VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Culture or tradition of a nation is the national identity, because with the existence of the culture, we know who we are and where we come from. Indonesian has many cultures and traditions because every region has different and unique culture, such as West Nusa Tenggara –NTB which has Gendang Beleq. Precisely, Gendang Beleq is from Sasak tribe, Lombok, NTB. The word of Beleq is from Sasak language meaning big. Earlier, Gendang Beleq was for the spirit of the soldiers who fought in the war and returned after the war.  The sound, which was produced, was believed to make the soldiers be braver defending the kingdom. Now, Gendang Beleq is played to accompany traditional ceremony, such as wedding, circumcision, Aqiqah, and other ritual ceremonies. Gendang Beleq is made from Meranti tree which is flourish in Lombok. It produces big and echo sound. The sound is produced with 50 diameters and length 1.5 meters of tree trunk. Its center of the tree is perforated and covered with leather of goat, cow or buffalo. Gendang Beleq is traditional instrument which is played in a group. It is usually played along with other instruments such as gong, terumpang, pencek, oncer, and flute. With a thunderous sound, Gendang Beleq performance is more interesting and entertaining. Gendang Beleq player is called “Sekaha”. Sekaha consists of 2 main players. Those Sekahas perform by wearing Lombok traditional clothes including “Sapo”, Lombok typcal headband. Although the size of Gendang Baleq is big, Sekahas have no difficulty to play it by hanging on their shoulder.