamelan ensembles
change and renewal in traditional music
Balinese cultural history
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Javanese influence and establishment in Bali
changes in court ensembles
shift from the court to the villages
Balinese music theory
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form and structure (stratified polyphony,
interlocking parts, cyclic structure)
modes and systems of tuning (pélog and
sléndro vs. patutan and saih)
linkage of tuning system with particular
ensembles
Balinese musical contexts
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organization of musicians into sekaha
ritual contexts for performance (temples,
festivals)
embodiment of ritual elements: thought;
sound, word, voice; action
Music in Balinese cosmology
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worldview based on threes and tripartite
divisions
similarity of musical organization to
cosmological organization
interrelationship of music with other cultural
systems
Balinese musical instruments
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idiophones
membranophones
aerophones
chordophones
Balinese orchestras and ensembles
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gamelan gong
gong kebyar
gamelan Semar pegulingan
gamelan pelégongan
gamelan angklung
Balinese theatrical and processional
ensembles
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gamelan gambuh
gamelan arja
gendèr wayang
baleganjur
Balinese bamboo and wood ensembles
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gamelan joged
genggong
gong suling
Balinese sacred ensembles
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gamelan gambang
gamelan selundeng
Balinese vocal music
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kekawin
kidung
tembang
kecak
Balinese dance
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alus/manis (refined, sweet) vs. keras/kasar
(coarse, strong)
non-narrative dances
social dances
temple dances
Balinese tourism and recent trends

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conflicting tourism destinations
patronization of the arts by tourists
changes wrought by tourism
Questions for Discussion
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Why do you think the number three is so
important in Balinese cosmology?
What has happened in Bali as a result of
tourism?
What role does religion play in the Balinese
performing arts?
Indonesia: The Outer Islands
Nusa Tenggara Barat cultural
geography



Lombok includes the Sasak and Balinese
Sumbawa include the Sasak, the Samawa,
and the Mbojo
social contexts for music (life-cycle rites,
holidays, harvests, celebrations)
Lombok

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Javanese-Balinese influences
Pan-Islamic influences
shift in Sasak cultural orientation from the
former to the latter
Sasak musical traditions on Lombok
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music embodies religious values
gamelan beleq
gamelan rebana
gamelan wayang Sasak
Sumbawa
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varied musical contexts
presence of strings, winds, drums, and other
percussion
variety of drums
Sulawesi

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ethnic groups include Makassarese,
Buginese, Torajans, and Minahasans
influence of foreign trading in both dances
and musical styles
importance of sung poetry throughout the
island
mámarakka music of the Torajans
kolintang music of the Minahasans
Questions for Discussion



How do you think the Sasak shift to a more
Islamic orientation happened?
How does Sasak music embody religious
values?
Why do you think performance practices on
Sulawesi are so varied?
Borneo
Division of Borneo into Malaysia,
Indonesia, and Brunei Darussalam

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Malaysia: Sabah and Sarawak; Indonesia:
Kalimantan
high plateaus and mountain ranges
large rivers and dense forest contributions to
human isolation
Major ethnic groups



Dayak, used mainly for people in Kalimantan
many other indigenous groups
Malays, Javanese, and Chinese
Vocal music


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songs for dancing
songs for narration
songs for religion
Instrumental music

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gongs and gong chimes
bamboo, wooden poles, xylophones
stringed instruments
wind instruments
Questions for Discussion
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What do you think the relationship is between
indigenous and mainstream?
How do the indigenous people utilize their
natural resources?
Why is the voice so important on the island?
The Philippines
Lowland Christian Philippines
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pre-Christian musical traditions
early Christian influences
liturgical and paraliturgical musical genres
secular music
musical life in the 1800s
Art music of the Philippines in the
20th century
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Philippine music around 1900
the Anglo-American period: institutions and
ensembles
the Japanese occupation
the Postwar period
new music
Popular music in the Philippines

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big bands
rock ‘n’ roll
balladic styles
contemporary Filipino popular music
Islamic communities of the Southern
Philippines
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cultural geography
diversity in Islamic musical traditions
the Maguindanao
the Maranao
the Sulu archipelago
other instruments
vocal music
Upland peoples of the Philippines: the
North
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the Bontok of Sadanga, Mountain Province
the Kalinga of Kalinga-Apayao Province
the Ifugao of Ifugao Province
the Northern Kalinga-Tinggian of KalingaApayao Province
bamboo and other instrumental traditions
vocal music
Upland peoples of the Philippines: the
South
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the Tiboli of Western Mindanao
the Kalagan of Davao Province
the Subanun of Zamboanga del Sur Province
Palawan island
Upland peoples of the Philippines: the
South (cont.)


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the Tiruray of Southern Mindanao,
Maguindanao Province
bamboo and other instrumental traditions
vocal music
musical styles
Questions for Discussion



What was the impact of the early Christian
friars on Filipino music?
How do Christian (northern) and Muslim
(southern) musics differ?
What do the upland peoples’ musics have in
common with one another?