Gangsa
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| Developed | Indonesia |
A gangsa is a type of metallophone which is used mainly in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan music in Indonesia. In Balinese gong kebyar styles, there are two types of gangsa typically used: the smaller, higher pitched kantilan and the larger pemade. Each instrument consists of several tuned metal bars (either iron or bronze) each placed over an individual resonator. The bars are hit with a wooden panggul, each producing a different pitch. Duration of sound intensity and sound quality factors are generally accomplished by damping the vibration of the bar with the fingers of the free hand. Balinese gong kebyar gangsas, as with other metallophones in gong kebyar ensembles, are played in neighboring pairs with interlocking, rapid-tempo parts that elaborate on the melody of a piece of music (see Kotekan); these pairs are tuned to be dissonant and create certain wavelengths of sympathetic vibrations to create a shimmering tone (see Ombak) that travels long distances. The gangsa is very similar to the old gendér and the saron. ⓘ
The same word is used to identify an ensemble of shallow hand-held gongs (one per musician) and to refer to the individual gongs as well in the traditional music of the Cordilleran Igorot peoples of Northern Luzon. Most performances are used to accompany dance. There is no standard tuning, and there are several methods of holding and addressing these gongs. ⓘ
In everyday Bali usage, gangsa refers to a group of four high-sounding kantilan and four lower-sounding pemadé, which together produce the main melody in a village ensemble of about 25 instruments at the gamelan gong kebyar. ⓘ
The gambang gangsa is a variant of the xylophone gambang (kayu) with bronze plates that is hardly used on Java anymore. Having no relation to Indonesian instruments other than their name are the flat bronze or brass gongs gangsa played in the northern Philippines. ⓘ
Origin and distribution
The origin of metallophones is in Asia. Musical instruments made of metal sounding plates in a vertical frame were known around 700 AD in China, where they were brought by a Turkic people. From the 12th century, this type has survived in Korea. The second and more widespread type has horizontal sound plates and is widely used in Southeast Asia. Such a metallophone - like today's saron in the form of a wooden trough xylophone - is first recorded on Java in a relief on the 8th/9th century Buddhist stupa Borobudur. It is also depicted on a relief at the 8th/9th century Borobudur stupa in Java, along with several double-headed drums (precursors of the kendang), single-headed clay drums, mouth organs, flutes, other wind instruments, plucked lute instruments, kettle gongs, numerous cymbals of various sizes, cymbals, and other idiophones made of metal. Similar and other musical instruments, some of which betray Indian cultural influence, appear a century later at the Hindu temple of Prambanan. ⓘ
The two basic forms of Indonesian metallophones - saron and gendèr - also differ according to their sound. In the Javanese saron and the Balinese gangsa (jongkok), the sound is harsh, metallic and loud, but of short duration, while the bamboo resonators of the gendèr provide a fuller and longer-lasting sound. ⓘ
Another Javanese metallophone type is the gong kemodong, which consists of two large bronze (less commonly iron) plates of different pitches with a hump in the middle, suspended by strings above a square wooden box. There are often two clay pots inside the box. The gong kemodong can be used as a less expensive alternative in place of the large gong ageng. All metallophones, the instruments with humped gongs and sometimes used small metal idiophones like the kemanak have well specified musical tasks in the different gamelan. ⓘ
A trough xylophone called saron with bamboo strikers, which exists in rural Java, may have survived from older, pre-metallic baton instruments. Roneat is the name of a group of Cambodian xylophones that includes a metallophone with bronze plates. There are similarities of construction between Southeast Asian metallophones and African xylophones. Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (1911) compared the tuning of the Burmese patala, which is related to the roneat, with African xylophones and was the first to emphasize the musical aspect of the Indonesian cultural influence on Africa claimed by representatives of diffusionism. The theory of the diffusion of Indonesian xylophones in Africa was advanced mainly by the ethnomusicologists Jaap Kunst on the Indonesian side and Arthur Morris Jones on the African side. As a tacit presupposition of this outdated theory, according to which fully developed frame xylophones must have come to Africa, stages of development and details of form (such as the practically fundamental use of mirlitons) of African instruments are overlooked. ⓘ
Construction and playing style
