ABSTRACT
This chapter unpacks the demographic, political, and historical dynamics of this complex region and illustrates how music offers analytical purchase on these topics. A section on Malay histories of musical exchange explores several important genres, including gambus, joget, zapin, and bangsawan, among others, and emphasizes the histories of circulation that made these genres possible. This section is followed by an exploration of non-Malay areas such as the Philippines and of indigenous groups within the region. A section on gong cultures within the region focuses on gamelan music in Java and Bali, laying out how the ensembles are structured and thinking comparatively about aesthetics and performance contexts. More recent styles, such as dangdut and Malaysian hip-hop are also discussed.
