This is a recording of Gamelan music from Eastern Java which, while sharing a lot of the instruments featured in my first cultural post, "Ketawang: Puspawarna", has several distinctions that highlight the complex region-specific map of traditional musics in Indonesia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCv4TlnpzYQ
The piece opens with a "pathetan", a short, rhythmically free introduction opened by the rebab (the melodic leader of the ensemble) and accompanyed by the "cengkok" instruments, the quieter instruments of the ensemble that elaborate the melodies played by the louder instruments. Following this, the rebab plays the "buka" or opening to the piece, and the drum comes in to lead all the other instruments to start at the strike of the gong ageng, the largest and lowest-pitched gong.
Immediately noticeable is the relative complexity (read: funkiness) of the drumming compared to Puspawarna, and the sharpness of the rhythmic slowing down and speeding up of the tempo. Eventually the tempo settles to a pace at which the singer can join the ensemble and recite verses of sung poetry called "kakawin". Not long after, the drum speeds up the ensemble once again, and the other instrumentalists follow suit.
The gong ageng, the prominent and very low-pitched noise heard intermittently on the recording, marks the beginning and ending of a gong cycle. These cycles are circular in shape, and the melody's position within this cycle are marked by smaller, higher pitched gongs; this is easier to hear at the end of the piece, when the drummer continually speeds up the tempo to mark the upcoming "suwuk", or ending.
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