Geography of gamelan

Java's influence onto a good part of South-East Asia needs no more proof. And this is witnessed by its musical legacy on this region. As early as the beginning of our era, Java has been an important musical center.

Later, Javanese gamelan has influenced the instruments of a whole area that comprises today Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines' South. The Khmers benefited from this influence in the Angkorian time. The piphat ensemble, that spreads today from Kampuchea to Myanmar, is a descendant of this time.

Still more recently, Java has added the metallophones to piphat and has exported complete gamelans to the Riau Archipelago and from there to Trengganu on the East coast of the Malay peninsula. Java's musical influence on Borneo intensifies in a portion of the south-east coast.

Much early in history, Java was already highly populated. As early as the colonial time, overpopulation of this island is a cause of emigration toward the whole of Indonesia. Besides, the Dutch have taken Indonesian manpower to Dutch Guyana, present Surinam. These migrations have as a result the presence of javanese gamelans of contemporary type in several cities of Indonesia, in Singapour and in Surinam. The case of Surinam is interesting for one is dealing with an islet of gamelan at 18200 km from Java.

The xylophone of South-East Asia has even made the way up to other Asian countries. The Indian xylophone, called ek tarang, is an importation from Myanmar or from Thailand, neighboring countries. Myanmar has made known its xylophone, patala, in China, under the same name. The gambang, xylophone of Javanese type, is found again in Japan under the name of mokkin. Is the European xylophone's origin linked to South-East Asia too ?

Today, one comes across Balinese and Javanese gamelans in a lot of American universities, in museums of the USA, Europe and Australia. In Japan, interest for gamelan is high. In Europe, gamelans are present in the Netherlands, naturally, but also in cities like Paris (Cité de la Musique, Musée de l'Homme) and London (South Bank Centre). In Switzerland, one has to go to Basle and to Geneva.