Music of Indonesia

The Music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as
subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly
thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character. This
results in hundreds of different forms of music, which often accompanies by dance and theatre.
The musics of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Flores and other islands have been documented and recorded,
and research by Indonesian and international scholars is ongoing. The music in Indonesia predates
historical records, various Native Indonesian tribes often incorporate chants and songs accompanied
with musics instruments in their rituals. Today the contemporary music of Indonesia is popular in the
region, including neighbouring countries; Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
Traditional regional musics and songs of Indonesia natively compromises of strong beat and
harmony type musics with strong influence of California and Malay classical music. The influence is
strongly visible in the traditional popular music genre of Dangdut.

Musical Instruments

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 gendang (drums) and gongs. 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.

Gamelan

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 and Malaysia, however
gamelan is originated from Java, Bali, and Lombok. In the Central Java, gamelan is intricate and
meticulously laid out. The central melody is played on a metallophone in the centre of the orchestra,
while 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.

Angklung

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.

Sasando

Sasando is a plucked string instrument native of Rote island of East Nusa Tenggara. The parts of
sasando are a bamboocylinder 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.
 Dance in Indonesia
Dance in Indonesia (Indonesian: Tarian Indonesia) reflects the country's diversity
of ethnicities and cultures. There are more than 700 ethnic groups in Indonesia: Austronesian roots
and Melanesian tribal forms are visible, and influences ranging from neighbouring Asian and even
western styles through colonisation. Each ethnic group has its own dances: there are more than
3,000 original dance forms in Indonesia. The old traditions of dance and drama are being preserved
in the many dance schools which flourish not only in the courts but also in the modern, government-
run or supervised art academies.
For classification purpose, the dances of Indonesia can be divided according to several aspects. In
historical aspect it can be divided into three eras; the prehistoric-tribal era, the Hindu-Buddhist era
and the era of Islam. According to its patrons, it can be divided into two genres; court dance and folk
dance. In its tradition, Indonesian dances can be divided into two types; traditional dance
and contemporary dance.
In Bali on 19 November 2011 UNESCO announced the traditional Saman dance from Aceh province
as a world intangible cultural heritage. Saman dance is unique due to the speed of movement and
harmony between dancers.

Baris

Baris is a family of traditional war dances in Bali, accompanied by gamelan, in which dancers depict
the feelings of a young warrior prior to battle, glorify the manhood of the triumphant Balinese warrior,
and display the sublimity of his commanding presence. Baris derives its name from the
word bebarisan, which literally means "line" or "file formation", referring to the soldiers who served
the ancient rajas of Bali.

Bedhaya
 The bedhaya (also written as bedoyo, beḍaya, and various other transliterations) is a sacred
ritualized dance of Java, Indonesia, associated with the royal palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
Along with the serimpi, the bedhaya epitomized the elegant (alus) character of the royal court, and
the dance became an important symbol of the ruler's power.
The bedhaya has different forms in the two court cities, the bedhaya Ketawang in Surakarta (Solo),
and the bedhaya Semang in Yogyakarta, the latter of which has not been performed for more than
20 years. The Solonese dance continues to be performed once per year, on the second day of the
Javanese month of Ruwah (during May in the Gregorian calendar), to commemorate the ascension
of the current Susuhunan (prince) of Surakarta. Nine females, relatives or wives of the Susuhunan,
perform the dance before a private audience. An invitation to anyone outside of the inner circle of the
court is a considerable honor.

Saman

Saman (or the dance of a thousand hands) is one of the most popular dances in Indonesia. Its origin
is from the Gayoethnic group from Gayo Lues, Aceh province, Sumatra, and is normally performed
to celebrate important occasions.The dance is characterized by its fast-paced rhythm and common
harmony between dancers. These two elements are key figures of Saman, and are among the
reasons Saman are widely known and practiced in Indonesia, besides being relatively easy to learn.
On November 24, 2011, UNESCO officially recognized Aceh's traditional Saman dance as
a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, which needs UNESCO's urgent
protection.
The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) named the Saman dance as the best ASEAN cultural
preservation effort at the 25th ASEANTA Awards for Excellence 2012.

Theatre of Indonesia
The best known theater and drama in Indonesia is the Javanese and Balinese shadow puppet
theater based on the Ramayana epic, with its brilliant puppeteers (dalang) who may manipulate over
a hundred puppets in all-night oral performances accompanied by a gamelan orchestra. Bali is best
known for the diversity of its performance arts. Despite the fact that Bali draws visitors from around
the world, and its troupes perform overseas, most Balinese performers are villagers for whom art
complements farming. Randai the traditional folk theatre of the Minangkabau people of West
Sumatra is performed during ceremonies and festivals. Music, singing, dance, drama and the silat
martial art are all incorporated together and are based on the traditional stories and legends.
 Wayang Wong Characters and Movements

The movements of the wayang wong dancer-actors are generally fluid and solemn, and recitation is
extremely stylised. The slow female dance is restrained and graceful, and its movements are
directed at a low level covering only a narrow space. The female dancer rarely lifts her feet from the
floor, and the basic position is always an open demi plié bent slightly forward. The movements of the
refined male type are also directed at a rather low level, but the dancers are allowed to lift their feet
slightly. Their whole dance technique aims at creating an overall impression of withheld strength, so
typical of the Southeast Asian ideal of a hero.

