Tifa totobuang

The name comes from the instruments' collaboration. The ensemble can accompany the Maluku Island's Sawat Lenso dance.

The custom dates back at least to the late 17th or early 18th century. Gong-chime and drum ensembles, labeled tifa totobuang, were mentioned by François Valentijn, a Dutch army cleric who served in the Dutch army in Ambon, Maluku in two tours, 1686-1994 and 1703–1713. Valentijn talked about hearing "some Javanese lasses sing to the sound of a gong and a tifa (i.e. drum) and of a native zither...a large number of gongs and tifas."

Instruments

Tifa

The tifa drums used for the tifa totobuang have been classed into five sizes. These include, from smallest to largest:

• tifa jekir
• tifa dasar (basic tifa)
• tifa potong
• tifa jekir potong
• tifa bas (bass tifa)

Each size of instrument has a different sound, and they are blended together in the orchestra. Different images and videos of the tifas being played show them drummed with empty hands, with sticks and with a combination of the two.

Totobuang

The totobuang is a set of gong chimes. Photos show the instrument in more than one configuration. One is laid out the same as the bonang, in two equal rows. Other images show a square pattern of 9 or 16 gong chimes.

Jaap Kunst, a musicologist who wrote about Javanese music, said that totobuang was probably another word for bonang which could be used for any instrument played with a hammer.