Gamelan

La presente ponencia describe brevemente las diferentes actividades educativas del Museu de la Música de Barcelona entorno al conjunto gamelan proveniente de la isla de Bali (Indonesia), y luego se centra en describir en profundidad el taller confeccionado para grupos escolares. Se pone en relación la didáctica de estos talleres con las principales características  de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje tradicionales autóctonos de Bali. Las particularidades de este tipo de orquesta, así como ciertos aspectos sociológicos propios de la isla, han conformado un sistema tradicional de enseñanza y aprendizaje informal, basado en la oralidad, tremendamente efectivo. Se describen también las consideraciones que se han tenido en cuenta a la hora de trasladar estas características tradicionales a unos talleres educativos en un entorno museístico y a su vez dar respuesta al requerimiento de desarrollar unas actividades “exprés”, con unos objetivos rigurosos pero alcanzables en sesiones únicas de 60 o 90 minutos. El objetivo final ha sido elaborar unas actividades que ofrezcan a los participantes una experiencia de primer contacto con otra cultura musical lo más satisfactoria posible.

This book is about the three identities of the videogame, the gamer, and Game Studies. I write that there are no definitive truths but rather discourses and constructions; ideas, actions, beliefs, and practices related to videogames are discourses that merge and shape our perception of videogames as an area of study of its own right. These discursive responses meet and clash creating what we call truths, which are temporary and negotiable.

This perspective is inspired by Foucauldian ideas and present few questions about videogame-related identities in and outside of academe. Does Game Studies have a conceptual core? What makes game studies difficult to be disciplined in academe? What do we learn from the scholarly and popular discourses on videogames that would help understand the identity questions related to games?

I go on to describe what makes the videogame identity according to game studies: aesthetics, fictions, meaning-making, performance, transformation, etc. and what makes it difficult for game studies being an open market of ideas and an academic "un-discipline". This leads me to the gamer's identity: an aficionado first, and a connoisseur of fictional worlds.

BLURB: Javanese shadow puppetry is a sophisticated dramatic form, often felt to be at the heart of Javanese culture, drawing on classic texts but with important contemporary resonance in fields like religion and politics. How to make sense of the shadow-play as a form of world-making? In Tall Tree, Nest of the Wind, Bernard Arps explores this question by considering an all-night performance of Dewa Ruci, a key play in the repertoire. Thrilling and profound, Dewa Ruci describes the mighty Bratasena’s quest for the ultimate mystical insight.
    The book presents  Dewa Ruci as rendered by the distinguished master puppeteer Ki Anom Soeroto in Amsterdam in 1987. The book’s unusual design presents the performance texts together with descriptions of the sounds and images that would remain obscure in conventional formats of presentation. Copious annotations probe beneath the surface and provide an understanding of the performance's cultural complexity. These annotations explain the meanings of puppet action, music, and shifts in language; how the puppeteer wove together into the drama the circumstances of the performance in Amsterdam, Islamic and other religious ideas, and references to contemporary Indonesian political ideology. Also revealed is the performance’s historical multilayering and the picture it paints of the Javanese past.
    Tall Tree, Nest of the Wind not only presents an unrivalled insight into the artistic depth of wayang kulit, it exemplifies a new field of study, the philology of performance.

Os ateliers, seminários e encontros realizados com Claude Ledoux se inscreveram no âmbito de atividades acadêmicas desenvolvidas na Unicamp e na Usp na área de Análise Musical e compreenderam: Reflexão sobre a Análise Musical relacionada a tradições populares; Impacto do conhecimento de tradições populares no ato da composição musical; Claude Debussy e as tradições do Sudeste Asiático; Ligeti e a influência de músicas subsaarianas; Feldmann, tradições do Oriente-Médio e filosofias orientais; Scelsi, Murail e Harvey: interesse mutuo em músicas tibetanas, mongólicas e outros rituais budistas; Eötvös e Kurtag em relação às tradições da Europa Central; Claude Ledoux: influência das músicas da Índia do Norte e Indonésia; Relações com etnomusicologia e improvisação musical em extensão às reflexões analíticas; Levy Strauss e a Sinfonia de Berio; Relação entre música e texto em Berio e Kurt Schwitters.

Einflüsse und Annäherungen fernöstlicher asiatischer Musik in dem Klavierwerk Claude Debussys - Debussys Weg in eine neue musikalische Ästhetik im Spiegel seiner Zeit, bewertet anhand einer detailierten Anaylse seiner Klavierkompositionen und seinem historischen Umfeld. Diplomarbeit aus dem Jahr 2001

Tari Topeng, or masked dance, is among the oldest forms of ceremonial dance theater on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Historical chronicles show its emergence in the tenth century for religious ceremonies. Colorful penari topeng, such as Bapak I Made 'Cat' Suteja, are invited to perform at Balinese Hindu ceremonies as a part of ritual work or socio-religious service known as ngayah. In the Indian yogic traditions, this mindset is paralleled in the yajna spirit or 'spirit of selfless service', as termed by Swami Chinmayananda. Previous scholarship showed that topeng and wayang theater bring mythical history and folklore alive to contemporary audiences, gently conveying ancestral teachings, cultural, and ethical values. These seniman, or traditional artists, are steeped in a background of folklore, philosophy, religious practice, and artistry underlying their performances. This memoir-like report aims to show that tari topeng and traditional mode of instruction are also rich modes of embodied wisdom. Masked dance is a Balinese form of yogic practice, and the teachings and teacher can result in the personal growth of the practitioner. Its practitioners know the value of learning to unite 'menyatukan' his or her body and mind. Through expansion of awareness, the dancer practices harmonizing with the 'world' as the stage, musicians, audience, and God. Observing the similarities of Balinese culture with the darshana 'views' of Yogic Tantric, Vedantic, and Buddhist thought, Monali Varaiya studied tari topeng with I Made 'Cat' Suteja in Batuan, Bali, translated folklore depicted through this performance mode, began study of Old Javanese literature, and researched Balinese Hindu religion as a participant-observer during field research from June 2019-May 2020. In her observation, Balinese masked dance is a laboratory of karma yoga, yadnya, and tantric visualization practice where the practitioner learns to unite his or her body, antahkarana (inner instruments), or bayu-sabda-idep (broadly energy/movement, voice, and thought). He or she learns to purify the mind and work in a spirit of offering (yadnya or ngayah) for Divinity and people. Finally, the dancer practices embodying various roles, which parallels Hindu thought about playing roles in life with objectivity. Themes of samadhi, yadnya, yoga, and the niskala world which appear in Topeng Panca plays about Bali's kings of old are also paralleled in earlier Sanskrit and Old Javanese literature. This report will show similarities between the Indic yogic traditions Balinese performing arts.

Paper read at the SPAFACON2021 (The 4th SEAMEO SPAFA International Conference on Southeast Asian Archaeology and Fine Arts), held online from 13-17 December 2021.

Abstract
Based on the two inscriptions dated Wednesday 8 September 1546 and Sunday 27 February 1564 on the walls of the North Gallery-East Wing and the East Gallery-North Wing of the 12th century Angkor Wat, George Coedes has dated the completion of the bas reliefs on these wings to the 16th century. This dating underscores that the bas reliefs on the walls of the galleries of the third enclosure of Angkor Wat were not all carved during the reign of a single Khmer monarch.  More significantly is the presence of bossed gongs solely in the north gallery – east wing, where, in other galleries gongs are not illustrated.  Two types of bossed gongs are carved – suspended bossed gongs, single or in pairs, and circle gongs with eight to nine bossed gongs.  It was during the reign of Ang Chan (1528–1566) that the bas-reliefs of the North-East gallery and the East-North gallery were carved in the 16th century.. However, it remains unresolved why gongs were not carved on the two wings that have direct references to Khmer monarchs --- the west-south gallery, with the narrative of the battle of Kurukshetra and the south-west gallery depicts the war exploits of King Suryavarman II, presumably carved the earliest by the 12th century.  Such grand narratives are usually accompanied by gongs.  By the 12th-13th century also, bossed gongs had been circulating along the Gulf of Thailand, Sumatra, Java and Mindanao.

