Gamelan,Music Instrument From Java Indonesia

The Javanese gamelan is a set of instrument used for expressing the musical expression usually referred to as karawitan. The word karawitan is derived from the Javanese word rawit, meaning intricate, complicated. But rawit can also mean delicate, graceful and pleasant. The Javanese word karawitan is specifically used to refer to gamelan music, Indonesian non-diatonically scaled music, using the slendro and pelog scales in their compositions.

For the Indonesian people the art of gamelan contains historical and philosophical values. The gamelan has been handed down from the ancestors of the Javanese and still studied and enjoyed up to this day. The Javanese people have allegedly known gamelan and wayang even before the arrival of Hindu influences.

In the past only past, only the nobility were able to own complete sets of gamelan, but now everyone can own a gamelan, except for those sets that are considered as sacred heirlooms. Philosophically, the Javanese gamelan cannot be separated from the lives of the Javanese people. The lives of the Javanese are closely related with their art and culture as well as their religious believes.

The term gamelan has long been known, and was already mentioned in Old Javanese kakawins. What the word gamelan means is still a guess. It is perhaps a deviation of or derived from the word gembel. Gembel is and instrument used to strike or hit, and since the instrument is played by striking or hitting, it was called gembelan. Later, gembelan changed into gamelan. Another view is since the instruments are manufactured from forged bronze it was then called gembelan. Thus, gamelan is a musical instrument made by hammering and played by striking .

For the Javanese the gamelan has aesthetical, social, moral and spiritual significances. Therefore, the Javanese should be proud that they have the gamelan. Even the world acknowledges the gamelan as an eastern musical tradition which is the equal of the great western musical traditions. The gamelan can also be used as a means to cultivate one’s sense of beauty. People who are involved in the world of the gamelan should be able to develop their senses of comradeship, courteousness and politeness.