Traditional Musical Instrument

Gamelan - Traditional musical instrument

Javanese culture after entering a new era of prehistory is a time when the culture from the outside-in this case the culture of India, took effect. Javanese culture began to enter the era of history characterized by the writing system in people's lives.

Viewed from a historical perspective for period between centuries until the XV century AD VIll Javanese culture, get enrichment of elements of Indian culture. It seems that elements of Indian culture can also be seen in art like gamelan and dance. 

transformation musical culture to Java through the Hindu-Buddhist religion. The data on the existence of gamelan found in verbal sources ie sources - sources written in the form of inscriptions and literary books that derived from the Hindu-Buddhist and pictorial sources of the sculpted reliefs the building of the temple either on the temples that come from the classical Javanese Middle (the 7th century until the 10th century) and the temples that come from the East Javanese classical younger (until the 11th century century, ¬ 15) (Haryono, 1985). 

In written sources the East Javanese ensemble group gamelan is said to be "tabeh - tabehan" (new Java language 'percussion' or 'tetabuhan' which means everything that played or sounded with beaten). Zoetmulder explains the word "gamel" with a percussion instrument that is musical instrument that is struck (1982). In the Javanese word "trash" which means 'bat'. In the Balinese language there is the term 'gambelan' which then may the term 'gamelan'. The term 'gamelan' has been mentioned in connection with the music. Namur in the Kadiri (approximately ¬ 13 th century AD), a music expert Judith Becker even say that the word "gamelan" comes from the name a Burmese pastor and an expert named Gumlao iron. if the opinion Becker is true, of course, the term 'gamelan' also found in Burma or in some areas of mainland Southeast Asia, but it did not.