Popular regional musical instruments from West Java
The regional musical instruments of West Java have their own characteristics compared tomusical instruments of other regions. Nowadays, we are perhaps more familiar with modern musical instruments, such as guitar, piano, violin, etc. But before the emergence of these different modern musical instruments, there were already traditional musical instruments.
More and more traditional cultures are being abandoned, including regional musical instruments. However, there are still many younger generations involved in the preservation of traditional West Java tools, such as the angklung and flute. Both musical instruments are often interpreted as traditional musical instruments.
In fact, there are many other regional musical instruments to be proud of and preserved so that our children and grandchildren can get to know the instrument later. That is why we will review the most popular traditional musical instruments of West Java through the article below.
Copper Rebabs
This West Java musical instrument has been around since the 9th century AD and still survives today. While sailing, traders from the Middle East brought rebabs to Indonesia. This brass musical instrument has 3 strings or strings as a sound producer.
Over time, there has been a change in the basic material for making rebabs that were originally made of copper and now there are many wooden rebabs with a crossbow-like shape. The way to play it is to slide the strings, just like when you play a modern musical instrument, namely the violin.
Musical instruments for bamboo flute
Next comes the most popular West Javanese musical instrument, called the flute. This bamboo or wooden musical instrument is played by blowing the available holes. In addition to inflatable holes, there are also holes to adjust the tone so that the number of holes varies, ranging from 4 to 8.
The number of holes is adjusted according to the needs of the song to be played. Most Western Javanese flutes have 4 holes according to the Sundanese songs that are often played. The existence of the flute is very important as a musical instrument because it is able to give melodies to the singing of songs so that very thick traditional tones are heard.
Unique Karinding
A typical West Javanese musical instrument that is no less popular is karinding. This unique musical instrument must be put on the lips to play it. Then you can tap the bat to produce a sound resonance from the friction of the handle and fingertips by tapping the instrument.
Bamboo is often used as a material to make karinding, although there is also karinding from the fronds of palm trees. Usually, palm karinding is used for men, while bamboo karingan is used for women. In the past, karinding was not only used as a musical instrument, but also as a midge in rice fields.
Calung musical instruments
Most people cannot distinguish between the calung and another traditional West Javanese musical instrument , namely the angklung, because it looks similar at first glance. Calung is made of bamboo type awi wulung or black bamboo and there is also calung made of another type of bamboo, ater bamboo.
This instrument is played according to the type of calung, whether it is a jinjing calung or a rantay calung. Calung carry-on is played using only the right hand, while the left hand must hold the calung. Calung rantay played with both hands hitting him. The way the player is seated should be crossed to facilitate the movement of the hands.
Multitonal and double tone Angklung
Although you are not a West Javanese, you are surely already familiar with this traditional instrument as it is often exhibited as one of the popular traditional musical instruments of West Java. This bamboo tool is also known as multitonal or double tone.
How to play it also seems easy, namely by shaking the instrument . The impact of the bamboo body becomes a source of sound production with different tones, depending on the angklung used. Because the overall vibration of the musical instrument is capable of producing sound, the angklung is classified as an idiophone instrument.
Tarawangsa Similar to Rebab
In appearance, perhaps tarawangsa has similarities with rebab, but the difference is that the number of tarwangsa strings is only two pieces. Unlike the rebab which has three strings, so you can already distinguish the two musical instruments of West Java more easily and quickly.
Although you have two strings, you can only play one string by sliding it. During this time, the other strings are played by pinching using the index finger of the left hand. Tarawangsa is often played with other musical instruments, such as the Jentreng to produce such beautiful notes or melodies.
Traditional musical instruments , lute
Another interesting West Javanese folk musical instrument is the harp. In the Sundanese tembang, the presence of the lute as an accompanying instrument is very important. This is related to the two functions of the harp, namely the mother’s harp and the child’s harp when accompanying traditional Sundanese music, so it is important to know the harp.
The task of the parent harp is to determine the tempo, start the music and the harp used usually has 18-20 strings. Unlike the child’s lyre which serves as an accompaniment to high-frequency music. The number of strings is lower, 15 pieces compared to the number of strings for the parent lyre.
Traditional Arumba musical instruments
Another West Java musical instrument that we should learn is the arumba. For some people, they may still not be familiar with the name of this traditional musical instrument, especially for people outside of West Java. Arumba belongs to the ensemble group or a combination of several musical instruments at once.
This musical instrument is made of quality bamboo, for example black bamboo (wulung), bamboo rope or bamboo awi temen. Although it is a combination of several musical instruments, arumba eventually becomes a musical music and a distinct type of music that we know from some traditional West Java songs.
Jenglong as the creator of basic sound
Another West Javanese musical instrument not to be missed is the Jenglong. Jenglong serves as a song frame or basic sound creator, so his role is very important in traditional West Javanese music. Despite this, many of us are not familiar with this musical instrument from the West Java region.
A special bat is used to hit Jenglong to produce sound or sound. The drummer used in this musical instrument is made of a special material to produce the right sound. Usually, these drummers have upholstery fabrics to make them softer, whether from wool or knitted yarn.
Celebration of bamboo skin
Finally, we will get to know a traditional tool called bamboo skin celempung. Sound is produced using resonance on bamboo stick segments. That is why it is not easy to make this traditional musical instrument because each rod must have a different shape and size of internodes.
Celempung has two strings with different functions, namely strings for pelog tones and strings for slendro tones so that they can be used for longer Siterans. In addition to celempung, the siter is also often used in gamelan siteran instruments as a feature that is still preserved today.
There are still many traditional musical instruments that you can find from West Java with their own uniqueness. Most traditional musical instruments are made of nature, whether made of wood or bamboo, so the traditional impression displayed is very noticeable. So, don’t stop to keep getting to know the typical Western Javanese musical instruments.