នៃវិចិត្រសាលខាងជើង-ខាងកើតស្លាប និងវិចិត្រសាលខាងកើត-ខាងជើងនៃប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តសតវត្សទី 12 លោក George Coedes បានចុះកាលបរិច្ឆេទនៃការបញ្ចប់ចម្លាក់លៀននៅលើស្លាបទាំងនេះដល់សតវត្សទី 16 ។ . ការណាត់ជួបនេះបញ្ជាក់ជាចុងក្រោយថា ចម្លាក់លៀននៅលើជញ្ជាំងនៃថែវនៃប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត មិនមែនសុទ្ធតែឆ្លាក់ទាំងអស់ក្នុងរជ្ជកាលរបស់ព្រះមហាក្សត្រខ្មែរតែមួយនោះទេ។ សំខាន់ជាងនេះទៅទៀតគឺវត្តមានរបស់គងគងដែលមានតែនៅក្នុងវិចិត្រសាលភាគខាងជើង – ស្លាបខាងកើត ដែលនៅក្នុងវិចិត្រសាលផ្សេងទៀត ឃ្មោងមិនត្រូវបានបង្ហាញទេ។ គងគងពីរប្រភេទត្រូវបានឆ្លាក់ គឺគងគងដែលព្យួរជាគូទោល ឬជាគូ និងគងរង្វង់ដែលមានគងប្រាំបីទៅប្រាំបួន។

This study is aimed at understanding the existence of rebab as a musical instrument in Balinese performing art. On the other hand, as one of gamelan musical instruments in Bali, rebab which is a unique instrument and can soften the played music has to be concerned and treated the same in Balinese performing art. Unfortunately, it is recently neglected. The questions : 1) why is this instrument getting rid of in Bali performing art; 2) How is it's implication in Balinese performing art in this global era?The results of this study were completed using qualitative methods. Types and sources of primary data obtained through observation, in-depth interviews and FGDs with informants while in the field. All of the data obtained were analyzed using the theory of aesthetic, practical and structural functional.As a result, the neglected rebab as the musical instrument in Balinese performing art has indirectly led to identity loss, lack of media of ethnic musical creativity and local culture impoverishment in this global era. In this study, it is found that rebab recently lacks of it's part in Bali performing art because its function is assumed as the secondary instrument or as a supplementary musical instrument which role can be neglected. Moreover, the technique of playing rebab is quite difficult causing many young artists are barely interested in learning the technique of playing it and developing rebab-based song.

This dissertation examines the role of twentieth-century performing arts in the transformation of Protestant/Hindu relations in Bali. More specifically, it demonstrates how the regional tourist economy produced a largely artificial sacred/secular musical binary and how this distinction in turn fostered newly hybridized genres of Christian gamelan music and dance. Religiously mixed gamelan groups of Balinese Protestants and Hindus now regularly perform this repertoire, a stark contrast to the strict religious segregation of the early and mid-twentieth century. Through such interaction a shared, interreligious aesthetic discourse has emerged. I utilize aspects of social network analysis, and material culture studies to illustrate how one particular Protestant denomination, known colloquially as the Bali Church (or Gereja Kristen Protestan di Bali, GKPB), has established and maintained this discourse vis-à-vis Protestant/Hindu music networks based on shared concerns regarding ethnic (Balinese) identity, described locally as “kebalian.”

The main body of the dissertation is divided into two main sections, each consisting of two chapters. The first section establishes the historical development and narrative upon which the second proceeds. Chapter one examines the development of contextual practices within the Bali Church from 1972 onward, including biographical details of key church builders and artists, and the establishment of institutions within GKPB that have played a pivotal role in promoting contextual art. Chapter two looks at the expansion of tourism in Bali and the important role this new economy played in creating a legitimated sphere for church participation in Balinese performing arts.

The second major section is more analytic in nature and illustrates some of the important social implications arising from the intersection of contextual art with touristic practice and ideology. Chapter three explores the contemporary association between localized musics, Hinduism, and constructs of Balinese identity. Finally, in chapter four theories of capital and social networks are explored as interpretive devices for understanding the social function of these interreligious interactions and the driving forces behind them. In particular, the notion that key actors in a given network may act as brokers between groups is explored as a model for understanding Christian/Hindu relations in Bali.

