PROGRAM NOTES
Javanese Gamelan from Yogyakarta
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Program
Javanese Gamelan from Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta Gamelan Ensemble, Yogyakarta Special Region
Guest artists from:
Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) at Yogyakarta
Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) at Surakarta
Yogyakarta Palace
Wesleyan University
California Institute of the Arts
Sulaksmono Yudhaningrat, head of delegation and head of the Cultural Office, Yogyakarta
| Title | Time |
|---|---|
| Ladrang Sri Widada laras pelog pathet barang |
0:00‒10:12 |
Golek Menak Kakung |
10:17‒20:52 |
| Ladrang Sri Karongron Ketawang Cakrawala (by Wasitodiningrat) laras slendro pathet sanga |
21:08‒37:45 |
| Lawung Jajar Gangsaran, ladrang Roning Tawang, gangsaran, laras pelog pathet nem |
38:04‒51:28 |
This performance was recorded on November 1, 2013, in the International Gallery of the S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian, as part of Performing Indonesia: A Conference and Festival of Music, Dance, and Drama, a joint presentation of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian, and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
The podcast is made possible through support from the Thaw Charitable Trust. Audio preservation and editing of this recording were supported by funds from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.
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Notes
Javanese Gamelan and Its Music
A gamelan (orchestra) traditionally accompanies puppet shows, dances, feasts, and ceremonies in Java. Most of the instruments are made of bronze. Tuned gongs are suspended vertically or horizontally (kenong, kempul, gong ageng), and instruments with tuned keys are suspended over tubular resonators or a resonant cavity in the base of the instrument (saron, gender). Other instruments include the two-stringed fiddle (rebab), wooden xylophone (gambang), flute (suling), and drum (kendang). A full Javanese gamelan comprises two sets of instruments, one in each of two tuning systems, or pathetan: sléndro, with five tones per octave, and pélog, with seven. The three pathet used in the course of a shadow-puppet play (wayang) all have their distinct manifestations in both tuning systems.
No instrument predominates in the overall sound of the gamelan. Each one has an important function that relates to the whole. As for the music, rather than harmony and development in the Western sense, the primary organizing feature is a vocally inspired modal polyphony of a highly melodic character. Compositions (gendhing) are quite formal, for all their quality of ethereal improvisation. Every gamelan piece is cast in one of a small number of forms defined by the mutually subdividing cycles of certain gongs, most prominently, the gong ageng (great gong). The cyclic organization allows great flexibility in creating pieces of differing character; even within a piece, subtle (or dramatic) shifts in feeling occur as cycles slow down or speed up.
- Sumarsam and his students at Wesleyan University
- Ladrang Sri Widada
laras pelog pathet barang
Javanese gamelan music is structured on the basis of repeating cycles. The largest cycles are divided by the sounding of the great gong (gong ageng), and each major cycle is called a gongan. Various subdivisions of the gongan are punctuated by smaller gongs, such as the kenong and kempul. The term ladrang in the title of this piece refers to a composition with a relatively short cycle of thirty-two beats in each gongan, compared to long-form cycles up to 128 beats.
Javanese music is also classified according to the scale (laras) and melodic mode (pathet) of each piece. This piece is in the scale called pelog, which ostensibly consists of seven notes to the octave. In practice, however, only five of the available notes are typically used with any frequency. Contrary to the slendro scale of the third piece on this podcast, the notes of the pelog scale are not equally spaced, leading some scholars to call them “gapped scales.” The melodic mode (pathet) for this piece is barang, in which pitches two and six are emphasized, three and five less so, and pitch one avoided. The form ladrang is one of the shorter cycle compositions of thirty-two beats per gong cycle.
- Golek Menak Kakung
Ladrang Jagung-Jagung, continuing to ladrang Kembang Kates, and concluding with srepegan laras pelog pathet nem
The second item in this podcast is music for a dance based on the Menak stories from the court of Yogyakarta. Adapted from Islamic culture, these tales recount the adventures of Amir Hamzah, an uncle of the Prophet Mohammad, who spread Islam throughout South Asia. This scene depicts a fight between Umarmaya and Umarmadi. Ultimately, both of them follow Amir Hamzah on his Islamic mission. The Golek Menak dance was created by Sultan Hamengku Buwana IX in 1941. The dancers for this performance were Icuk Ismunanda and Widaru Krefianto Darmawan.
