Music of Indonesia, Vol. 20: Indonesian Guitars

Music Of Indonesia (Smithsonian Folkways Series)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1999)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B00001ZWCR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #311,569 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Guitars are everywhere in Indonesia. Most Indonesian guitars are the standard acoustic instrument: a waisted flat body,a wooden soundboard, a long fretted neck, and six strings. Urban popular music may also use electric rock guitars and Hawaiian guitars. In some rural areas of eastern Indonesia, homemade instruments may be of crude construction, without frets and with only four strings, but if they approximate the size and waisted shape of the standard guitar, we consider them guitars for our purposes. Guitars occur in a small number of genres of Indonesian music, but they are prominent nevertheless, since some of the genres in which they figure-pop, dangdut, kroncong-are known throughout the country. They are used only in entertainment music and what we may call religious popular music. Their most common use is to accompany informal singing of popular songs, church songs in Christian communities, and regional or national folksongs (lagu rakyat). These are taught in school or are generally known, but are not perceived as originating in commercial popular music. (Yampolsky 1999)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant., November 23, 1999

By A Customer

Astonishing collection of guitar-based music from Indonesia, with the Smithsonian liner notes living up to their usual excellence. Every track is great, but "Fajar Di Atas Awan" is a piece of melodic bliss. After hearing it, I would have paid twice as much even if it had been the only song on the CD. I'm not normally into "world music" whatever that means but this is a fantastic historical document.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing collection of music!, August 31, 2000

By	Chris Green (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

The selections on this album range from spirited and lively to dramatically sublime. Each track is a treasure in its own way. Some are dark, tragic pieces lamenting with lyrics and music. Others are bright songs that offer excellent mixtures of guitar work and vocal harmony. A couple of the songs, including the lyric masterpiece "Sungguh Terpaksa" and the mystical "Fajar Di Atas Awan," are some of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. This CD will please both newcomers and afficianados of Indonesian music.