Re: CHAT: various infotaining natlang tidbits

CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
>Right on all counts.   In the provinces, smaller gamelans tend to be
>Slendro
>only.  In the old courts, or when subsidized by the local rich man, they
>will have both systems, which are never mixed.  Slendro instruments
>usually
>face the audience, Pelog are set at 90 degrees.  Slendro and Pelog always
>have one tone in common-- when you switch from one to the other, you bang
>on
>the common tone for a while, then turn and start playing on the other set.
>A very dramatic change in tonality.

In the Philippines, the Muslims have gongs (I hope you are talking about
gongs here ;)). called "kulintang" . There are usually 8 of these gongs in
different sizes suspended from a wooden frame horizontally (they sit on
strings) . There are also (from what i've seen) two larger gongs suspended
vertically from a wooden frame as well. I have only seen them used when
the dance called the Singkil is performed (they are of course played at
other times). And of course they are related to Indonesia's Gamelan.

here's a pic of a Kulintang ensemble:
http://www.sirius.com/~gbut/kulintang/img/pistahan_09.jpg

The music that accomapnies the singkil is pretty somber, but the dance is
beautiful (tells the fateful story of Princess Gandingan who while walking
through a forest one day is caught in a quake caused by Diwatas (forest
spirits) , and gracefully avoids falling trees, represented in the dance
by bamboo poles)

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