Hiasan Gantung

Here is a well-developed, powerful, and beautiful music that is completely outside the western idea of what music could and should be, traditionally learned quite naturally and a part of everyday life, “in much the same way villagers learn to sow and harvest crops, prepare a meal, or build a traditional dwelling. Starting from the youngest age villagers begin to absorb the conventions and style of gamelan music, gradually and by osmosis as much as formal teaching, learning to play the various instruments. A village gamelan is not played by professional musicians but by villagers who take their part in playing the gamelan as they would in planting the fields or harvesting the crops.

The gamelan and its music are an integral part of the ritual life of the village and indeed the entire gamelan and particularly the large gongs are considered sacred. The instruments of the gamelan are typically housed in its own open-walled building.”