Indonesian Classical Music from Sunda (West Java)

Here is some wonderful classical Indonesian music from West Java. The music is still very popular in Java and wherever you go in the country you can always hear the melodious music being played, and also find classical concerts to attend.

The music here is by the Kacapi Suling Instrumental Ensemble, and is being embedded from the Asian Classical Music in MP3 Format page, which also provides the notes. For more music from all over Asia, and for more information about it please visit their website.

The province of Sunda in West Java experienced an amazing resurgence of interest in its own musical traditions in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Centered on the city of Bandung, this renewed vitality led to the nation-wide (and world-wide) popularity of traditional genres like Kacapi Suling and modern ones like jaipongan.

Kacapi Suling is usually played at interludes between songs in a performance of the classical song-form Tembang Sunda. The term refers to the two plucked string instruments and the flute. There is a higher-pitched kacapi rincik, a lower-pitched kacapi indung and the suling ornamenting the melody.

During a dinner-to-dawn house concert of Tembang Sunda, instrumental pieces like these would offer light interludes between the weightiness of the songs. The pieces are in two scales. The first four are in laras pelog, conveying a lighter mood, while the next four are in laras sorog, a more somber mood. This change of key usually occurs around midnight, and lasts until dawn.

Arum Bandung:

Arang Arang/Renggong Gede:

Nimang/Kaleran:

Senggot/Tokecang/Tilam Sono:

Gawil:

Karanginan:

Bungur:

Sinyur: