Guide to Sundanese Music - Free EBooks Library

PANAMBIH TEMBANG SUNDA: KACAPI INDUNG
14-"bar" phrase instead of 16. It is the singers who usually hire the kacapi
players for their services, so the latter tend to acquiesce. Modifying the
goong phrase length would be unthinkable in gamelan. Many recently composed
panambih (particularly those by the late Pa Engkos) have phrases of uneven
length, and are not based on previously existing musical structures such as
sekar alit. Sometimes phrase lengths are altered because the singer has no
sense of timing: kacapi indung players often have to cover the mistakes of
incompetent singers (who are often those of highest social prestige) by
unobtrusively adding or subtracting beats.
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