For my Music Honors thesis at Skidmore College, I compared the cultural, psychological and musical contexts in which music-induced trance states occur. I surveyed the current body of literature on the subject from the fields of ethnomusicology, neuroscience, anthropologyl, religious studies, psychology and musicology. To investigate further, I interviewed gamelan musicians from Bali (where ecstatic trances are regular features within Agama Hindu Dharma religious ceremonies), shakuhachi musicians and scholars (who use their instrument to practice a specific type of Zen Buddhist meditation known as suizen), electronic musicians (including inventor of FM synthesis John Chowning) and classical musicians to assess the cultural relevance of such states and the psychological mechanisms behind them.

Gamelan jawa merupakan alat musik ansable khas dari jawa yang memiliki ciri-ciri terdiri atas berbagai macam instrumen. Macam-macam gamelan jawa terdiri atas 14 alat musik yang mana nanti jika dimainkan secara bersama-sama akan menghasilkan suatu bunyi atau suara yang memukau. Bahkan aat musik ini merupakan salah satu alat musik identitas Indonesia.

El kulintang y su orquesta forman la música más singular de las sociedades musulmanas
del sur del archipiélago Filipino. En este trabajo se estudia el significado social de la
música de kulintang, sus raíces preislámicas y sus roles en una sociedad islámica, desde las
descripciones históricas del siglo XVI hasta la actualidad. La finalidad es establecer la realidad
social de la música de kulintang históricamente y su posición actual en una sociedad filipina
que se enfrenta a un mundo global con fragilidad en su conciencia identitaria.

Kulintang and its ensembles represent the most unique music of the Muslim communities in the
Southern Philippines. This study examines the social significance of kulintang music, its pre-Islamic
roots and its roles in an Islamic society, from the historical descriptions dating back to sixteenth
century to the present. The article’s objective is to establish the social reality of kulintang music in
history and its present position in a Philippine society facing a global world with a fragile awareness
of identity.

In this paper, Ki Mantle Hood (1918-2005) is both remembered for his past contributions to the field of ethnomusicology and honoured for mentoring future generations of students. In the early 1950s, Ki Mantle Hood established the program of ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles to encompass the study of musical, social and cultural dimensions of human expression in American universities. At the time, it was considered quite novel and even risky to actually learn and perform Thai piphat, Javanese gamelan or Japanese gagaku in the same institutions of higher learning as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. But Mantle Hood was a visionary. Today many universities around the globe offer world music courses, graduate programs, and performance ensembles in ethnomusicology. This paper examines three areas of Hood’s career: the early years of Hood’s establishing the UCLA program; my personal experiences as his student, and his enduring methodology of bi-musicality and its relevance for future generations of scholars.

This essay surveys the Indonesian performing arts ‘scene’ created by Indonesians and Eurasians living in the Netherlands during the late colonial period through the end of World War Two, looking particularly at Javanese dance and music associations, Indische toneel (Indies drama), kroncong clubs, touring professional artists and pan-Indonesian student groups. The performing arts from Indonesia were initially inward looking. The first gamelan concert by Javanese students was organised to illustrate a lecture on music. Indies dramas fastidiously avoided issues of Otherness in order to affirm the Dutchness of the Dutch Indies. However, with the first Indische Kunstavond (Indies Art Evening) in 1916, the performing arts were used by Indonesian students studying in Holland to make a political point to the Dutch general public. Refined arts were a justification for a model of colonial relations in which indigenous and Dutch cultures were associated, rather than unified or assimilated. The integrity of Javanese culture was to be esteemed for the sake of inter-racial tolerance and respect. Political advancement was conditioned upon cultural exchange on even terms.
With the exceptions perhaps of composer FH Belloni and playwright Jan Fabricius, artists did not come from colonial Indonesia to the Netherlands anticipating making a living from art. Yet Europe allowed new possibilities for some Indonesian dancers and other artists, starting with business-student-turned-professional-performer Raden Mas Jodjana. Jodjana identified himself as a modern Javanese artist, resulting in a polemic with conservative Dutch gatekeepers on hybridity, and whether it was possible to be both ‘Javanese’ and ‘modern.’
Increasingly, cultural organisations were interested in demonstrating pan-Indonesian unity through performance. One can see them as workshops for the formulation of Indonesian national culture, enshrined in the constitutional mandate (attributed to Hajar Dewantara) for the government to promote ‘the peaks of culture’ of the nation’s constitutive ethnic groups. These Indonesian associations were not exclusive, however; they incorporated Dutch as well as Eurasian members.
Indonesian performance activity continued in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. The Colonial Institute was a hive of activity, with an adult gamelan group made up mostly of sailors from east Java and a youth gamelan group. There were dramatic productions as well, including a spectacular production in August 1943 under the direction of ethnomusicologist Jaap Kunst and his associates at the Colonial Institute. New performers came into prominence during the occupation, including the Banyumas-born dancer, actor and storyteller Indra Kamadjojo, the stage name for Jan Leonard Broekveldt. Nostalgic performances concerning ‘our Indies’ displayed few signs of recognition that Indonesia was under Japanese occupation, and would not return willingly to Holland’s colonial embrace after Japan’s defeat.

