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CHAPTER 12 Indonesia

Brunei

Celebes Sea

Medan

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA

Halmahera

SINGAPORE

Sulawesi (Celebes)

Molucca Sea

Kalimantan (Borneo)

Padang

INDONESIA

Baniarmasin

Sumatra

New Guinea

Moluccas

Java Sea

Makassar

Banda Sea

Jakarta

Flores Sea

Surabaya

Bandung

JAVA

Lesser Sunda Islands

East Timor

Indian Ocean

Arafura Sea

Sumba

Timor

FIGURE 12.1 Map of Indonesia.

attention by wildlife preservationists. Although Indonesia has large cities (its cap ital, Jakarta, has a population of over ten million people), most of it is rural. The links between traditional music and the environment—whether we are discussing the large ensembles of bronze gongs and gong-chimes called gamelan , associated with the courts, or solo bamboo flute playing—are strong across the nation. Part of our work for this chapter, then, will be to examine those connections. Centuries before Indonesia first declared its independence in 1945, all of Indonesia’s islands were governed locally. The Portuguese and Dutch colonized significant numbers of the islands in the 16th century, and even more islands and regions were brought into the new nation-state by the Indonesian government. What continues to make Indonesia such a fascinating place, however, is its many layers of cultural influence from abroad in combination with the layers of ele ments that were already in place. Indonesia’s people play thousands of genres of music, and thousands of instruments. This chapter addresses only its best-known ensembles—the gamelan —and its best-known popular music: dangdut . Religious and Colonial Influences Each element that led to the development of Indonesian music today came through a combination of factors, through the influences of both outside colonial powers and religious movements. New religions influenced the development of kingdoms rich in the performing arts. Outside colonial powers installed new political leaders who became patrons for musicians, dancers, and dramatists. PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS gamelan—an ensemble comprising gongs, gong-chimes, metallophones, and drums