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Music of Indonesia, Vol. 20: Indonesian Guitars

Various Artists
Music of Indonesia, Vol. 20: Indonesian Guitars

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 they are not perceived as originating in commercial popular music. (Yampolsky 1999)

The published liner notes, along with corrections and supplementary materials, are available here.

AWARDS
Crossroads Music Awards Bronze Star for World-Traditional

Track Listing

101
Kemayoran Grup Bamba Puang 4:56
102
Stambul Naturil Usman Achmad 4:02
103
Terang Bulan (excerpt) Sahilin and Siti Rohmah 5:55
104
Ludu Pambuhang Yohanes Terpanjang (Haingu) 6:16
105
Sungguh Terpaksa La Podding and La Mamma 4:16
106
Los Quin Tallu-tallu Grup Bamba Puang 6:19
107
Nasib Mak Kualon Usman Achmad 6:28
108
Langgam Di Bawah Sinar Bulan Purnama Orkes Kroncong Mutiara 4:58
109
Kolo Kot Matani Band Teleu Nekaf 6:57
110
Nasib Muara Kuang Sahilin and Siti Rohmah 6:20
111
Ludu Parinna Ataratu 9:47
112
Fajar Di Atas Awan Suarasama 7:19

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