Masyarakat sebagai suatu kelompok manusia umumnya memiliki sebuah kebudayaan. Wujud kebudayaan bisa berupa suatu kompleks aktivitas atau tindakan, salah satu contohnya adalah upacara. Upacara merupakan sebuah rangkaian yang terikat kepada aturan-aturan tertentu menurut adat atau agama. Upacara berupa perayaan yang dilakukan sehubungan dengan peristiwa penting sebagai salah satu media untuk mendekatkan diri, memuja, menyembah, menghormati, memberi, memohon atau mengungkapkan rasa syukur kepada obyek yang dituju. Setiap upacara memiliki tujuan untuk mencapai kebahagiaan, kenyamanan, kesejahteraan dan kedamaian, dimana semua itu bermaksud untuk membenahi kehidupan umat manusia, baik dalam kehidupan individu maupun sosial.
Pada tanggal 12 Desember 2016 yang lalu, umat agama Islam di Indonesia baru saja melakukan sebuah upacara peringatan hari lahir Nabi Muhammad SAW atau biasa disebut Maulid Nabi (Maulud). Perayaan Maulud ini selalu dirayakan secara meriah, khususnya di Karaton Surakarta Hadiningrat. Secara rutin Kesunanan Surakarta Hadiningrat mengungkapkan rasa syukur kepada Tuhan dengan cara menggelar upacara tradisional Sekaten. Upacara Sekaten diadakan setiap setahun sekali dan diisi oleh permainan Gamelan Sekaten selama enam hari berturut-turut. Gamelan Sekaten memiliki peranan yang penting dalam upacara ini, karena konon alat musik yang berukuran besar ini berfungsi sebagai sarana dakwah ketika peringatan Maulud zaman Sultan Syeh Alam Akbar.

In the past ten years, an interesting phenomenon has appeared in the Balinese music scene. Musicians have become interested in combining instruments as well as borrowing musical elements from outside of Bali, especially from Western music. They have been immersed in the concept of " being modern. " For these musicians, it is believed that being able to make use of foreign musical instruments and techniques in their music as a symbol of modernity can help to elevate their social status. Although few people were aware of its existence earlier, this new music has recently gained popularity by being introduced to larger audiences. The paper is divided into three parts. First, I briefly discuss the historical background of the emergence of fusion pop music in Bali as a result of globalization,

Regarding study of Javanese Court dances: Srimpi and bedhaya, it has been usual for Indonesian researchers as well as foreigners to take up one of the compositions to make observations on its ceremonial context or its song text. In this paper, taking up 10 srimpi and two bedhaya of the Surakarta Court style in full version which I’ve mastered under the late Mrs. Sri Sutjiati Djoko Soehardjo, I analyze choreographic patterns of each genre and extract the essential concept of choreography.

To conclude, srimpi by four females is a dance of symmetrical turn with keeping balance among four, while bedhaya by nine (or seven) females is a dance of treading the floor back and forth in line(s). Both concepts of choreography lies in the unity of musical structure, dance movement and dance formation. For example, every dancer only repeat a laras movement to one direction in the first part of music called merong, and never face each other until it enters the second part called inggah.

