Music of Remembrance ? It wasn’t – isn't – easy to find out what the Javanese equivalent of the Western idea of 'music of remembrance' could be. In the Western culture – leaving aside the 'funeral music' that historically has accompanied official ceremonies in certain national and regional areas – the notion of remembrance music generally calls on pieces of the classical repertoire that are somber in character. In Java, I have asked several persons, especially musicians, what pieces of the traditional repertoire or what type of gamelan music would mostly suit and be used for remembering the dead, particularly in a private context, when feelings of affections tied and tie the living to the deceased. Answers have been inconclusive and ambivalent. Objective observation does not help much, as it can happen that, for example, for a function of slametan (or mulyarars), where musicians commemorate another musician who has passed away, a piece named 'Wilujeng' is often played (possibly by candlelight). But, this well-known title is also played as welcome music, or as an opening to a klenengan (concert). It is thought that Ladrang Wilujeng was commissioned by a certain prime minister for the wedding of his daughter. The meaning of 'wilujeng' is varied, according to the context. It's a well-wishing expression carrying such meanings as salvation, prosperity, good news, etc. Thus, we have to infer and make explicit something that is a likely component of the Javanese cultural context: contrary to the Western feeling and practice, for some people in Java memorial music should not be sad and mournful – in a remembrance function such music would attract malevolent spirits and might bring further deaths and ills. The music should rather be untroubled and serene, so as to attract benevolent spirits who will accompany the journey of the deceased and protect the living. But then the Wilujeng piece can be played in different laras (pelog or slendro), in different pathets, and with different treatments. Which means that that music can be 'changed' and adapted to create various types of feelings, including the somber, reflective ones which in the West are standard for the circumstance. Thus, the situation remains fluid and undetermined, as is often the case with the rich and complex Javanese culture. Bapak Sumarsam, whom I had asked for guidance, aknowledges that some research is needed on the subject, but also states that, clearly, there is no uniform practice and that the music community occasionally tends to create new expressions for remembrance functions. The present CD does not claim to be representative of Javanese remembrance music – nor I think that such objective be attainable. Most of the pieces were indicated by the excellent and competent musicians of ISI Surakarta. Whether they prevalently had in mind their interpretation of the Western notion of remembrance, or their own authentic notion, I cannot really tell. In any case, the final piece in the present programme, Laler Menggeng, does fulfill the character and intent that I subjectively meant for this CD. This is a recording of the music that was actually played by a small ensemble of four performers – three young Yogyanese musicians and Daniel Wolf – on the lawn of the Montebello residence for a special remembrance. John Noise Manis
Texts and Translations Ayak-Ayakan Mijil Layu Layu slendro manyura Chorus Layu layu Leng ing driya Pesindhen (wangsalan) Widadaa kalis sakeh ing rubeda
Chorus Let us hasten The motives of the heart Pesindhen I pray for your safety, that you may be free of all obstacles
Ketawang Sinom Logondhang slendro sanga Ya Allah ya Rosulullah Sageda sabar santosa Note: the last line includes the letters of the name of the Author:
Oh God, oh Messenger of God I pray for patience and peace
Ketawang Gendhing Tlutur slendro sanga Wangsalan (not tranlated)
continues with Serat Jurudemung (Bedhaya Pangkur) Text by Ki Nartosabdo
The mark of the message His clothes are all in shreds
continues with Sekar Macapat Dhandhanggula - text by Martopangrawit Bedhug tiga datan arsa guling Yekti sangkan paraning dumadi
Three strikes of the drum and still no desire to sleep The origin and purpose of life is clear
continues with Wangsalan Ujung jari balung ron dhoning kalapa
The nail at the end of the finger, the rib of a palm leaf
A Western composer's view of gamelan
I heard about gamelan music long before actually hearing it. That's because I studied in a Conservatory, and there the gamelan is mentioned in the textbooks, where one is told that the music of Debussy was influenced by of a gamelan orchestra which the composer had listened to at the Paris World Exposition in 1889 (and possibly also of another gamelan which the Dutch government had brought to the Conservatoire two years earlier). Thus, for me, and for the friends which I was going to concerts with, the gamelan was the totem of a different way to think of music, an alternative modality to organize sounds – no longer according to our seven-note scales but using five-note groupings. The totem of a different technique for managing the tempo of music, which no longer would run toward a target, as in a Beethoven's symphony or a Mozart's sonata, but would present itself suspended, or frozen, or elusive, as in much of Debussy's music. Then globalization arrived, 'world music' became popular, internet was invented, and now the gamelan (but also the music of the Bibayak pigmies, or the throat-singing of the Asian steppes, or...) are accessible and have become part of our world of sounds. For the gamelan, in particular, a special enthusiasm has grown in Europe and the United States, where people attend courses and workshops to learn to play in a gamelan orchestra, thus enjoying the music from within. Many American universities have a gamelan and gamelan courses. Meantime, concert programmes the world over have definitely included a specific type of contemporary music that is a debtor to Asian traditions. Today, some of the composers that are influenced by that different way of conceiving the tempo and the harmonic relationships are big stars – am thinking of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Terry Riley, all champions of minimalism. Their music is not directly related to gamelan, does not specifically refer to the complex rhythms and to the 'harmonies' of Java and Bali, but it inhabits a territory – suggestive, hypnotic, and exotic – that today exerts so much attraction. Continuing the tradition initiated by Debussy, other composers have chosen to use the suggestions provided by Indonesian music. Among the most interesting compositions of these last years I should like to mention the symphony 'Nusantara' by David Del Puerto and 'It's Snowing in Bali!' by Polo Vallejo. These are not minimalist compositions, but they show that within the tradition of the Western classic repertoire the gamelan has made some interesting inroads. If we focus the attention to the aspect of rhythm and tempo of gamelan – which is at the same time vibrant and immobile – we find one particular sound world where the Indonesian music has entered almost imperiously, that is the 'techno music'. Here we are not dealing with human musicians, nor concert halls, and often not even with intoned sounds. This music, produced electronically by a dj using his array of percussive mechanisms, probably follows (even unconsciously) a Javanese beacon. I find that the most refined of electronic music, beyond its character at times obsessively pounding, provides a representation of a gamelan that is both profane and austere. A gamelan where we miss the fascination of the tuned percussions or of the stringed rebab (which we particularly appreciate in this CD in 'Laler Menggeng'), but where we may explore, often with obstinacy, the possibility to give ourselves up to musics that are timeless, with no beginning and no end. And after all, even without our knowing the techniques, the forms, the structures, gamelan music continues to seduce us especially for its capacity to push the clock in a corner, to make us pulsate with an alternative rhythm, to offer us a representation of existence devoid of tensions, targets, thus relaxed, harmonious, enviable. If music is there to tell us stories which are otherwise non tellable, the music of gamelan is for our ears one of the smoothest and most suggestive.
Programme
Musicians (Tracks 1-4)
Musicians (Track 5)
Translations: Adi Deswijaya, Janet Purwanto, Rosella Balossino Musical Design, Mastering, and Photos: John Noise Manis YANTRA PRODUCTIONS |