Kemanak

The kemanak is a banana-shaped idiophone that is used in Javanese gamelan; the musical instrument is manufactured of bronze. They are really metal slit drums. The musical instrument is struck with a padded stick and then permitted to resonate. The musical instrument has a particular pitch that can be varied by covering the slit, though it is not matched to the other musical instruments of gamelan. The musical instrument is often played in pairs, but they can be performed in sets of four also. The kemanak are used as an accompaniment musical instrument to the bedhava and serimpi, female court dances.

The kemanak is as well a pattern of gendhing that includes, in addition to kemanak, only colotonic musical instruments, a kendang and a sindhen.

In the province of Cirebon, on the northwest coast of Java, the musical instruments are performed in pairs by striking one pair of the instrument against the other in a monotonous manner. Unlike in central java, the musical instruments in Cirebon are not earmarked for particular performance idioms and are seen as indispensible in the standard gamelan repertoire.