Gong

Ancient music refers to the musical practices of the literate civilizations of antiquity (e.g., Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Levant, Persia, India, and China) before the medieval period. It is largely monophonic, text-driven, and modal, and survives today through a small corpus of notated fragments, theoretical treatises, iconography, and instrument remains. Its sound world is characterized by modal pitch systems (e.g., ancient Greek harmoniai built from tetrachords), rhythm tied to poetic meter, and timbres from lyres, harps, auloi (double-reed pipes), flutes, rattles/sistra, frame drums, and early lutes. Because authentic performance practice must be reconstructed, modern revivals rely on scholarship in archaeology, philology, and organology as much as on musical craft.

Ancient Chinese music refers to the ritual, courtly, and literati traditions that formed in early dynasties and shaped East Asia’s musical thought for millennia. Rooted in cosmology, ethics, and governance, it prioritized moral order and social harmony as much as sound. Its tonal language centers on the five primary tones (Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu) and their modal transpositions within the twelve lü pitch system. Texture is largely monophonic or heterophonic, with melodic ornamentation and timbral nuance prized over vertical harmony. Signature instruments include the guqin and se zithers, sheng mouth organ, dizi and xiao flutes, guan/bili double reeds, and monumental ritual sets like bronze bells (bianzhong) and stone chimes (bianqing).

Southeast Asian classical is a family of courtly and ritual art-music traditions from mainland and island Southeast Asia, encompassing gong–chime ensembles such as Javanese/Balinese gamelan (Indonesia), piphat (Thailand), pinpeat (Cambodia), and hsaing waing (Myanmar), as well as Vietnamese imperial and chamber repertoires. These traditions privilege cyclical time, heterophonic textures, and modal systems tied to ceremonial, theatrical, and cosmological functions. Characteristic sound worlds include bronze gongs, metallophones, and xylophones marking colotomic cycles; reeded oboes (pi/sralai), bamboo flutes, lutes and zithers (e.g., đàn tranh), and the Burmese arched harp (saung gauk); double-headed drums (kendang/thon–rammana) articulating form; and rich layers of elaboration around a skeletal melody. Tuning is non-tempered and culturally specific (e.g., sléndro and pélog in Java/Bali; equidistant heptatonic systems in much of mainland Southeast Asia). The music accompanies court ritual, dance-drama, shadow puppetry, and temple observances, yet also thrives today in conservatories, cultural troupes, and contemporary composition.

Indonesian music is an umbrella term for the vast and diverse musical traditions found across the Indonesian archipelago, spanning thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic groups. It encompasses ancient courtly gamelan traditions of Java and Bali, regional folk idioms of Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Nusa Tenggara, and modern popular styles like dangdut, pop Indo, rock, hip hop, and electronic hybrids. Its traditional backbone features tuned percussion ensembles (gamelan) organized around cyclical, colotomic structures and pentatonic tuning systems (sléndro and pélog). Instruments such as saron, bonang, gender, gong ageng, kendang, rebab, suling, kacapi, and sasando shape distinctive timbres and interlocking patterns. Islamic recitational aesthetics, Malay song forms, Indian film and classical music, Arabic maqāmic practice, and Western classical and popular music all contribute to Indonesia’s modern soundscape. In the 20th century, colonial contact, radio, recording technologies, and urban migration catalyzed hybrid genres (e.g., keroncong, gambus/orkes gambus). After independence (1945), mass media, cassettes, and TV helped consolidate a national market, elevating styles like dangdut and pop Indonesia, while regional languages and forms (e.g., jaipongan, campursari) remained vibrant and influential.

Southeast Asian music is a broad regional umbrella that encompasses the court, temple, folk, and popular traditions of countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Timor‑Leste. Across the region, musical practice favors cyclic forms, interlocking (hocketing) patterns, heterophonic textures, and colotomic structures in which gongs articulate time. Modal systems vary: Javanese and Balinese ensembles often use sléndro and pélog tunings, Thai and Khmer court ensembles use equidistant heptatonic sets, and Vietnamese genres employ nuanced modal “hơi” with rich ornamentation. Instruments are dominated by gong‑chime sets, metallophones, xylophones, drums, bamboo flutes, double‑reed oboes, mouth organs, zithers, spike fiddles, and plucked lutes. While deeply rooted in indigenous cosmologies, ritual, and dance‑theatre, Southeast Asian music is also a confluence zone shaped by maritime trade with South Asia, China, and the Islamic world, yielding distinctive syncretic lineages that continue into contemporary popular styles.

Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian ensemble music, centered on tuned metal percussion (metallophones and gongs), drums, and soft-sounding melodic instruments. It is most closely associated with the islands of Java and Bali, where distinct courtly and village traditions evolved. Its sound is defined by cyclical structures marked by gongs (colotomic cycles), interlocking figurations, and modal systems (laras) called sléndro and pélog. Textures are “stratified,” with a core melody (balungan) surrounded by elaborating parts. The result ranges from serene, floating atmospheres to dazzling, kinetic brilliance, depending on region and context. Beyond ceremony and theater (wayang), gamelan has influenced global composers and experimentalists, while continuing to thrive in Indonesia as a living, communal art.

Balinese gamelan is the vibrant, bronze-percussion ensemble tradition of Bali, Indonesia, known for brilliant timbres, explosive dynamics, and agile interlocking rhythms. It is performed by community-based ensembles (sekaa), often to accompany temple rituals, dance-drama, and shadow puppetry, but it also thrives as a concert art. Its sound-world centers on metallophones (gangsa), kettle-gongs (reyong/trompong), large hanging gongs (gong ageng, kempur), hand drums (kendang), and cymbals (ceng-ceng), with bamboo flutes (suling) and occasional fiddle (rebab). Paired tuning (ombak) creates a deliberate “shimmer” through slightly detuned instrument pairs, while interlocking parts (kotekan) generate dazzling, motoric textures. Modal practice draws on five- and seven-tone collections with named modes (e.g., selisir, tembung), articulated through cyclical gong structures (gongan).

