Exploring Gong Culture in Southeast Asia: Massif and Archipelago

Sound artist and archivist Yasuhiro Morinaga records found sounds and music from around the globe. Recently, he turned his attention to the ancient gong culture of South-East Asia and between 2016 and 2018 he visited more than 50 minority ethnic groups in remote villages to record their communal gong ensembles in action.

CD one, Massif: Mainland Southeast Asia, features music from the highlands in North-East Cambodia and Central Vietnam, while CD two, Archipelago: Maritime Southeast Asia, features music from Borneo, Sulawesi, Flores (Indonesia) and Luzon (the Philippines). The music is a key part of funerals, harvests, festivals, animal sacrifices and spirit offerings, and the gong ensembles, sometimes accompanied by hand drums, bamboo instruments and voices, create mesmerising and trance-inducing melodies and rhythms. Morinaga’s beautifully illustrated field notes provide insights into his fascinating journey; he notes that although gong music is passed down orally from generation to generation, it should not be put into a box marked ‘tradition’ – it may have ancient roots, but gong music remains at the heart of cultural life for many of these communities.