In the gangsa jongkok or the saron, the bronze sound plates, daun (Indonesian, "leaf") or bilah ("chip," "bar"), lie on a soft intermediate layer of rattan or cork over a wooden box (tatak). Each sound plate is held in place by two metal pins inserted through holes in the plate and hammered into the box. The sound plates are made of a bronze mixture (kerawang in Balinese), which is cast into molds using about ten parts tin and three parts copper. While still hot, the casting is dipped in water, heated again over a fire, and forged into the final shape, checking in between for the desired pitch. ⓘ
The wood used is usually the heavy, durable, and medium-hard jackfruit tree wood (nangka in Indonesian), which is good for carving intricate relief patterns for decoration. The boards are struck with a short wooden mallet (panggul gangsa) in one hand, while they are often muted (tekep) between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand on the protruding edge. There are generally three striking techniques: 1) The plate sounds freely after being struck, overlaid by the sound of the subsequently struck plate. 2) The sound plate is damped before the subsequent strike, or 3) it is damped and then struck, producing a dull, dry sound. ⓘ
In the "hanging" gangsa gantung, the sound plates line up along a string pulled through the holes. They float above bamboo resonators, which are mounted vertically in a wooden box (pelawah, tatak) that is also richly carved and colorfully painted. Gangsa gantung are much more commonly used, while gangsa jongkok are found in gamelan especially on the north coast of Bali in some villages east of Singaraja. ⓘ
Gamelan gong kebyar
Gangsa are used for the five-note scales (patutan) of the rarely played large courtly gamelang gong gede, which consists of about 50 instruments, and the present-day gamelan gong kebyar, which is reduced to about 25 instruments. The last puputan in 1908 in Klungkung marked the complete conquest of Bali by the Dutch and the demise of the kingdoms. The period that followed meant a period of special creativity for the arts, fostered by newly won freedoms and what was understood as social democratization. In this atmosphere, the extremely lively gong kebyar orchestra came into being, and the gangsa was expanded from five to seven to ten sound plates. In a common gangsa with ten sound plates, the range is two octaves. The gamelan gong kebyar is based on the five-tone scale pelog selisir, which is derived from the Javanese seven-tone scale pelog. The tone sequence selected from the seven-tone scale (saih pitu) is 1 = C (ding), 2 = D (dong), 3 = E (deng), 5 = G (dung) and 6 = A (dang). In parentheses are the tone syllables sung for practice purposes, which are also often pronounced nding, ndong, ndeng.... are pronounced. The sound plates for tones 4 and 7 are missing. The patutan derived from the seven-tone scale (saih pitu) are called saih lima ("series of five"). ⓘ
The ten sound plates of a gangsa correspond approximately to the following pitches: 1 = D (dong), 2 = E (deng), 3 = G♯ (dung), 4 = A (dang), 5 = C♯ (ding), 6 = D (dong), 7 = E (deng), 8 = G♯ (dung), 9 = A (dang), 10 = C♯ (ding). ⓘ
Almost every musical instrument in the gamelan gong kebyar is used in pairs; one (the "female," wadon, or pengisep, from ngisep, "to take up") is tuned slightly lower than the other (the "male," lanang, or pengumbang, from ngumbang, "to flow"), thus a sequence of beats with floating pitches can be heard. In the gendèr, the measured difference between the lowest sound plates of a pair of instruments is 20 to 50 cents, with the distance of a semitone being 100 cents mathematically. The gangsa pairs are played rhythmically interlocked with the other instruments at a fixed fast tempo to form and embellish the melody line. In principle, as in Javanese gamelan, higher-sounding instruments are beaten faster than lower-sounding ones. The fourth beat of the densest gangsa beat sequence is usually emphasized by a small gong kajar. In the slow sequences of gong kebyar, the kajar beat coincides with every eighth gangsa note. In the orchestra, the kajar is not one of the melody-forming instruments, but one of the colotomous (rhythm-structuring) instruments. In some gamelan, its function can be taken over by a gong pulu or, more rarely, a bamboo tube zither guntang. The interlocking style of playing in Balinese gamelan is called kotekan. A kotekan is composed of two parts, one of which (polos, "simple") complements the other (sangsih, "different") to form a continuous melodic line. A similar technique in European music theory is the hoquetus. In the gong kebyar, the gangsa take the musical lead from the humped gong row trompong (in Java bonang), which is missing compared to the gong gede. ⓘ
