The Most Famous Traditional Sundanese Musical Instruments

VIVA – Indonesia is known as a country that has many cultures, including traditional musical instruments. Sunda in Indonesia is known to have a lot of traditional musical instruments.

One of the popular traditional Sundanese musical instruments is the Angklung. This musical instrument is a cultural heritage that has been passed down from generation to generation and has become the pride of the Sundanese people.

Not only Angklung, but many Sundanese traditional musical instruments are very interesting and famous as follows.

Suling comes from Sunda and is very famous. This Sundanese flute is made of bamboo with the tamiang type. The shape can be said to be similar to other flutes from various regions, namely in the form of a long tube with some holes in the body.

The flute funnel also has a thin band near a small hole made of rattan. How to play this instrument only needs to be blown at the end of the hole while opening the lid of the hole all over its body.

Angklung is a Sundanese musical instrument made of bamboo. How to play angklung is only shake it. When shaken it will emit a very distinctive sound, namely the sound produced by the collision between the inner pieces of bamboo and the pieces of bamboo.

The sound then produces a tone with a vibrating but very beautiful sound. Angklung has been recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage since 2010.

Calung is one of the most popular traditional Sundanese musical instruments. Calung is similar to angklung, but there are differences between the two when played. Calung is also a Sundanese musical instrument made of bamboo. But the bamboo used is awi wulung or black bamboo and some other calung are made from awi or white bamboo.

If the angklung is played by shaking it, then the calung instrument is played by tapping. The same beautiful sound is produced by hitting the bamboo sticks set in the tone of this instrument.

4. Kecapi

Traditional Sundanese songs are usually accompanied by various musical instruments, one is Kecapi. How to play Kecapi is by plucking. The instrument is divided into two types of sections.

First, the harp or master harp, which is larger and has 18-20 strings, and is used as a musical instrument to guide music. For example, provide an introduction to determine speed.

There is also a detailed harp or harp for children. This harp is played as a musical accompaniment by filling the gaps between notes with high frequencies.

5. Kendang

Kendang is one of the traditional Sundanese musical instruments. As a Sundanese musical instrument, drums are very commonly used as an entertainer in various performances and events. Usually, in a typical Sundanese kendang performance there is three kendangs.

The first is the gendang, and there are two more children's drums consisting of ketipung and kutiplak. Each type of kendang is also distinguished according to its function, such as the jaipongan kendang, keurseus, kiliningan kendang, tepak tilu kendang, and others. So far, kendang is very useful for adjusting the tempo beginning, and end of a typical West Javanese song.

This West Javanese musical instrument is called Lengek, and players who play the fiddle are called ngalengek. From its history, this instrument is one of the important musical instruments that fill the basic melody of the tones. The fiddle is also relatively small, with a rounded body and a fairly long neck.

In the past, the fiddle was made of copper and had 3 strings. Nowadays, the violin is usually made of wood and is shaped like a bow. Sundanese fiddle, upright, with a bow. The bow used for Raba is more curved than the bow used for the rebab. Like the violin, the way to play the rebab is to slide the bow over the rebab.

The way to play the tarawangsa musical instrument is to slide it. According to history, Tarawangsa is one of the oldest Sundanese musical instruments. This musical instrument is recorded in the 18th-century Sewaka Darma manuscript.

Tarawangsa has two paths. While playing, you can play one of the strings while strumming the other string to produce a harmonic sound.