For the first two sections of this music, the structure is ladrang. There are thirty-two beats to the rhythmic cycle, each one ending when the great gong (gong ageng) is sounded. The finale utilizes a form called srepegan, which is typically heard in the fight scenes of shadow plays and dance-dramas. It can be picked out by its loud volume, fast tempo, and short, four-beat cycle. The scale (laras) is pelog, as in the first piece of the podcast, with the notes unequally spaced within the octave. The melodic mode (pathet) for this piece is nem, in which pitches five and six are emphasized and pitch seven is avoided.
- Ladrang Sri Karongron
Ketawang Cakrawala (Wasitodiningrat, ca. 1909‒2007)
laras slendro pathet sanga
These two pieces are in different musical forms based on the length of their repeating cycles. The terms ketawan and ladrang in the titles refer to compositions with relatively short cycles of sixteen and thirty-two beats in each repeating cycle (gongan). They both use the Javanese scale called laras slendro, a pentatonic scale (five notes to the octave) in which the pitches are more or less equidistant from each other. The melodic mode for these two pieces is pathet sanga, which emphasizes the first and fifth tones, the second tone less so, and avoids the third tone.
The composer of the second piece, Wasitodiningrat,is known to many American gamelan musicians as Pak Cokro because of his twenty-year teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts and his guest artist role at universities around the United States. He grew up in the Pakualaman court, where his father was a gamelan musical director. Outside the court, he performed with several other gamelan groups, including Daya Pradangga, and in 1934 he became the gamelan musical director at the radio station MAVRO. He assumed the same position during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia (1942–45) at Radio Hosokyoku gamelan and, after independence, at Radio Republik Indonesia.
In 1962 Wasitodiningrat succeeded his father as gamelan musical director at the Pakualaman, and in 1964 and 1965 he led a Javanese music delegation at the New York World’s Fair. During the 1960s, Wasitodiningrat composed music for a new genre, the sendratari dance-drama, including the first performances held at the Lara Jonggrang temple complex in Prambanan. He taught at Konservatori Tari Indonesia and Akademi Seni Tari Indonesia and founded his own school for the study of vocal music. He collaborated with choreographer Bagong Kussudiardjo and composed numerous light gamelan pieces and experimental works, many of which have become staples of the gamelan repertory. In 1971 he moved to the United States to teach at the California Institute of the Arts. He remained until 1992 and frequently taught at other American universities as guest artist.
- Lawung Jajar
Gangsaran, ladrang Roning Tawang, gangsaran, laras pelog pathet nem
The podcast concludes with exciting music for a dance choreographed by Sultan Hamengku Buwana I (reigned 1755−92) of the Yogyakarta Palace. This dance is based on the military traditions of the court, specifically the lance maneuvers called lawung. The use of loud dialogue reflects the high spirit and dynamic character of the royal troops. The Lawung Jajar calls for eight male dancers, each with different roles and characters. Traditionally, Lawung Jajar is presented at royal wedding ceremonies for the sons and daughters of the king of Yogyakarta Palace. The dancers for this performance were Yata, Pramutomo, Icuk Ismunandar, Widaru Krefianto Darmawan, and Anon Suneko.
The structure of the music is called ladrang, meaning there are thirty-two beats to the rhythmic cycle, each one ending when the great gong (gong ageng) is sounded. The scale (laras) is pelog, as in the first piece of the podcast, with the notes unequally spaced within the octave. The melodic mode (pathet) for this piece is nem, in which pitches five and six are emphasized and pitch seven is avoided.
- Adapted from notes provided by the Embassy of Indonesia, personal communication with Christopher Miller (director of gamelan ensemble and lecturer in music at Cornell University), and from articles by R. Anderson Sutton in Oxford Music Online and in T. Miller and S. Williams, eds., Southeast Asia, vol. 4 of Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Routledge, 1998).
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Performer
Yogyakarta Gamelan Ensemble, Yogyakarta Special Region
Guest artists from:
Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) at Yogyakarta
Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) at Surakarta
Yogyakarta Palace
Sulaksmono Yudhaningrat, head of delegation and head of the Cultural Office, Yogyakarta
Musicians: Sulaksmono Yudaningrat, Tavip Agus Rayanto, Kasidi, Sumaryono, Sagiyo, Anon Suneko, Bayu Purnama, Sugeng Triyono, Sri Wahyuningsih, Pramutomo, Widaru Krefianto, Darmawan, Yata, Icuk Ismunandar, Setiyawan Sahli
Guest artists: Sumarsam (Wesleyan University), Harjito (Wesleyan University), and Djoko Walujo (California Institute of the Arts)
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Related Images
The Javanese classical fiddle, called rabab, is heard in quieter portions of this music. This instrument may be the largest and most ornate descendant of the Arab rebab, an ancient bowed instrument that traveled the Silk Routes throughout Asia beginning about the tenth century. The fiddle design became the rebec in Europe, the kamenche of Persia, the huur of Mongolia, the erhu of China, the kyokyu of Japan, and the rabab of Java. The musician here is Harjito.
