Cymbals, Gongs & Bells

With the category “cymbals & gongs” we immerse into the world of metal percussion instruments, and with this into the sound world of South, Southeast, and East Asia. You can find bells and cymbals, which for example accompany Indian music, but also gongs as used in Buddhist ceremonies. Furthermore we have included African iron bells such as the Agogó, Apitua, or the finger bell Grello into the DAN MOI range. They are suitable as rhythm instruments, for example in Latin American and African musical pieces.

The cymbals mentioned here are small ones played in pairs. We can look back on their more than 2000 years of history. These metal instruments were already played in ancient China and Greece. They have been known in most different shapes and sizes in the whole world until today. At the DAN MOI shop you find hand cymbals with very good sound properties. They can be played during meditation, but they are also reliable musical instruments for accompanying dance and song. Within Indian music cymbals are very often applied and artfully played. They are also known as Manjira (or Manjeera).

Many ensembles in Southeast Asia consist of drums, a wind or (bowed) string instrument, and even several gongs. The gongs often take up the role of a melody or lead instrument. They have different sizes, therefore they sound in different pitches: the bigger the gong, the deeper the tone. For their impressive sound gongs also play an important part as temple and signal instruments. Then they are mostly played individually. In Asia a gong is played to accompany Buddhist chanting for example. In Tibet the gong sounds in a monastery at the beginning of a prayer. The gong is also struck in Feng Shui, because its sound is said to be capable of cleansing the atmosphere of a room. Gongs especially take an effect in meditation and are used for therapeutic practices. But they are also applied in a purely functional way, for example as signal instruments when danger threatens, as an alarm, or just as a sign that food is ready.

The gongs at DAN MOI are made of brass. The nipple gongs from Vietnam are attached to a string which is held in the hand. These gongs have to be free-hanging to develop their full sound. The central raised boss of the instruments is struck with a mallet. On the contrary suspended gongs have a flat surface which is struck. DAN MOI offers small and bigger suspended gongs (to be found under the designation ‘Feng Gong’). To hang up both kinds of suspended gongs, ideal frames are available. All gongs are delivered with a matching mallet.