Part 2: Issues and Processes in Southeast Asian Music

Many are surprised to learn that the forging of bronze and iron, the cultivation of rice, and the domestication of farm animals began thousands of years ago among the peoples of Southeast Asia, independent of influences from India and China. Some of the largest—and most advanced—urban societies in the ancient world lived here. They developed large and complex musical ensembles as well as sophisticated theater and dance, created from within and yet adaptable to successive waves of outside cultural...