The group of gangsa in a gamelan gong kebyar includes nine to ten gantung-type instruments. Four gangsa kantilan (kantilan or kantil for short), two of them "female" and two "male," are the highest-sounding instruments in the ensemble. Four correspondingly larger gangsa pemadé are tuned an octave lower than the kantilan. One or, more rarely, two gangsa pengugal (ugal for short) sound another octave lower. If only one ugal is used, it is the "female" one (pengumbang). The ugal stands out from the eight other gangsa, which musically belong together, because it is used independently in the compositions. ⓘ
In the gamelan gong kebyar, two (gangsa) calung (also jublag) with five sound plates are also used to play the main melody. They correspond in form and function to the Javanese slenthem with six plates. The sound plates, which cover an octave, are suspended on strings above individual bamboo tubes in a wooden box, as in the instruments with ten plates. The lowest tone of the calung is ding and corresponds to the fifth tone of ugal. Sounding an octave lower and much larger than the calung are the two (gangsa) jegogan with five sound plates above a flat trogresonator. The jegogan are placed at the back of the ensemble and produce individual accents of the main melody with the lowest notes of the scale (gamut). The lowest instruments are played with padded wooden mallets. The jegogan mallets (panggul jegogan) are spherical at the tip, padded with rubber and covered with cloth. The penyacah, which are only sometimes used and are also played in pairs, are tuned an octave higher than the calung and have seven sound plates. ⓘ
The gong kebyar also includes gong chimes of various sizes, the ceng-ceng cymbals, two kendang barrel drums, and the suling bamboo flute and rebab spiked fiddle, the only instruments that produce a sustained melodic tone. ⓘ
Other gamelan
Gamelan gong kebyar play concertante or to accompany dances, such as the traditional Balinese war dances baris, performed only by men at village temples. The very old mask dance Barong is about the powerful guardian spirit Barong, who, as a divine force made flesh, fights against the devilish powers usually embodied in the demoness Rangda. The Barong dance is accompanied by the gamelan bebarongan, which serves only this purpose. In this, the humpback gong row trompong is replaced by two gender rambat. These pentatonically tuned metallophones with 13 to 15 bronze sound plates are struck with two hammers and produce a hard metallic sound. Six to eight gangsa (kantil and pemadè), two jegogan and two jublag, each with five sound plates, play the main melody. A hanging "big gong" (gong gede) marks the end of the longest melodic phrases; a barrel drum kendang provides the rhythm. Other instruments include one or two flutes suling, a spiked fiddle rebab, and several small cymbals and gongs. ⓘ
Two ancient court ensemble formations are gamelan gambuh and gamelan semar pegulingan (pagulingan). In the latter, bronze instruments produce the melody, similar in orchestration and playing style to the gong kebyar, which developed from this. Most semar pegulingan are five-note ensembles, with 22 seven-note ensembles (semar pegulingan saih pitu) counted in the 1990s. From the soft-sounding semar pegulingan and the ponderously majestic gamelan gong gede, I Wayan Beratha developed the seven-tone orchestral formation gamelan semara dana in Denpasar in 1987. The here melody leading metallophone gamelan semara dana gangsa has twelve sound plates with the pitches: 1 = D (dong), 2 = E (deng), 3 = G♯ (dung), 4 = A (dang), 5 = C♯ (ding), 6 = D (dong), 7 = E (deng), 8 = F♯ (deung), 9 = G♯ (dung), 10 = A (dang), 11 = B (daing), 12 = C♯ (ding). The gamelan semara dana was originally intended to accompany the dance drama sendratari. Sendratari, composed of seni-drama-tari ("art-drama-dance"), is a dance-theater style introduced in the 1960s to stage narratives from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The contrast in sound in the combination of the two gamelan types is used for dramatic heightening when the noble, subtle (alus) characters are accompanied by the instruments of the semar pegulingan and the evil, coarse (keras, kasar) characters with those of the gong gede. Today, mainly modern composers use the gamelan semara dana because of its diverse musical possibilities. ⓘ
A simple village orchestra in the music of Bali and Lombok is the gamelan angklung, which is based on a four-note scale. It usually consists of 16 instruments, which are smaller and tuned higher than in the other gamelan. These include some metallophones that span an octave. With its less voluminous sound, the gamelan angklung can perform at family gatherings in the courtyard of a private home. Its own repertoire also includes pieces from the gamelan gender wayang tradition, which is used to accompany wayang performances. Despite the name, no bamboo shaking idiophones angklung play in the ensemble. ⓘ
