Javanese-Balinese gamelan (tuned bronze ensemble)
Gamelan javanés-balinés (conjunto de bronces afinados)
- Date
- c. siglos IX-XV (muy discutido) · confidence low
- Place
- Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
- Credited to
- Artisans and musicians of the Javanese courts
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An orchestra of bronze metallophones, gongs and drums with its own tuning systems (slendro and pelog). It requires specialist casting and tuning of high-tin bronze, and is central to court music, shadow theatre and dance in Java and Bali.
Its origin and antiquity are uncertain: the Borobudur reliefs (c. 800) show instruments but not a full bronze orchestra, and the oldest surviving sets date from the 15th-16th centuries. An indigenous origin linked to the Iron Age bronze tradition has been proposed.
What it led to
- court music and accompaniment of wayang and dance
- influence on Debussy and 20th-century Western music
- the Javanese artisanal bronze-casting tradition