Female vocalists in central Javanese gamelan music are called pesinden. Their melodies draw from melodic formulas enriched with interjections and variations, all leading to the principal notes of each section of the composition. Their lyrics are based on richly allusive couplets of twelve-syllable lines divided into four- and eight-syllable units. The role of pesinden is especially important in shadow-puppet plays (wayang). The singer on this recording (above) is Sri Wahyuningsih.
The Javanese gamelan consists of many bronze gongs and bronze-keyed xylophones. The hanging gongs are kempul. The smaller horizontal gongs at left are bonang; the larger ones (rear right) are kenong. At front is the gambang xylophone and at right are two thin-keyed gender. The two-headed drums (kendang) signal shifts in the music; the xylophone with a mallet is one of several heavy-keyed saron that carry the main melody.
The second item on this podcast is music for the dance Golek Menak Kakung. Adapted from Islamic culture, it tells the story of Amir Hamzah, an uncle of the Prophet Mohammad. After fighting, Umarmaya and Umarmadi both follow Amir Hamzah on his Islamic mission. The dance was created by Sultan Hamengku Buwana IX in 1941. The dancers for this performance were Icuk Ismunanda and Widaru Krefianto Darmawan.
Music for the dance Lawung Jajar, created by Sultan Hamengku Buwana I (reigned 1755−92), concludes the podcast. This dance is based on military traditions at the court, specifically the lance maneuvers (lawung). The dancers for the performance were Yata, Pramutomo, Icuk Ismunandar, Widaru Krefianto Darmawan, and Anon Suneko.
In the traditional Yogyanese dance Srimpi Pandhelori, four female dancers wear identical costumes and perform the same postures and movements to symbolize the four cosmic directions and the balance of four human desires. The dancers for this performance were Rhea Janitra Ajiningtyas, Nurul Dwi Utami, Siti Nurul Pristisari, and Paranditya Wintarni.
Thousands of people attended the four-day event Performing Indonesia: A Conference and Festival of Music, Dance, and Drama, held October 31 to November 3, 2013, at the Freer and Sackler Galleries and copresented with the Embassy of Indonesia.
Indonesia was long a destination along the maritime Silk Route. Buddhism arrived in Indonesia by the seventh century, with construction of the Buddhist monument of Borobudur following in the eighth century. This vast structure includes images of the Buddha, such as the sculpture on the left, as well as murals, captured in the painting on the right.
Left: Head of the Buddha. Indonesia, 8th century. Volcanic stone (andesite). Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, FSC-S-16
Right, detail: Seated Buddha, by Joseph Lindon Smith (1863‒1950). Oil on canvas; late 19th–mid-20th century. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1912.17
Hinduism arrived in Indonesia from India by the seventh century. This sculpture of the goddess Durga was created in Java in the ninth century, when the Medang dynasty supported Hindu architecture and practice. With the arrival of Islam, many Hindus migrated east to Bali, where a unique Hindu-Balinese religion thrives to this day.
Durga Slaying the Buffalo-Titan. Indonesia, Java, 9th century. Stone. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1914.54
This Chinese jar was recently recovered from a ship that sank in 1690 off the coast of Vietnam, apparently enroute to Java. It provides evidence of early maritime trade between China and Indonesia.
Jar. China, Ming or Qing dynasty, late 16th‒18th century. Porcelain with pale blue transparent glaze. Gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge, and Victor and Takako Hauge, S2005.51
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The Credits
This podcast is coordinated by Michael Wilpers, public programs manager, Freer and Sackler Galleries.
The performance took place as part of Performing Indonesia: A Conference and Festival of Music, Dance, and Drama, held October 31 to November 3, 2013, at the Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian Institution. The festival was a joint presentation of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington, D.C., and the Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution.
Thanks to the Smithsonian Audio-Visual Department for audio recording, Suraya Mohamad for audio editing, Torie Castiello Ketcham for web design, Hutomo Wicaksono for photography, Christopher Miller of Cornell University of musical information, Nancy Eickel for text editing, and especially the musicians for granting permission to podcast their performance at the Smithsonian.
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