For the other musical style of northern Bali, the four-note gamelan was expanded to a five-note gamelan angklung and to 23 instruments. The metallophones include a pair of jegogan as the lowest gangsa instruments, a pair of gangsa (pemadé) an octave higher, and three pairs of kantilan again an octave higher. In addition, there are various gongs, drums, cymbals, and flutes. The jegogan often perform a simple melody line (pokok), while the other two gangsa groups decorate the melody with rapid (interlocked) beats. Of each gangsa pair, one (the pengisep instrument) plays the polos part and the other (the pengumbang instrument) plays the complementary sangsih part in a piece based on the kotekan pattern. More often, however, all gangsa and kantilan play a melody in unison or alternately, with jegogan dotting individual notes at alternating intervals in both forms. ⓘ
Among the rarer and older ensemble formations in Bali and Central Java is the gamelan gambang (gambang for short), based on a seven-note row, with the bronze bar gambang gangsa. Thomas Stamford Raffles in The History of Java (1817) describes the Javanese gambang gangsa together with the gambang kayu and the metallophones "saron," "demong," and "selantam" as part of the gamelan. The gambang gangsa may have been eclipsed by the introduction of the single-octave metallophones of the saron type. It is closely related to the Cambodian roneat dek and the corresponding Thai ranat thum lek. The gamelan gambang consists of two pairs (gambang) gangsa for the main melody and four, rarely six, bamboo xylophones gambang (more precisely gambang kayu, from kayu, "wood"), each with 14 longitudinally slit bamboo bars to ornament the melody. The seven bronze sound plates of the gangsa lie on a wooden trough, cushioned by a palm leaf support. The position of the plates is fixed with wooden pins or iron nails. The gangsa pairs, consisting of a "male" and a "female" instrument, are one octave apart in pitch. Each gangsa is struck by a musician with two hammers made of wood or buffalo horn. A gamelan gambang in the village of Tatulingga in Karangasem County has an above-average repertoire of about 50 pieces; of most, the main melody (pokok) has survived as a lontar (palm leaf manuscript). The gamelan gambang is played ritually at temple ceremonies. ⓘ
In addition, there are a number of other Balinese ensemble formations that feature gangsa. Gamelan caruk is a reduced version of the gamelan gambang. It includes only two gangsa in octave spacing, each with seven bronze plates and two bamboo xylophones caruk, played by one musician. The caruk consists of two xylophones with four plates each, which when placed side by side produce a seven-note scale and the first note of the upper octave. The ensemble is very rarely used in funerals and temple ceremonies. ⓘ
In the gamelan gong luang (also gamelan saron), nine instruments play together: two jegogan, two gangsa that are slightly smaller than the usual jegogan, a bamboo saron (similar to the caruk), a hanging gong, cymbals ceng-ceng, a barrel drum kendang, and a gong circle with 16 humped gongs reyong. This ensemble is also played at funerals (ngaben, cremation and scattering of ashes in the sea). ⓘ
Description
The gangsa is a two-octave metallophone with ten rectangular-shaped keys (don) suspended by rope and posts over tuned tube resonators (tiying or bumbung). The keys of this gangsa are made from bronze (krawang). Graduated in size, the keys are arranged in a horizontal plane from the longest, widest and thinnest one at one end of the case to the shortest, narrowest, and thickest one at the other end (see detail #2 and detail #3). Holes to receive the cord by which a key is suspended are drilled at one-quarter of a key's total length from both its ends. These are nodal (dead) points in the mode of vibration for rectangular keys. The keys are suspended over a teakwood casing (plawah) and above cylindrical tube resonators (bumbung) made from bamboo (tiying), one for each of the instrument's ten keys. Vertical wooden spacers are placed between the bumbung to keep them in alignment with their respective keys. Although externally the resonators are all the same length, internally they are stopped by a natural node that articulates a cavity of air which will maximally resonate the frequency of the key suspended above it (the differing positions of these nodes can be seen in detail #4). A row of metal posts is located on each of the two upward-facing flat surfaces of the case between pairs of keys, and upon these rest leather cords the ends of which are securely tied to the shoulders of the case. Each cord runs through and back out the hole at one end of each key. The loop thus formed on the bottom-side of a key has a short bamboo stop-pin inserted in it so that when the cord is pulled taut it blocks the cord from exiting the hole (see detail #5). This system of suspension involves minimal contact between non-sonorous material and the key itself, allowing it to vibrate freely for a long period of time after being struck. One wooden hammer-shaped beater (panggul) is used to strike the bars (detail #6). ⓘ