What are the characteristics of Southeast Asian music

Asia is one of the most developed regions of ancient human civilization. The traditional music of Asia has a long history, and the splendid music culture of Asia is an important part of the musical heritage of mankind, which has had a great influence on the development of music in other continents.

East Asia

East Asian music is very rich in melody, mostly pentatonic scale, a wide variety of musical instruments, and a variety of folk songs, opera, rap and dance. Such as absorbed from the Chinese traditional music and then was nationalized by the Japanese Yale, zither, zheng, shamisen music, Korean Tangle and Xiangle, of course, including the rich and colorful Han music, these are the treasures of the Oriental music and art.

Southeast Asia

The music of Southeast Asia was first influenced by Chinese and Indian cultures, and later by Islamic and later Zhou cultures in some countries. Classical music in Thailand and Indonesia is partly based on the heptatonic scale. Large percussion bands are one of the characteristics of Southeast Asian music. The oldest and most distinctive Indonesian music, and the most influential in the world, is Gamelan. Gamelan music mostly uses two pentatonic scales with and without semitones, but its meter (i.e., the distance between tones) is different from the 12 equal temperament, and is somewhat closer to the five equal temperament, which is not very customary at first hearing. Playing Gamelan also follow a kind of tuning known as Paternoster, which is similar to the Indian ragas, and different emotions should be expressed using different Paternoster. There are also a few singers in the Gamelan band.

South Asia

The ancient musical traditions of South Asia continue to this day. Indian classical music in the melodic, rhythmic system to a high degree of development, with a variety of syllables modulation and unique ornamental tone system. Bangladesh is known as the "State of Music", and the music of Bangladesh has a deep relationship with the classical and folk music of the Indian subcontinent.

Central Asia and West Asia

Central Asia and West Asia belong to the Islamic culture, the use of seven-tone scales, Islamic classical music in Central Asia with 24 equal-tempered scales. The style is dignified and dignified. Arab music in its formation process, ancient Egypt, ancient Persia and ancient Greco-Roman culture have given great influence. Arabic music culture has also influenced the music of northern India and the western part of the country. The main music genres include Arabic music, Persian music, Turkish music and so on.