The Angklung is a musical instrument made of two bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

s. The base of the frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand shakes the instrument rapidly. This causes a repeating note to sound. Each of three or more performers in an angkalung ensemble play just one note or more, but altogether complete melodies are produced. The Angklung is popular throughout Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, but it originated in today's Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 and has been played by the Sundanese

Sundanese people

The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. They number approximately 31 million, and are the second most populous of all the nation's ethncities. The Sundanese are predominantly Muslim...

 for many centuries.

Etymology

The word "angklung" was originated from Sundanese

Sundanese language

Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population....

 "angkleung-angkleungan", that means the movement of angklung player and the sound "klung" that comes from the instrument.

Another theory suggested that the word "angklung" was formed from two Balinese

Balinese language

Balinese or simply Bali is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people on the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as northern Nusa Penida, western Lombok and eastern Java...

 words - angka and lung. Angka means "tone", and lung means "broken" or "lost". Angklung thus means an "incomplete tone".

History

According to Dr.Groneman, angklung had already been a favorite musical instrument of the entire archipelago even before the Hindu era. According to Yaap Kunst in "Music in Java", next to West Java angklung is also mentioned to exist in South Sumatra and Kalimantan. Lampung, East Java and Central Java are also familiar with the instrument.

In the Hindu period and the time of the Kingdom of Sunda, the angklung played an important role in ceremonies. The angklung was played to honor Dewi Sri

Dewi Sri

Dewi Sri, or Dewi Shri , Nyai Pohaci Sanghyang Asri is the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese pre-Hindu and pre-Islam era goddess of rice and fertility, still widely worshipped on the islands of Bali and Java...

, the goddess of fertility, so she would bless their land and lives. The angklung also signaled the time for prayers, and was said to have been played since the 7th century in Kingdom of Sunda. In the Kingdom of Sunda, it provided martial music during the Battle of Bubat

Battle of Bubat

The Battle of Bubat also known as Pasunda Bubat is the battle between Sundanese royal family and Majapahit army that took place in Bubat square on the northern part of Trowulan in 1279 Saka or 1357 CE...

, as told in the Kidung Sunda

Kidung Sunda

Kidung Sunda is a Middle-Javanese kidung of probable Balinese provenance. In this poem, the story of king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit who was looking for a bride to be, is narrated. At last he chose the princess of Sunda, a kingdom in West Java. The princess' name is remained undisclosed in this...

.

The oldest surviving angklung is 400 years old Angklung Gubrag. It was made in the 17th century in Jasinga, Bogor

Bogor

Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...

. Other antique angklung are stored in the Sri Baduga Museum, Bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...

. The oldest angklung tradition is called "Angklung Buhun" (Sundanese

Sundanese language

Sundanese is the language of about 27 million people from the western third of Java or about 15% of the Indonesian population....

: "Ancient Angklung") from Lebak Regency

Lebak Regency

Lebak Regency is a regency of Banten province, Indonesia. It has an area of 3,044.72 km² of 19 districts and 320 villages and an official intercensal estimated population of 1,219,033 in 2007 Rangkasbitung is the capital of the regency...

, Banten

Banten

Banten is a province of Indonesia in Java. Formerly part of the Province of West Java, it was made a separate province in 2000.The administrative center is Serang. Preliminary results from the 2010 census counted some 10.6 million people.-Geography:...

  Angklung buhun is an ancient type of angklung played by Baduy people of inland Banten province during Seren Taun

Seren Taun

Seren Taun is an annual traditional Sundanese rice harvest festival and ceremony. This festivals originally held to mark the new agriculture year in Sundanese ancient calendar as well as thanks giving for the blessings of the abundance rice harvest, and also to pray for the next successful harvest...

harvest ceremony.

In 1938, Daeng Soetigna, from Bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...

, created an angklung that is based on the diatonic scale instead of the traditional pélog

Pelog

Pelog is one of the two essential scales of gamelan music native to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. The other scale commonly used is called slendro. Pelog has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches...

 or sléndro

Slendro

Slendro is a pentatonic scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pélog.-Tuning:...

 scales. Since then, the angklung has returned to popularity and is used for education and entertainment, and may even accompany western instruments in an orchestra. One of the first performances of angklung in an orchestra was in 1955 during the Bandung Conference. In 1966 Udjo Ngalagena

Udjo Ngalagena

Born on March 5, 1929 from the couple of Wiranta and Imi, Little Udjo started his journey in music, art and culture, since he was 4 years old. Udjo began to learn Angklung in both diatonic and pentatonic tone scales – which made him good at playing traditional Sundanese, popular Indonesian songs...

, a student of Daeng Soetigna, opened his "Saung Angklung" (House of Angklung) as a centre for its preservation and development.

UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 designated the angklung a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 18, 2010.

Balinese Gamelan Angklung

In Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

, an ensemble of angklung is called gamelan angklung (anklung). While the ensemble gets its name from the bamboo shakers, these days most compositions for Gamelan Angklung do not use them. An ensemble of mostly bronze metallophone

Metallophone

A metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.Metallophones have been used in music for hundreds of years. There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendér, gangsa...

s is used instead, generally with about 20 musicians.

