Flute

Title

Flute

Year/Period

20th century

Region

West Sumatra

Object Type

suling, wind instruments

Material

bamboo (material), rattan

Technique

drilling (process), cutting (shaping or dividing)

Dimension

Object size: H69 x Dia2.8 cm

Accession No.

XXXX-09303

Collection of

Asian Civilisations Museum

A 'suling' or 'seruling' is a bamboo ring flute that is used in gamelan (a percussive group of bronze gongs and drums) ensembles. A suling can be tuned into different scales depending on the regional genre. Sulings are generally found in Sunda (West Java), Indonesia, Java (Central Java) and Bali in Indonesia and Maguindanao in the Philippines. They are made mainly of 'tamiang' bamboo, a long tube bamboo with a very thin surface. The head of suling, near a small hole, is circled with a thin band made of rattan or rotan to produce air vibration.