|
If the tradition's greater part is centered on the islands of Java and Bali, gamelan is in fact quite widespread in the archipelago, from the Malay peninsula to the island of Lombok. This musical ensemble takes very various, or even astonishing, forms from region to region. Some of these forms deserve to be considered more in depth, not only for their possibly threatened future, but simply for their purely musical value. They can even represent a historical interest as key witnesses of this music's ancient evolution.
It is in the zones 5 and 6 that the tradition of gamelan is the strongest, that gamelans are most various, most many, most played. All the zones have received their gamelans from Java, true exporting island, whether recently or remotely ancient. The more ancient the importation, the more different the gamelan from what we know today on Java. Even the Balinese gamelans result from successive Javanese exportations ; it is in fact the most ancient exportation, that even keeps forms having vanished from the island of origin.
Zones 2, 3, 7 and 8 owe their existence to the local Javanese keraton or dependencies of the last centuries. A great deal of these dependencies, such as zone 8, were no doubt too ephemeral to let us any chance of hearing today their gamelans.
Today still, Javanese migrants take their gamelan with them to the big metropolises of Indonesia and beyond. These gamelans are similar to those of Java as the exportation is contemporary. Zones 3 and 4 are interesting, contemporary Javanese gamelans and Javanese techniques mingle with local instrumental ensembles perhaps going back to Sriwijaya.
|