Such findings show how elaborate the collaborations were between dancers and musicians in the Court, and the importance to approach Court dances from artistic aspects as well. Court dances have experienced contraction into 1/2 or 1/4, with little attention to the essential concept mentioned above since the 1970s. 

Thus many full versions of the Surakarta Court dances have no longer been inherited until now, consequently this paper will contribute much knowledge for further study of Javanese Arts.

Masyarakat menerapkan tradisi secara sistematis seperti perekat. Ketika yang asli tidak lagi seperti dulu, nostalgia mengasumsikan makna keseluruhannya. Budaya biasanya diproyeksikan ke masa lampau, dan yang lampu tersebut menjadi budaya. Pemahaman seperti ini kontradiktif dengan pemahaman arti dari tradisi itu sendiri. Tradisi tidak seharusnya diartikan sebagai sesuatu yang bulat atau sirkuler atau tidak bergerak, melainkan sesuatu yang berproses seiring dengan waktu.

Paper ini akan membahas bagaimana istilah tradisi dan modern dipahami dalam konteks masyarakat seniman Bali akademis (dan non-akademis), dan sejauh mana mempengaruhi pola pikir penciptaan karya mereka. Pembahasan akan dititikberatkan pada diskursus yang terjadi dalam menyikapi fenomena berkesenian di Indonesia. Dimensi kesejarahan diulas sebagai analisa praktis perbedaan pola pikir dengan segala tantangannya. Pemahaman istilah tradisi dan modern menjadi penting dalam memahami perkembangan proses penciptaan musik dalam menelitik masa depan musik gamelan bali, sekarang.

A review essay of Lisa Gold, Music in Bali (2005), Margaret J. Kartomi, The Gamelan Digul and the prison Camp musician who built it; An Australian link with the Indonesian revolution (2002),  Marc Perlman, Unplayed melodies; Javanese gamelan and the genesis of music theory (2004), Ted Solís (ed), Performing ethnomusicology; Teaching and representation in world music ensembles (2004),  Henry Spiller, Gamelan; The traditional sounds of Indonesia (2004),  Andrew N. Weintraub, Power plays; Wayang golek theater of West Java (2004) published in 2006 in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 162 (4): 576-588.

can’t stop won’t stop is a work for two pianos of approximately twenty minutes’ duration. The piece is inspired by the techniques of the American minimalists. These techniques include repetition, phasing, cyclical structure, use of a Balinese pitch collection, as well as the use of additive processes. The work consists of four interlocking movements, which make reference to the theme of constant motion. The score is preceded by an essay which discusses the history and theory behind the conception of the work, a brief review of duo piano works by minimalist composers who have inspired the piece, as well as a discussion of the musical vocabulary contained in can’t stop won’t stop.

Sukarno took a personal interest in using the arts for presenting Indonesia in a positive light. He oversaw cultural missions abroad and produced 'cultural events' that showed off his grace and charisma on the dance floor to overseas guests. While Soeharto showed little interest in the arts, new modes of arts diplomacy flourished during the New Order-scholarships for foreigners to study arts, artists in residence at Indonesian embassies, large-scale festivals aiming to facilitate artistic exchange and encourage foreign investments, to name but a few. In Indonesia today, arts diplomacy is represented by its own sub-directorate in the Ministry of Education and Culture. Indonesia is promoting itself through collaborations between Indonesian governmental agencies and professional, international producing bodies, galleries, and festivals. Cultural Houses are being built in key cities abroad, along with a nationwide platform for international festivals, Indonesiana. 'Indonesianists' , including foreign academics and students of the arts, are being recruited to promote Indonesia abroad.

Jean-Pierre Chazal Long before its first concert at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, Javanese music had made its way in France. As early as 1760, a Javanese xylophone was owned by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Interest gradually increased as the 19th century and its ...

