Music Of Indonesia 14: Lombok, Kalimantan, Banyumas

Volume 14 in the Smithsonian Folkways Music of Indonesia series focuses on three lesser-known forms of Indonesian gamelan orchestras and wayang shadow puppet theater. Ethnomusicologist Philip Yampolsky begins this compilation with music of the wayang Sasak from the island of Lombok, which lies directly east of Bali. Wayang Sasak mixes Javanese-style puppets, Islamic stories, and Balinese and Sasak musical idioms. The next style from the district of Banyumas in Central Java is a streamlined version that simply uses four actor-singers, but no instruments or puppets. The finish to the volume comes from the Banjar people of South Kalimantan on the southern tip of Borneo. A thirty-minute gamelan overture to the wayang kulit Banjar is (shadow puppet theater) is followed by music from the same gamelan group for topeng Banjar, a masked dance style.