Sundanese sung poetry and flute music
Geert Jan van Oldenborgh | Gouda, Holland | 02/11/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The most famous form of Sundanese classical music is the tembang, a set of songs accompanied by two kacapis (zithers), suling (bamboo flute) and ocasionally a rebab (two-stringed violin). The poems are sometimes in free verse, sometimes in a rythmic arrangement, and highly ornamented, with the kacapis providing the bases of the melodic line, and the suling and rebab varying and commenting on it. Kacapi suling is a more recent form, consisting of the rythmic pieces of tembang with the song left out, creating a wonderfully flowing music, which is also very accessible to ears unaccustomed to Indonesian music. This CD contains very nice recordings of both types of music."