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Indonesia: Javanese gongs in Banten, Java, from a 1596 engraving.

Indonesia: Javanese gongs in Banten, Java, from a 1596 engraving.

A gong is an East and Southeast Asian musical instrument that takes the form of a flat metal or brass disc which is hit with a mallet. According to the Dutch chronicler Houtman in 1597: '[In Banten,] dancing goes on all night, so that at night there is a great racket of gongs and instruments'.