Indonesia is a huge country astride the equator, an archipelago consisting of over 17,500 islands; a little over 6,000 of these are inhabited. The archipelago stretches out from East to West over 5120 km, in three time-zones.

Indonesia has an enormous wealth of musical styles and traditions, and some of the best known can be found documented here. Unfortunately every single one of these can hardly still be called a truly living tradition, being conservated mainly for tourists. One of the causes is that when Indonesia became an Islamic country after the Dutch colonization¹, Buddhist and Hindu cults became minority cultures under threat, fighting for their mere subsistence and survival.

Oscar van Dillen

Gamelan

Gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, with many styles and traditions on different islands².

Balinese gamelan

Gamelan gong kebyar (Bali)

Javanese gamelan

Gamelan Ladrang Asmarandana slendro manyura (Java)

Kecak

Kecak is the traditional monkey dance ritual from Bali³, referring to the story of the battle where Varana helped king Rama in the Ramayana.

Kecak example 1

Balinese Monkey Chant (2007)

Kecak example 2

Kecak Cult Monkey Dance Ritual (filmed by Kimo Kekahuna 2007)

Footnotes