Aceh and Traditional Music Instruments

For the first stop, we are going to study about Aceh and its traditional music instruments. 

But before, let me give a little information about Aceh.

Aceh is one of the five provinces that have special areas. The priveleges for Aceh is a special authority to organize religious life, customs, education and the role of theologian in determining regional policy. 

Aceh stand in Sumatra island with Banda Aceh as a capital city. The province has population around 5 millions people with an area of 56.500,51 square km. The majority religion in Aceh is Islam.

Aceh's traditional music instruments usually used for specific events in the tradition of the people of Aceh. These instruments then become an identity and pride for ureueng Aceh (how we called the people of Aceh).

Republic of Indonesia

Indonesia in Brief

The name Indonesia derives from the Latin Indus, and the Greek nesos, meaning "island". Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia and Oceania, this strategic position profoundly influences the country's culture, social and political life, and the economy.

And it is world's largest archipelago consisting of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) and straddling the equator. The largest islands are Sumatra with an area of 473,481 square km, Java (has the most population in Indonesia) with an area of 132,187 square km, Kalimantan (Borneo) with an area 743,330 square km (divided between Indonesian Kalimantan, Malaysia, and Brunei), Sulawesi (Celebes) with 174,600 square km, Nusa Tenggara island, Moluccas Island, and Irian Jaya (also called West Papua). With a population of around 238 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the world's largest population of Muslims. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea to the east, East Timor, and Malaysia to the north.

Indonesia has 33 provinces from west to east, including five special areas which are Aceh, Yogyakarta, Papua, Papua Barat (West Papua) and Jakarta. The last one I mentioned before, Jakarta, is Indonesia's capital city and is the nation's largest city.

Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. Indonesia has around 300 ethnic groups, each with cultural identities developed over centuries, and influenced by Indian, Arabic, Chinese, and European source.

At 1,919,440 square kilometers (741,050 sq mi), Indonesia is the world's 16th-largest country in terms of land area. Indonesia's location on the edges of the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian tectonic plates makes it the site of numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Indonesia has at least 150 active volcanoes, including Krakatoa and Tambora, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century.

Lying along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons. Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimeters (70–125 in), and up to 6,100 millimeters (240 in) in mountainous regions.

The official national language, Indonesian. It was constructed from a lingua franca that was in wide use throughout the region, and is thus closely related to Malay which is an official language in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.