Southeast Asian Instruments include the musical traditions of this subregion of Asia. This subregion consists of eleven countries, namely, Brunei Brunei,, Cambodia Cambodia,, East Timor , Indonesia,, Laos Indonesia Laos,, Malaysia Malaysia,, Myanmar , Philippines Philippines,, Singapore Singapore,, Thailand Thailand,, Vietnam Vietnam,, and Northeast India. India. Southeast Asian music
BRUNEI
Gulingtangan is the opening instrument used during the introduction of the orchestra and it plays an important role. The absence of this instrument can cause the gulingtangan orchestra to be incomplete.
Canang is not as important as the gulingtangan in the orchestra. It acts only as a side instrument. It is not involved in creating the melody in the orchestra. Even so, without this instrument, the sound of the orchestra can become out of tune.
Tawak-tawak
is also known as ‘tawak-tawak peningkul’ and ‘tawak-tawak peningkah’. The absence of this instrument in the gulingtanagn orchestra can cause it to be incomplete and out of tune. CAMBODIA
roneat (Khmer
xylophone) A pair of tro khmer
thon and rammana
Roneat is a generic term in Khmer referring to xylophones and metallophones, with bars made from bamboo, hardwood or metal. The word roneat comes from the Khmer word roneap meaning "bamboo strips". Roneats have bars that are suspended with cords over both boat-
shaped or trough sound boxes. The xylophone in Thai and Laotian is called ranat , while in Burmese it's called pa'tala and in Khmer roneat .
Cambodia.. Its body is made from a The tro Khmer is a traditional bowed string instrument from Cambodia special type of coconut of coconut covered on one end with animal skin, and it has three silk strings.The tro Khmer is closely related to a Thai instrument called saw sam sai. sai. The thon and rammana are hand drums played as a pair in Central Thai classical music and Cambodian classical music. It consists of two drums: the thon ( โทน), a goblet drum with a ceramic or wooden body) and the rammana ( รมะน มะน), a small frame drum. drum. They are used usually in the khruang sai ensemble. The thon gives a low pitch and the rammana gives a high pitch. Earlier in the 20th century, the thon and rammana were sometimes played separately.
EAST TIMOR
Karau dikur is dikur is played in the Sacred House and in the king’s palace, and it is used to call for people or the inhabitants, to let the community know about a big event. It is blown to accompany the Bidu Lulik (a traditional sacred dance) and other dances. This instrument is made of buffalo horn.
INDONESIA
Javanese gamelan Balinese gamelan Balinese styles include Gamelan and kecak kecak,, also known as the "monkey chant." Javanese gamelan was largely dominated by the courts of the 19th century central Javanese rulers, each with its own style, but overall is known for a slower, more meditative style than that of Bali. Although Javanese gamelan can be made from steel, the better instruments are made of cast brass. The two kinds of instruments are tuned in different ways.
khene The khene (/ˈkɛn/; also spelled "khaen", "kaen" and "khen"; RTGS RTGS:: 'khaen', is a mouth organ of Lao origin whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out hardwood reservoir into which air is blown, creating a sound similar to that of the violin.
MALAYSIA
The gambus is the most common lute found in a variety of styles in Malay folk music as well as syncretic music such as ghazal. It is also used to accompany song and dance in Sabah, Malaysia. Originating from the Middle East, the Malaysian version uses 9 to 12 wire strings which are plucked. There are two types of gambus in use, the Gambus Hadramaut and Gambus Hijaz .
The Malay serunai is a reed wind instrument, with a quadruple reed made from rice stalk. The body has 7 front finger holes and 1 at the back. Circular breathing technique is used so that once a melody is started it does not stop until the tune ends.
MYANMAR
A "harp" is called Saung in Myanmar. There basically was 2 types: Byat Saung and Saung Gauk (bent harp). There almost is nobody who can play byat saungs these days. Today saung generally refers to the bent harp illustrated above. In 10th century AD, musicians used only 5 strings in Myanmar harp, which later increased to 7 strings in 18th century. During King Bodaw Pharar the art of playing harp was much promoted by the king and was improved to using up to 13 strings. Composition of a Myanmar Harp
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he body is made of padauk, the famous Myanmar mahogany. The flat bar is made of cutch wood.
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It is covered with the leather of a female deer.
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And the strings are made of silk!
