Gender
A metallophone of thin bars over tube resonators, played with two disc-shaped mallets in interlocking patterns, one hand damping while the other strikes.
Clothing & Artefacts
NounOpen entry →
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Culture-specific expressions
Terms, definitions, context, variants, usage examples, and references from diverse East Javanese cultural communities.
Gendhing
A composed piece of karawitan, identified by its melodic skeleton, its cycle length, its tuning and its mode rather than by a fixed score.
Performing Arts
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Gerong
The male chorus of karawitan, singing in unison in fixed passages, in contrast to the free line of the solo singer.
Social Structure
NounOpen entry →
Gong ageng
The great hanging gong, struck at the close of the longest cycle. Its stroke marks the boundary of musical time and is treated with ceremonial respect.
Clothing & Artefacts
NounOpen entry →
Gunungsari
A refined young nobleman of the cycle, brother of the heroine, whose dance is lighter and quicker than the hero's.
Performing Arts
NounOpen entry →
Karawitan
The art of Javanese gamelan music: an ensemble practice governed by tuning system, mode, and a repertoire of composed pieces, performed on its own or as accompaniment to dance and…
Performing Arts
NounOpen entry →
Kasada
A month and major ritual cycle in Tengger culture, culminating in offerings made at the crater of Mount Bromo.
Ritual & Belief
Noun · 1 mediaOpen entry →
Kempul
A smaller hanging gong, or set of them, struck within the cycle to mark subdivisions between the great gong strokes.
Clothing & Artefacts
NounOpen entry →
Kendhang
A double-headed drum played with the hands, which sets the tempo, signals changes of density, and brings the piece to its end. Its player leads the ensemble.
Clothing & Artefacts
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Kenong
A large kettle gong resting horizontally in its own frame, struck to divide the cycle into equal parts.
Clothing & Artefacts
NounOpen entry →
Kera Ngalam
A person of Malang: literally "Malang youngster", from arek, "child" or "youngster", reversed. Used as a claim of belonging rather than as a description of age.
Language & Expressions
PhraseOpen entry →
Kethuk
A small kettle gong with a dry, damped sound, struck on the offbeats to keep the inner pulse of the cycle.
Clothing & Artefacts
NounOpen entry →
Klono Sewandono
The foreign king of the cycle, who desires the princess and is defeated. Danced in the strong style, in a red mask with bulging eyes.
Performing Arts
NounOpen entry →
Laras
A tuning system: the set of pitches a gamelan is tuned to. Two are in use, and instruments of one cannot be played with the other.
Local Knowledge
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Nawak
A friend, from kawan reversed. Often extended to nawak ewed, "our own friend", for someone inside the circle.
Language & Expressions
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Ngalam
Malang, the city, with its letters reversed. The most widely used word of the reversed speech, and the one outsiders learn first.
Language & Expressions
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Niyaga
A gamelan player. The role carries an etiquette of its own: how to sit, how to enter a piece, and when not to play.
Social Structure
NounOpen entry →
Ojob
A spouse or partner, from bojo reversed.
Language & Expressions
NounOpen entry →