Gambang Kromong

Gambang Kromong is the Chinese originated Indonesian music born in the suburbs of Jakarta. It is also one of Indonesia’s most vivid and off the wall musical styles. The music’s name comes from the instruments, the gambang (xylophone) and the kromong (gong) played together with various flutes, and rebab (violin). It has a decidely funky rythm but perhaps the most distinctive feature is the semirapped, hard vocal delivery of the men, while the women wail with their typical finesse. A wonderfully mixed-up music, gambang kromong combines Indonesian, Chinese, and sometimes Western instruments. These 1990 recordings focus on two repertoires: a body of old pieces, now rarely heard, that blend Chinese and Indonesian musical elements; and the most èpopular modern repertoire, which sounds like gamelan music crossed with small-group jazz of the 1920s and 1930s.

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