If on the Java island there is gamelan, then Bangka Belitung island has interesting regional musical instruments. This original Bangka Belitung musical instrument is called Gambus. At first glance the shape is similar to a guitar. This musical instrument is a double stringed instrument that has 6 guitar strings. In its origin area, Gambus is a musical instrument that often displayed in art performances or traditional events such as weddings.
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Although no traces of history have been found, this instrument is believed to be a traditional musical instrument passed down from generation to generation. Gambus is usually played with Malay song and dance in Bangka Belitung called Dincak.
Furthermore, there is a musical instrument that said to have been used by people in Rote island, East Nusa Tenggara since the 7th century. This is the sasando, a typical musical instrument on Rote island which also looks like a guitar. Sasando has a long tubular main body made of bamboo. In the center of this stringed instrument is circular from top to bottom. The strings on the sasando are stretched in the tube from top to bottom which has wedges.
Based on the tone structure, sasando can be divided into two types. First, the sasando gong with a pentatonic tone system has twelve strings. This type of sasando can only be used to play the traditional songs of the people on Rote Island.
The second is the violin sasando. This Sasando has a diatonic tone system with a total of 48 strings. The advantage of this sasando, lies in the types of songs that can be played more varied. Sasando estimated begun to develop at the end of the 18th century and developed in Kupang.
Sasando is usually played to accompany the songs in the traditional dances of East Nusa Tenggara people. Since the 1960s, this instrument has been modified into an electric sasando on the initiative of an expert of sasando in East Nusa Tenggara named Edu Pah.
–sh