Jedną z najważniejszych prac, które dały początek nowoczesnej etnomuzykologii była wydana w 1934 roku De toonkunst van Java Jaapa Kunsta poświęcona  tradycjom muzycznym Jawy, przede wszystkim zaś muzyce orkiestr gamelan dworów Yogyakarty i Surakarty. We wstępie do tej publikacji „ojciec etnomuzykologii” zamieścił historię badań, w której wymienił wcześniejsze,  XIX-wieczne  opracowania naukowe w całości bądź we fragmentach dotyczące gamelanu, podając nazwiska takich badaczy jak m.in. sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (brytyjski gubernator Jawy w latach 1811-1815, autor History of Java), czy Isaak Groneman (autor De gamelan te Jogjakarta wydanej w 1890 roku) oraz kliku innych holenderskich lub  holendersko-indonezyjskich naukowców. Mało znanym pozostaje jednak fakt, że niedługo po owych pionierskich publikacjach, a jeszcze przed pracą Kunsta powstała pierwsza relacja na temat gamelanu napisana w języku polskim. Jej autorem był wybitny botanik, wykładowca Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, prof. Michał Siedlecki, który w 1907 roku przebywał na terenie Archipelagu Indonezyjskiego, prowadząc badania w ogrodzie botanicznym w mieście Buitenzorg (współcześnie Bogor). Rezultatem tej kwerendy była wydana 1913 roku w Krakowie monografia pt Jawa. Przyroda i sztuka. Uwagi z podróży, w której autor, obok zagadnień  dotyczących flory, fauny, budowy geologicznej itp., wiele miejsca poświęcił mieszkańcom wyspy i ich kulturze, w tym i muzyce  przeznaczając na nią osobny rozdział.  W referacie przedstawione zostaną  pierwsze polskie opisy i transkrypcje muzyki gamelanowej zapisane przez prof. Siedleckiego oraz dalsze dzieje polskich badań nad tradycjami muzycznymi Indonezji.

This paper is divided into two interrelated parts: ‘Music from Gamelan’ and ‘Music for Gamelan’. These parts are intended to reflect a continuum that places at one end composers writing music that has been influenced by the sounds of gamelan in one way or another, and at the other end composers writing specifically for the instruments. The first part provides a brief outline of some of the influences of gamelan on New Zealand in terms of how and why this Indonesian rooted music has inspired the musical soundscape of some representative New Zealand composers, sometimes working outside the medium of a gamelan ensemble, but necessarily being influenced by the music in their own creative output. The second part has the aim of discussing how and why music has been composed primarily for gamelan in the New Zealand context. Issues of authenticity are raised in the context of music written by New Zealand-based Indonesian composers vis-à-vis music written by non-Indonesian New Zealanders. Do the New Zealand-based composers who have been inspired by gamelan attempt to understand the music, instruments, and performance practice from an Indonesian perspective? Or is there merely a superficial knowledge and adaptation of gamelan in the non-Indonesian New Zealand context? While definitive answers to such questions are beyond the scope of this discussion, an exploration of relevant composers and their musical works helps in providing a discourse that problematises and foregrounds some of the issues that underpin the recent phenomenon of gamelan recontextualisations and inspirations. Both parts of this article consist of a series of case studies that have been researched using a mixture of methods, including ethnographic research, interviews, and a critical literary approach drawing on cultural studies.

In July 2013, Wellington-based gamelan group Gamelan Padhang Moncar embarked on a performance/study tour of Java, Indonesia. The group’s tour repertoire comprised conventional music from the central Javanese gamelan tradition as well as new compositions by five members of the group, all emergent composers in their twenties. These new gamelan compositions were also performed to audiences “at home” in Wellington, and were subsequently recorded and released on Rattle Records’ Naga in 2014. Discussing these works provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on current cross-cultural compositional practice in New Zealand, and the creative processes of the composer-members of the group. Because Padhang Moncar performed upon numerous sets of gamelan instruments whilst on tour, each with its own distinct embat (tuning schema), this study also provides an opportunity to elucidate the composers’ perspectives on the fluid nature of the performances of their works, since melodies and harmonies are subtly transformed by the distinct intervallic structures of each set of gamelan instruments—an exciting aspect of composing for gamelan.