While the instrumentation of gamelan angklung is similar to gamelan gong kebyar

Gamelan gong kebyar

Gamelan gong kebyar is a style or genre of Balinese gamelan music. Kebyar means "the process of flowering", and refers to the explosive changes in tempo and dynamics characteristic of the style. It is the most popular form of gamelan in Bali, and its best known musical export...

, it has several critical differences. First, the instruments are tuned to a 5-tone slendro

Slendro

Slendro is a pentatonic scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pélog.-Tuning:...

 scale, though actually most ensembles use a four-tone mode of the five-tone scale played on instruments with four keys. An exception is the five-tone angklung from the north of Bali. But even in four-tone angklung groups, the flute players will occasionally touch on the fifth implied tone. Secondly, whereas many of the instruments in gong kebyar span multiple octaves of its pentatonic scale, mosts gamelan angklung instruments only contain one octave, although some five-tone ensembles have roughly an octave and a half. The instruments are considerably smaller than those of the gong kebyar.

Gamelan angklung is often heard in Balinese temples, where it supplies musical accompaniment to temple anniversaries (odalan). It is also characteristic of rituals related to death, and therefore connected in Balinese culture to the invisible spiritual realm and transitions from life to death and beyond. Because of its portability, gamelan angklung may be carried in processions while a funeral bier is carried from temporary burial in a cemetery to the cremation site. The musicians also often play music to accompany the cremation ceremony. Thus many Balinese listeners associate angklung music with strong emotions evoking a combination of sacred sweetness and sadness.

The structure of the music is similar to gong kebyar, although employing a four tone scale. Jublag and jegog carry the basic melody, which is elaborated by gangsa, reyong, ceng-ceng, drum, and flute. A medium sized gong, called kempur, is generally used to punctuate a piece's major sections.

Most older compositions do not employ gong kebyar's more ostentatious virtuosity and showmanship. Recently many Balinese composers have created kebyar-style works for gamelan angklung or have rearranged kebyar melodies to fit the angklung's more restricted four tone scale. These new pieces often feature dance, so the gamelan angklung is augmented with more gongs and heavier gongs. Additionally, some modern composers have created experimental instrumental pieces for the gamelan angklung.

Outside Indonesia

The angklung was first invented in West Java, Indonesia; with a possibility of cultural transmittance to various other places such as Malaysia & the Philippines over the course of several centuries. In the early 20th century during the time of Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, the angklung was adopted in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, where it is called angkalung (อังกะลุง). It was recorded that angklung was brought to Siam in 1908 by Luang Pradit Pairoh, royal musician in the entourage of HRH Field Marshal Prince Bhanurangsi Savangwongse

Bhanurangsi Savangwongse

Field Marshal Prince Bhanurangsi Savangwongse, The Prince Banubandhu Vongsevoradej was a son of HM King Mongkut of Siam and HM Queen Debsirindra....

 of Siam, who paid a royal visit to Java that year (27 years after the first state visit of his elder brother, King Chulalongkorn

Chulalongkorn

Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chulalongkorn Phra Chunla Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama V was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was known to the Siamese of his time as Phra Phuttha Chao Luang . He is considered one of the greatest kings of Siam...

 to Java in 1871.) The Thai angklung are typically tuned in the Thai tuning system of seven equidistant steps per octave, and each angklung has three bamboo tubes tuned in three separate octaves rather than two, as is typical in Indonesia.

In 2008, there was a grand celebration in the Thai traditional music circle, to mark the 100th anniversary of the introduction of angklung to Thailand. Both the Thai and Indonesian governments supported to celebration.

Angklung has also been adopted by its Austronesian-speaking neighbors, in particular by Malaysia and the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, where they are played as part of bamboo xylophone orchestras. Formally introduced into Malaysia sometime after the end of the Confrontation, angklung found immediate popularity. They are generally played using a pentatonic scale similar to the Indonesian slendro

Slendro

Slendro is a pentatonic scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pélog.-Tuning:...

, although in the Philippines, sets also come in the diatonic and minor scale

Minor scale

A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...

s used to perform various Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

-influenced folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 in addition to native songs in pentatonic.

At least one Sundanese angklung buncis ensemble exists in the United States. Angklung Buncis Sukahejo is an ensemble at The Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College

The Evergreen State College is an accredited public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. It is located in Olympia, Washington, USA. Founded in 1967, Evergreen was formed to be an experimental and non-traditional college...

, and includes eighteen double rattles (nine tuned pairs) and four dog-dog drums.

Many angklung videos are available on youtube. People have even started to play pop songs on them, which just goes to show how quickly this generation is going by.

World record

On July 9, 2011 5,182 people from many nations played angklung together in Washington DC and are listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest angklung ensemble.

External links

• Gamelan Sekar Jaya (excerpt about angklung) from Michael Tenzer
  Michael Tenzer
  Michael Tenzer is a composer, performer, educator and scholar.Tenzer was born in New York City and studied music at Yale University and University of California, Berkeley...
  
  's book Balinese Music
• Musical sample composed by I Nyoman Windha
• Saung Angklung Udjo
• Angklung Orchester Hamburg, Germany (2003/2004)
• Lancaster Angklung Orchestra, Lancaster, UK
• Angklung Hamburg