Malaysia is a country with a rich musical history. While all genres of music are popular in the country, the traditional Malay sound continues to be popular. If you are interested in learning more about it, here are the most common instruments used in traditional Malaysian music.

Harmonium

The Harmonium was first played in Britain, though it migrated to India in the days of the Commonwealth. The Malays began to use it as part of their ghazal poetic performances.

Rebab

If you are listening to a piece of rhythmic Malaysian trad and you hear a sweet, pulled melody running through it, chances are it comes from a rebab, which is one of the most popular bowed lute in the Malaysian trad family.

Angklung

This comprises two bamboo tubes that have been attached to a larger bamboo frame. Each one is tuned to octaves and the player strikes them in turn to create a haunting, resonant sound.

Kompang

You'll see this percussion instrument being played in large ensembles, often to accompany choral singers at traditional ceremonies such as weddings.

Gamelan

Another percussion instrument, the Gamelan is made of brass, giving a deep, metallic drum pop sound.

Seruling

The Seruling is argued by some to be the earliest known instrument in Malaysian culture. It's a bamboo flute popular amongst Malay tribes from the jungle regions.

Gong

You've probably seen these before – a huge hanging brass tray that is hit by the player to create a resounding, echoing percussion sound from its centre.

Marwas

The Zapin dance is a very popular dance you will see in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Accompanying the dancers movements is likely to be a Marwas player, who will strike the instrument with one hand while the performers move.

Serunai

This wind instrument is made out of wood with seven holes in the upper part and a single hole one the other end. It is often played to accompany dances and martial arts performances.

Gendang

The Gendang is another Malaysian drum. Made out of buffalo and cow hides, it is slapped on both ends.

Gambus

This another member of the lute family, played in both zapin and ghazal performances.

Hip hop is amongst the many genres of music that is followed with great fervour in Malaysia. It is not just Western exports like 50 Cent or Kanye West, however, that Malaysian rap fans enjoy. Since the early 1990s successive generations of home-grown rap acts have been bringing their own distinctly South East Asian flavour to the music.

The scene began with acts such as 4U2C, NICO and, particularly, KRU, who went on to found one of Malaysia's most famous labels and studios. Today, everything from albums to movies to books comes out under the KRU Studios label. Though influential, none of these bands quite made the mainstream breakthrough that hip hop needed in the country.

The real breakout rap group in Malaysia was Krash Krozz, who added a more RnB-ish flavour to the mix, something akin the New Jack Swing sound spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle in late-80s America. Krash Krozz had some success with their debut LP but fell away and disbanded soon after.

Though they were successful and very influential, Krash Krozz's fate speaks volumes about Malaysian hip hop in the 90s. In a country in love with rock, pop and traditional music, trying to convince people to dig rap was not an easy task.

The game-changing moment came in 1995 when an album called It's a Nice Day to be Alive hit the shelves. The debut LP from a young underground hip hop collective called Poetic Ammo, it packed a raw, hard edged sound that was the polar opposite of the more poppy attempts at rap that had proceeded it. It was a runaway success, making superstars of the groups four members: Yogi B, Point Blanc, Landslyde and C Loco.

Poetic Ammo's success paved the way for more Malaysian hip hop artists to get mainstream attention. Perhaps the most notable of all was Too Phat, the Kuala Lumpur duo whose first single Lil Fingaz was put on steady rotation on Malaysian radio throughout 1999.

Thanks to Too Phat, Poetic Ammo, KRU and Krash Krozz, rap music is now a part of Malaysia's pop music scene. Things have certainly come a long way since the early 90s.

A Malaysian pianist, songwriter and producer, Aubrey Suwito has been involved in the music industry since the tender age of six. That was when he first put his hands on a piano's keyboards and thoughts himself a few chords. It was the beginning of an extraordinary journey that would see Suwito rise right to the top of the South East Asian music scene, becoming musical director of Malaysian Idol and being awarded multiple times for his incredible contribution.

Suwito's gifts were apparent from early on in his life and so it was no surprise that he crossed the Atlantic and enrolled in the Berkeley School of Music in Boston in 1991. The most formative part of his education was his first exposure to the rich history of American jazz music, which would inform his song writing from that time on. He took a job at a recording studio after graduation and, quite quickly, his talents were noticed.

He began writing and producing songs for a diverse string of popular musicians, most notably Jaclyn Victor for whom he wrote the award winning smash Gemilang. As well as the work he has done for others, Suwito also boasts an impressive discography of his own LPs. His first album, One Busy Street was originally released in 2000 and fused his own Malay musical heritage with his love of Jazz and other American styles. It is a real treat for anybody interested in world music, as it brings together diverse elements of sound from different cultures to create a new and enticing audio palette. His second album, Christmas with Friends from 2010 was the sister recording for a fundraising concert he and his wife put on to help musicians in need of medical assistance. A jaunty though captivating collection of traditional Christmas hits given a jazzy spin, it packs some truly spectacular moments, including a superb rendition of O Holy Night.

A recent album is Home, released in 2011 and this is perhaps Suwito's most clear attempt to make a fuse Malaysian and American music to form a new sound yet. Typically, Malaysian rhythms play below jazz riffs before, occasionally, breaking into Asian pop melody. For anybody interested in Malay music, Aubrey Suwito is a must-listen. More on

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Though you might not know the name Alex Wong, if you have any interest in Malaysian music you will most certainly have heard of SingleTrackMind, Wong's stage name. Under this guise her has a released a string of very successful independent rock hits, plus two acclaimed albums.

Before taking to the stage as SingleTrackMind, however, Wong first established himself as one of Malaysia's most successful jet skiers. After debuting as a professional jet skier under the Wong's Way Racing banner in 1987, he went on to take numerous championships including the Dhanabalan Cup in Singapore in 1991, the 1994 Phillipine Championship, three Malaysian Championships in 1995, 1996 and 1998, a Korean title in 1995, an Australian championship in 1996 and the coveted Asia Pacific King's Cup in 1998.

Though he had an extraordinary and acclaimed career as a jet skier, Wong felt distracted by music and wanted to expand his brand into independent pop. Taking the name SingleTrackMind, he made his first live performance at the Rock the World 3 festival in Kuala Lumpur in 2002, before releasing his first album the following year. Titled No Reason, it instantly grabbed critical acclaim from the local critics, earning Wong three nominations at the 2004 AIM music awards, including Best Music Video, Best Engineered Album and Best New Local English Artist.

At this time, Wong was still signed to Jet Ski banner Petronas Jet Sport but quit jet skiing for good after the World King's Cup Watercross in Thailand in 2006. Throughout this period, Wong was hitting the stages across Asia, performing to crowds in China, Thailand, Phillipines and Singapore.

SingleTrackMind's second album was 2007's [hey.], most famous for containing Wong's recording of One Day, a popular Indonesian song re-interpreted in English. It also featured Seventeen (God at the Beach), which was a heartfelt ode to a friend of Wong's who had recently passed away suddenly. The album was recorded in LA.

Alex Wong has certainly had an amazing career. Few people could possibly make a successful move from professional sports to pop music, but he did it with remarkable confidence and certainty.