Origins of gamelan

Where ? Was it really in Indonesia ? Let's not forget that within 3000 years, a lot can change. Peoples migrate, climates change, cultures disappear or appear. Was it in Africa with the xylophones ? Was it in China with the ancient chimes ? Was it in the Indochinese peninsula ?

When ? What is the antiquity of the knobbed gong, of the metallophone, of the xylophone, of the music they play today ? The large bronze ensembles that we hear today, to when do they go back ? What is their antiquity ? Do we have to talk in terms of centuries or millennia ?

Who ? Was it really Indonesians that have invented the gamelan instruments. Is it they that have arranged them into gamelans for the first time, that have invented the music they now play on these ensembles ? What has been the role of the Indians, Africans, Chinese, Melanesians ? Have they been initiatory, catalytic, or simply transmitting agents ?

Why ? Answering to this question would satisfy perhaps all the others. It is the most fundamental question. Its answers no doubt contain truths going beyond the scope of music. Fields such as philosophy of art, musicology, psychological anthropology, history, would be put to contribution. What has happenend in that region of the world for such a music to take shape ? Why so much rhythm, metal, so much life, why so little winds, strings, so little instrumental isolation ? What factors have lead to this extraordinary orchestral organization, in a natural way, with the passing centuries ? what has bitten those lying at the origin of gamelan ?