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PHILIPPINES
kulintang
bandurria
The kulintang is played by striking the bosses of the gongs with two wooden beaters. When playing the kulintang, the Maguindanao and Maranao would always sit on chairs while for the Tausug/Suluk and other groups that who play the kulintangan, they would commonly sit on the floor. [19] Modern
techniques include twirling the beaters, juggling them in midair, changing the arrangement of the gongs either before or while playing, crossings hands during play or adding very rapid fire strokes all in an effort to show off a player’s grace and virtuosity .The Philippine harp bandurria is a 14-
string bandurria used in many Philippine folkloric songs, with 16 frets and shorter neck than the 12 string bandurria. This instrument probably evolved in the Philippines during the Spanish period, period, from 1521 to 1898. The Filipino bandurria is used in an orchestra of plucked string instruments called rondalla rondalla..
SINGAPORE
DARBUKA Darbouka is a Middle Eastern percussion instrument shaped like a bowl that can be made in pottery, or metal and cover with a Animal skin. The origin of this instrument dates back to the Babylonian antiquity, that is to say roughly 1100 before BC. The goblet-shaped single headed hand-drum is an ancient drum. It was originally played in Egypt, Armenia and Turkey. The darbuka is considered to be the leader of percussion instruments in the Middle East. The origin of darbuka has its roots in the Oriental music, where distinctive rhythms are quite common. However, in the latter years, Darbuka made its way into Western music. Authentic darbukas are home made and are made of clay or wood with goat skin stretched over the top using rope, leather thongs or nails.
THAILAND
The khim is a hammered dulcimer from dulcimer from Thailand and Cambodia Cambodia.. It is made of wood and trapezoidal in shape, with brass strings that are laid across the instrument. There are 14 groups of strings on the khim, and each group has 3 strings. Overall, the khim has a total of 42 strings. It is played with two flexible bamboo sticks with soft leather at the tips to produce the soft tone. It is used as both a solo and ensemble instrument. Tuning this instrument is very easy but time consuming. The player inserts a type of wrench on the prongs that stick up from the sides, but only turns the prongs on the left side. Turning the prongs on the right side can cause the string to break. Then the player turns the wrench which tightens or loosens the string to the desired pitch. The internal parts of a khim are hollow chambers that are used for sound projection and there are decorated acoustic sound receivers on both sides of the khim. This instrument can be played by either sitting down on the floor with the khim place on the floor as well, or by sitting on a chair or standing while the khim is on a stand. The khim produces a bright and expressive sound when played.
VIETNAM
đàn nguyệt The đàn nguyệt (Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗǎn ŋwiəˀ ̂ˀt ] "moon lute") also called nguyệt cầm, đàn kìm, is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument. [1] It is used in both folk and classical music, and remains popular throughout Vietnam (although during the 20th century many Vietnamese musicians increasingly gravitated toward the acoustic and electric guitar). The đàn nguyệt's strings, formerly made of twisted silk silk,, are today generally made of nylon of nylon or fishing or fishing line.. They are kept at a fairly low tension in comparison to the guitar and other European plucked line instruments. This, and the instrument's raised frets, allow for the bending tones which are so important to the proper interpretation of Vietnamese traditional music. Such bending tones are produced by pressing the string toward the neck rather than bending to the side. The strings are generally plucked with a small plectrum; often a plastic guitar pick is used. The instrument's standard Vietnamese name, đàn nguyệt, literally means "moon string instrument" (đàn is the generic term for "string instrument" and nguyệt means "moon"). Its alternate name, nguyệt cầm, also means "moon string instrument" (cầm meaning "string instrument" in SinoVietnamese,, coming from the Chinese word qín, ). Vietnamese
NORTHEAST INDIA
The dhol is a double-sided barrel drum played mostly as an accompanying instrument in regional music forms. In qawwali music, music, the term dhol is used to describe a similar, but smaller drum used with the smaller tabla smaller tabla,, as a replacement for the left hand tabla drum. The typical sizes of the drum vary slightly from region to region. In Punjab, the dhol remains large and bulky to produce the preferred loud bass. In other regions, dhols can be found in varying shapes and sizes and made with different woods and materials (fiberglass, steel, plastic). The drum consists of a wooden barrel with animal hide or synthetic skin stretched over its open ends, covering them completely. These skins can be stretched or loosened with a tightening mechanism made up of either interwoven ropes, or nuts and bolts. Tightening or loosening the skins subtly alters the pitch of the drum sound. The stretched skin on one of the ends is thicker and produces a deep, low frequency (higher bass) sound and the other thinner one produces a higher frequency sound. Dhols with synthetic, or plastic, treble skins are common.
