Various types of instruments in the inventory of Iban cultural music

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the inventory of the cultural and musical heritage of the Iban people in Sarawak and emphasized the types of instruments played. The study synthesized that the Iban traditional music is percussion-oriented, consisting of various types of percussion ensembles such as gongs, drums, stringed instruments as well as wind instruments. There are 18 instruments discovered through field work, structured interviews, survey, questionnaires consisting of free-response questions, observation with check-list and document analysis. Findings show that these cultural musical instruments are three gongs (engkerumung, bebendai and setawak), five drums (gendang, ketebung, rebana, tar and tengkuang), seven stringed instruments (balulin, belikan, engkeratung, engkerebab, serunai, ruding and sape) and three wind instruments (engkerurai, enserunai and ensuling). Most sadly it has been discovered that today, unfortunately very few younger people know how to play belikan, engkeratung, engkerebab, serunai, ruding and engkerurai and the art of playing these instrument is rapidly dying out. Significantly, the Ibans should cultivate the skills and inclinations of playing these stringed and wind instruments otherwise this traditional and cultural musical art will be swallowed by the era modernization in the music industry.

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