Indonesian Theater in the Twentieth Century

In 1918 the first dance society, Kridha Beka Wirama, was founded in Yogyakarta to teach court
dances to all, regardless of class. The idea was launched by the son of the Sultan of Yogyakarta,
and the teachers included the best dance masters of the kraton. This marked the beginning of a still-
active custom whereby the court traditions of Yogyakarta are taught in private dance societies to all
who are interested, often for only a nominal fee. At present, the societies receive part of their income
from performances aimed mainly at tourists. The leading dance societies in Yogyakarta that actively
stage performances are the kraton-related Dalem Pujokusuman and Dalem Notopraian associations.
 Western-Influenced Theatre in Indonesia

Western theatre and dance has begun to interest Indonesians to an increasing degree, and many
artists have studied in the West, especially in the United States, since the 1960s. As in many Asian
countries, so too in Indonesia the early interest in Western theatre and dramatists was concentrated
in academic circles. A student theatre group, called Studiklub Teater (STB), was founded in the
university city of Bandung, in West Java, in 1958. Many of the some 60 dramatic works staged by
STB were by Western writers, including Chekov, Gogol, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams,
Ionesco, Brecht, and Camus.

Literature in Indonesia
Indonesian literature, is a term grouping various genres of South-East Asian literature.
Indonesian Literature can refer to literature produced in the Indonesian archipelago. It is also used to
refer more broadly to literature produced in areas with common language roots based on the Malay
language (of which Indonesian is one scion). This would extend the reach to the Maritime Southeast
Asia, including Indonesia, but also other nations with a common language such
as Malaysia and Brunei, as well as population within other nations such as the Malay peopleliving
in Singapore.

Pujangga Lama
 Early Indonesian literature originates in Malay literature, and the influence of these roots was felt
until well into the twentieth century. The literature produced by the Pujangga lama (literally "the old
poets") was mainly written before the 20th century, but after the coming of Islam. Before that time,
however, there must have existed a lively oral tradition. Within traditional Malay-language literature,
sometimes it is differentiated into 3 periods: before ~1550 AD; between ~1550-1750 AD; ~1750-
1900 AD.

Sastra Melayu Lama

The literature of this period was produced from the year 1870 until 1942. The works from this period
were predominantly popular among the people in Sumatra (i.e. the regions of Langkat, Tapanuli,
Padang, etc.), the Chinese and the Indo-Europeans. The first works were dominated by syair,
hikayat and translations of western novels. These are:
Robinson Crusoe (translation)
Lawah-lawah Merah
Around the World in Eighty Days
(Mengelilingi Bumi dalam 80 hari) (translation)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo (translation)
Kapten Flamberger (translation by Lie Kim Hok) (1853-1912)
Rocambole (translation by Lie Kim Hok)
Nyai Dasima by G. Francis (Indonesian)
Bunga Rampai by A.F van Dewall
Kisah Perjalanan Nakhoda Bontekoe
Kisah Pelayaran ke Pulau Kalimantan
Kisah Pelayaran ke Makassar dan lain-lainnya
Cerita Siti Aisyah by H.F.R Kommer (Indonesian)
Cerita Nyi Paina
Cerita Nyai Sarikem
Cerita Nyonya Kong Hong Nio

Angkatan Balai Pustaka

Until the twentieth century, ethnic and linguistic diversity was dominant in the vast archipelago, and
as a result, no national literature existed. Literature in Malay rubbed shoulders with works in other
languages of the region, from Batak in the West through Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese,
to Moluccan in the East. It is true that Malay was used as the lingua franca of the colony, and
indeed, far beyond its borders, but it could not be regarded as a national language.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, changes became visible. National consciousness
emerged among educated Indonesians especially. At the same time, the Dutch colonisers
temporarily veered to a point of view which allowed for the education and unification of the
Indonesian peoples to self-reliance and maturity, as it was perceived. Indonesian independence,
however, was not contemplated by the Dutch. A third factor was the emergence of newspapers,
which at the beginning of the century began to appear in Chinese and subsequently in Malay.

Cuisine in Indonesia
Indonesian cuisine consists of the various regional cuisines in parts of Indonesia; there are a wide
variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000
populated islands of the total 17,508 in the world's largest archipelago, with more than 300 ethnic
groups calling Indonesia home. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon indigenous
culture with some foreign influences. Indonesia has around 5,350 traditional recipes, with 30 of them
considered the most important. Indonesia's cuisine may include rice, noodle and soup dishes
in modest local eateries to street-side snacks and top-dollar plates.
Indonesian cuisine varies greatly by region and has many different influences. Sumatran cuisine, for
example, often has Middle Eastern and Indian influences, featuring curried meat and vegetables
such as gulai and curry, while Javanese cuisine is mostly indigenous, with some hint of Chinese
influence. The cuisines of Eastern Indonesia are similar to Polynesian and Melanesian cuisine.
Elements of Chinese cuisine can be seen in Indonesian cuisine: foods such as noodles, meat balls,
and spring rolls have been completely assimilated.

Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang is a flavorful West Sumatran drycurry that's made with beef, that's cooked together
with a spice paste and coconut milk until fork-tender. It's then fried together with the remaining
braising liquid until the liquid caramelizes around the beef, coating it with an insane amount of flavor.
 Nasi Rawon

Rawon or Nasi Rawon/Rawon Rice is a strong rich tasting traditional Indonesian beef black soup.
Originally from Surabaya in Indonesian province of East Java. It uses black nuts/keluak as the main
seasoning which gives the strong nutty flavor and dark color to the soup.

Indonesian Satay

Satay, or sate in Indonesian spelling, is a Southeast Asian dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled
meat, served with a sauce. It is a dish from Indonesia; and popular in Malaysia, Singapore, and
Thailand.