Beyond the Classroom #2

I am very intrigued about how much of an impact this blogging thing has had on my interest of this class. In this blog, I am going to be discussing a few different music cultures in the region of south Asia.

The first one i will be discussing is the music of "Phleng Luk Thung". Interestingly, this is commonly considered to be the Thai country music. This type of music originated in central Thailand. The type of instruments commonly used within this genre are called the Khaen (traditional wood and bamboo mouthed organ similar to the harmonic). Like much of country music, this genre is normally heard in rural areas and is full of stories. Also, the lyrics include words that describe the struggles of the poor, the beauty of the landscape, lobe, religion, politics and culture. And interestingly enough, the songs are sung in a type of Thai country accent.

The next style of music i am going to discuss is the Gamelan. This style is most popular in the Indonesian parts of Asia. These indigenous orchestras use a broad collection of gongs and percussion metallic devices to convey Malaysian music. While being played, gongs are hanging vertically or laid horizontally. Bonang, xylophone, and different metallophones are among the percussion instruments that are played in the practice of this music style. One fact that i learned from my research about this music is that the name "Gamelan" comes from a Javanese word for a type of hammer used by a blacksmith. This was easily associated with this type of music because of how much beating is involved.

The last Asian style of music I discovered and conducted research about was the Kulintang. Very similar to the Gamelan, the use of gongs are primarily used. Kulintang is at the heart of southeast asia, specifically Filipino music and is the use of mainly the instrument Kulintang. The instrument is made up of a collection of gongs that have been arranged into a series of knobbed metal plates made of  a variety of metal alloys, including bronze, brass and steel. The devices are arranged in a rack as a set of eight miniature gongs of varying diameters. The player delicately performs the melodic notes of Kulintang tune with delicate rods constructed of Maguindanaon tropical wood. The sound of the Kulintang incorporates both a beat and a melody.