Gamelan gong gede is an older, courtly style of Balinese gamelan noted for its grand, slow, and ceremonially majestic character. The term "gede" (big) refers to the prominent, large gongs that articulate the ends of long musical cycles (gongan). Unlike the later, flashy gong kebyar style, gong gede unfolds at measured tempos with terraced dynamics, stately drum cues, and broadly spaced interlocking patterns (kotekan). The ensemble features ranks of bronze metallophones, deep-resonant gongs, drums, timekeepers, and bamboo flutes (suling), typically tuned in Balinese pelog (saih pitu) with modal subsets. The result is a spacious, shimmering sonority designed for royal and temple ceremonies.

Gamelan degung is a Sundanese court-derived gamelan tradition from West Java, Indonesia, performed on a distinctive, reduced-set pelog tuning known as laras degung. Its core sound centers on a stately, resonant colotomic cycle marked by the goong ageung (large gong), with interlocking metalophones and kettle gongs weaving heterophonic textures. Compared with Central Javanese gamelan, degung often feels clearer and more transparent in texture, with a strong melodic core (balungan) and elegant elaborations from bonang and suling (bamboo flute). It is used for ceremonial occasions, dance accompaniment, and vocal repertoires (kawih), and today also appears in popular and fusion contexts.

Gamelan gender wayang is a Balinese chamber gamelan ensemble closely associated with wayang kulit (shadow-puppet theatre) and important life‑cycle rituals. It is typically scored for a quartet of metallophones called gender wayang, each with bronze keys suspended over bamboo resonators and struck with disc‑headed wooden mallets while the non‑striking hand executes precise damping. The music features rapid interlocking (kotekan) between paired parts that create dazzling, filigreed textures above a core melody (pokok). Instruments are tuned in paired “beating” sets (pengumbang/pengisep) to produce ombak, the characteristic acoustic shimmer. Repertoires are cast in a five‑tone slendro‑like scale over roughly two octaves, with flexible cyclic phrasing that breathes with the drama of the puppetry and the cues of the dalang (puppeteer).

Gamelan angklung is a Balinese ceremonial gamelan ensemble characterized by a four-tone sléndro tuning and compact, bright-sounding metallophones. Despite sharing a name with the Sundanese bamboo rattle instrument “angklung,” the Balinese gamelan angklung consists primarily of bronze-keyed instruments and gongs. The ensemble’s music is cyclical, interlocking, and highly rhythmic, featuring swift figurations that weave around a core melody articulated by lower-pitched keys and punctuated by a colotomic gong cycle. It is deeply tied to temple ceremonies, processions, and rites of passage—especially funerary (ngaben) contexts—where its timbre, scale, and kinetic energy carry ritual significance.

Gamelan beleganjur is a high-energy, processional style of Balinese gamelan performed by portable ensembles that march through streets and temple courtyards. Its hallmark sound layers interlocking cymbals (ceng-ceng), driving twin drums (kendang), and a portable array of gongs and small kettle gongs (including reyong), all tuned in paired, beating octaves to create the characteristically shimmering Balinese ombak (wave). Traditionally associated with ritual warfare and funerary processions (ngaben), beleganjur functions as sonic protection and communal accompaniment. In the late 20th century, it evolved into a virtuosic contest form (kreasi beleganjur), adding choreographed formations, dramatic breaks (angsel), and modern arrangement techniques while retaining its ritual roots.

Gamelan selunding (also spelled selonding) is an ancient Balinese gamelan ensemble centered on iron-keyed metallophones whose shimmering timbre and austere melodies are used for sacred village and temple ceremonies, especially in the Bali Aga communities of East Bali (notably Tenganan Pegringsingan). Unlike the more flamboyant modern Balinese ensembles, selunding preserves an older ceremonial aesthetic: sparse, cyclical melodies in a pentatonic tuning, steady colotomic punctuation, and restrained interlocking textures. The music carries a ritual weight—solemn, luminous, and trance-like—supporting rites of passage and calendrical festivals rather than theatrical spectacle.

Gamelan joged bumbung is a lively Balinese bamboo gamelan used to accompany the social dance known as Joged. The ensemble centers on interlocking bamboo xylophones (rindik/tingklik), small cymbals (ceng-ceng), drums (kendang), flutes (suling), and bamboo or small bronze gongs marking the cycle. It features bright, pentatonic tunings and fast interlocking (kotekan) textures that create a shimmering, danceable groove. The music supports a flirtatious, participatory dance tradition in which a female dancer invites audience members to the floor, making the style both communal and festive.

Gamelan salendro is a Sundanese gamelan tradition from West Java, Indonesia, named after the five-tone salendro (saléndro) tuning system. Its pentatonic scale is characterized by near‑equidistant intervals, producing a bright, open sonority distinct from the seven-tone pelog of many Central Javanese sets or the degung scale used in other Sundanese ensembles. The ensemble typically supports wayang golek (rod-puppet theater), dance, and social events. Instruments include metallophones (saron family), hanging and kettle gongs (goong, kempul, jengglong, kenong/kolénang), the bonang/kolénang, bamboo flute (suling), bowed lute (rebab), timekeeping and coloristic instruments (rincik, kecrék), and the double-headed drum (kendang) that leads tempo, transitions, and dance gesture. Musically, gamelan salendro features cyclic colotomic structures articulated by the gong family, with interlocking (imbal) and layered elaborations around a core melody. Vocals by a sinden (solo singer) and/or chorus are common, delivering Sundanese poetry and stylized text to shape mood and narrative.