Sundanese Culture

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     Many of the songs you’ll find here were recorded in the western part of Java in an area known as the Sundanese region (Sunda for short). This region is home to a culturally distinct people of Malay origin who have their own language, mythologies, history and musical style. Indonesia is comprised of hundreds of ethnic groups, and the Sundanese are the second largest (35 million). They live in a variety of ways, from farming rice in small quiet communities, to commerce and banking in bustling cities like Bandung where rock and dance clubs echo throughout the night.

     Though the majority of Sundanese people identify as Muslim, and often as conservative Muslim, there is often an underlying animistic belief (of spirits inhabiting all things). Other belief systems are also threaded in with ideas of Islam. One set of the recordings found here on Javasounds is of the Badui village which follows a traditional animistic belief system most likely very similar to those pre Islam, Buddhist or Hindu.

     Sundanese instruments and music share similarities with the neighboring region of Central Java, but within these shared sounds and ideas lies something that is distinctly Sundanese. These distinctions can be found in the combination of instruments, playing style, or lyrical content. Many of the songs refer to Sunda: its distinct mountain highlands, its past Hindu/Buddhist kingdoms symbolizing prosperity, or it’s self identity of refinement and romance.

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