World Culture Music Research Paper. Indonesian Music Essay

World Culture Music Research Paper. Indonesian Music - Essay Example Indonesia is well known for its diverse highlands that possess a wide range of cultures and characters. This eventually explains the availability of different forms of music. The music is significant to audiences in theatre as well as dance. The music of Indonesia is accompanied with various cultural beliefs and practices. Some communities chant as they go on with their rituals. Indonesian music is now well known across the continent and beyond. The richness of the music of Indonesia translates to the various musical instruments that exist within the people of Indonesia. Just as there are various musicians and scholars in Indonesia, the scope of the use of musical instruments is wide and can be discussed under various guiding principles that express the cultures that exist in Indonesia. Indonesians have always used music in nearly all their activities for reasons that can be best described as functional. The music of Indonesia has a wide historical background, just as the cultures th at exist (Hoffman 75). The music has played various roles and has influenced a number of activities and lifestyles of the Indonesian societies. History of Indonesian Music The historical background of Indonesian music cannot be dated to any period. However, the music is as old as the various cultures that exist within the Indonesian areas. Creativity within the local people has been one of the contributing factors that have contributed to the growth and development of Indonesian music. Foreign influences have gone further to introduce different cultural and artistic values that have directly influenced the music (Goldsworthy 309). This has led to hundreds of musical forms that are now dominant in Indonesia as well as the surroundings. In this influential endeavor, the music of Java, Sumatra, Bali, and Flores has been documented and recorded through research by various Indonesian and other international scholars. From various studies, native Indonesian tribes used chants and songs th at were accompanied by various musical instruments in various festivities as well as rituals. The Indonesian republic represents a modern developing nation that a wide kaleidoscope of people, languages as well as cultures. More than one hundred different ethnic groups that speak moire than three hundred languages have maintained the various traditions that reflect the cultures of Indonesia. Due to the existence of the four great religions (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity), music has also been influenced by religious practices that are carried out in Indonesia at large. Throughout history, music, dance and theatrical genres have been used for various functions: to provide entertainment to the ancestors, lend spiritual solemnity to the various religious occasions and provide pleasant entertainment to the worshipers (Anderson 77). In the past, Indonesians considered music as part of their everyday life. In rituals, ceremonies, as well as war, music was a mode of self-expres sion that accompanied various dances. Indonesian archipelago is the largest island in the world. It represents various cultures that are representatives of the music that Indonesia now posses (Sandhyarani).the exiling of Hindus to Bali because of the introduction of Islam in Indonesia is said to have contributed to the development of music of the island of Bali. Types of music Due to the scope of the Indonesian islands as well as the diversity of the cultures that are present in Indonesia, there are various types of music in Indonesia that represent that various tribes and language groups. The various types of music include Folk music, Tembang sunda, among others. The existence