7/27/2019 Southeast Asian Musical Instruments 2

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7/27/2019 Southeast Asian Musical Instruments 2

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Drum model with four frogs, Dongson culture, 300 b.c.200 a.d.

Vietnam

Bronze

The discovery in the late seventeenth century of large, elaborately incised drums in

mainland and island Southeast Asia first alerted Western scholars to the existence

in the region of distinctive early bronze-working cultures.Ghanti, second half of 19th century

North India

Brass

The handle of this bell consists of a finely wrought figure of Hanuman, the monkey

general who, in Hindu mythology, led the army that helped Rama rescue his wife,

Sita, from Ravana. The body of the bell is richly engraved with additional figures

and floral designs. Priests use ghanti of different sizes to worship and pay homage

to a god. This worship may occur in a temple or privately at home before the

household shrine.

Mayuri (peacock), 19th centuryIndia

Wood, parchment, metal, feathers

Popular at nineteenth-century Indian courts, this bowed lute borrows features of

other Indian stringed instruments, such as the body shape of the sarangi and the

frets and neck of the sitar.

Top of a bell in the form of a demon king or guardian, Eastern Javanese period, ca.

second half of 12thearly 13th century

Indonesia (Java)

Bronze

This finial from a hanging bell takes the form of an unusually lively and finely

modeled rakshasaa demon king or guardian. He is depicted as a short, potbellied

grimacing creature with fangs and large bulbous eyes and a serpent emerging from

each armpit.

Drum, mid-20th century

Carved by Omas

New Guinea, Papua Province, Asmat people, Pomatsj River, Sauwa village

Wood, lizard skin, paint, fiber

The principal musical instruments of the Asmat people of southwest New Guinea

are hourglass-shaped wood drums. At virtually every significant ceremony andfeast, one or more men gather to play the drums and sing the appropriate music.

Performances often last many hours, beginning in the late afternoon and

continuing all through the night, a process that can go on for days or weeks.

Primarily a male instrument, drums are occasionally played by women.