gamelann.
/ˈɡamᵻlan/, U.S. /ˈɡæməˌlæn/, /ˈɡæməˌlɑn/ 1. A type of musical ensemble traditional to parts of Indonesia, esp. Java and Bali, and usually consisting mainly of tuned percussion instruments, with some woodwind and string ones; a set of such instruments together with the people playing them. Also more fully gamelan ensemble, gamelan orchestra. Also (occasionally) in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > company of instrumentalists > [noun] > orchestra > types of
Philharmonic Orchestra1740
philharmonica1796
gamelan1816
chamber orchestra1880
symphony1926
palm court orchestra1942
youth orchestra1948
Phil1949
steel orchestra1952
sinfonietta1970
sinfonia1976
1816 Asiatic Jrnl. & Monthly Reg. Apr. 356/1 These dramatic exhibitions are accompanied by performances on the Gamelan, or musical instruments of the Javanese, of which there are several distinct sets.
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. vii. 161 A native band or Gamelang, was playing almost all the evening.
1898 A. de Wit Facts & Fancies about Java 239 To the strains of the gamelan..they carry the garlanded sheaves to the house of the owner of the field.
1912 J. F. Scheltema Peeps at Many Lands Java x. 70 The angklong, frequently played together with the flute, may be called an imitation in bamboo of the gong portion of the gamelan.
1957 Musical Times 98 203/1 Its elaborate rhythms produce a paradoxically static effect, as in Balinese gamelan ensembles.
1965 New Statesman 10 Sept. 370/2 The wild music that Boulez scores for his gamelan orchestra of xylophones, harps, celesta, vibraphone, piano and multitudinous bells.
1994 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 19 Feb. Now practically every major university in the United States has its own gamelan orchestra.
2007 Guardian 7 Sept. (Film & Music section) 13/1 The core of the gamelan is a set of bronze percussion instruments.
2. A tuned percussion instrument of a kind found in a gamelan (sense 1). Now rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > [noun] > xylophone > other xylophone types
ballarda1382
ballards1623
sticcado1776
balafon1797
straw-fiddle1867
mbila1928
gamelan1934
mbira1948
mbira1948
1910 G. L. Stark in Extracts Lett. A. S. Mather 390 Somewhere, some one was playing the gamelan, and another was singing an endless, plaintive song.
1934 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Gamelang,..a kind of xylophone.
1950 Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram 24 Aug. c1/6 Records of authentic Balinese orchestras with gamelans and other native instruments accompanied the dances.
Compounds
General attributive (in sense 1), as gamelan music, etc.; objective, as gamelan-player.
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1883 W. S. Hayward Colonel's Daughter i. 9 The Javanese Gamelan players were on the stage.
1934 Arcadia (Calif.) Tribune 12 Oct. 5/5 After a period of Balanese [sic] gamelan music, the program was concluded with motion pictures.
1967 Listener 10 Aug. 170/1 A woman singer and a gamelan-player moved through the Pullman coaches.
1980 M. J. Kartomi in E. May Musics of Many Cultures (1983) vii. 119/1 The gradual slackening of tempo..which usually occurs at the end of a gamelan piece.
2000 S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide II. i. 129/2 A rare glimpse of gamelan music from Cirebon, a city on the north coast of West Java.
2011 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 31 May c1 I walked into the Asian Art Museum..and found a Balinese gamelan concert in progress.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1816