Srimpi and bedhaya, danced by women at the Javanese
court, developed into court rituals from the end of the 16th
century. The choreography of these dances expresses
ideas like the peace and order of the cosmos, the unity of
good and evil or of God and man. These dances were first
made available to the general public through a national
project called the PKJT in 1970. This project did not just
revive the dances, it also shortened and adapted them for
a modern audience in the belief that the traditional dances
were boring and monotonous. The new versions are widely
known through recordings and are taught in art colleges.
However, few dancers now know the original, full-length
versions of the dances. I discuss how the meditative
quality of these dances was lost when they were simplified.
New ways of explaining the dances are now needed if they
are to be understood and appreciated by modern
audiences.

Among the many non-European musical traditions exported to the west, the traditional gamelan music of Bali and Java, Indonesia, never ceased to fascinate musicians and audiences since the turn of the 20th century. For many Canadians, the discovery of such orchestras occurred rather recently at the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation in Vancouver. After the event, the Indonesian government gifted the instruments used at the Expo to Simon Fraser University and the University of Montreal. More Canadian universities have since welcomed Indonesian artists among their staff while a considerable number of Canadian students have chosen to perfect their knowledge in Java and Bali. Throughout the years, such international exchanges have nurtured distinct gamelan communities in three notorious Canadian cities: Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. Active for over three decades, these ensembles have accumulated a body of original works distinguishing them and highlighting their vastly different artistic environments. This research aims to understand how gamelan has evolved in different regions since its arrival to Canada, and to what extent this evolution underlines regional identities similar to those found throughout the Indonesian archipelago.

The puppets are flat, the screen against which they are placed and moved is white and devoid of scenery. In what kinds of space do the stories of the classical shadow-play of Java, Bali, Lombok, and the Malay world unfold despite this double flatness? How do performers use not only puppets and screen but also music and language to bring space into being? What must spectators know and do to make sense of these storytelling techniques? As a contribution to the narratological study of the multimodal making of storyworlds, I demonstrate that wayang kulit caters for different degrees of interpretive competence, which yield different understandings of the space that wayang portrays. An expert way of apprehending space requires seeing beyond the screen, puppets, and silhouettes, or even looking away from them. At the same time the peculiar ways of narrating space in wayang point to a deeply felt spatiality in real-life contexts as well.

This article analyses how the Protestant Balinese, after discarding Western models of practice that formed Christian history in Bali, negotiated with their Hindu counterparts about the use of Balinese customary practices and traditions as the heritage and identity of all Balinese. Several questions concerned which genres of performing arts are sacred or religious and which can be adapted by non-Hindus. The Christian versions of the dance-drama genres of "sendratari" and "pragmentari" are among the outcomes of these negotiations. However, it is a third actor who interfered, and made the final decision about the use of dances: the Provincial Ministry of Tourism and Culture, which held a seminar on that issue in 1971 and decided that only certain categories of dance may be used for non-sacred performances. This decision (ratified by the Governor in 1973) was made in the context of tourism rather than interreligious relationships. The dances to be used for tourist performances were defined as "culture." Since these non-sacred forms were declared as not involving Agama Hindu, they were suitable for  re-appropriation by the Christian brethren, who invited Hindu Balinese to assist in performance. Thus, this article illustrates how the Hindu Balinese, under the pressure of Christians and tourism, try to disentangle elements of "religion" from those of "culture." In doing so, Christians have negotiated internally to synthesize Balinese culture and their faith.

As the musical scene of Southeast Asia evolves and transforms with time, greater attention and resources should be directed to keeping alive the region’s music traditions in its myriad forms. Music loss is the loss of part of our history and legacy.. Without adequate preservation efforts, the region’s musical heritage that is fading away will leave permanent lacuna in our historical memory. The sources for new musical thoughts and ideas are embedded in these ancient traditions from which one may draw inspiration. The musics of Southeast Asia has flourished as it is rooted in what music means for the people of the region ---  its philosophy, spirituality, and symbols that evoke the sounds of peace and tolerance amidst a world of diversity and linkages.

The editors of ASEANFocus, the flagship bimonthly publication of the ISEAS ASEAN Studies Centre (Singapore) have requested me to address the following in this short article:

-Overview of prominent forms of traditional performing arts in Southeast Asia

-Decline – causes (modernity and urbanisation, Western influences, discontinuity in generational hand-over)

-The mixed impacts of globalisation and tourism on traditional performing arts

-Keeping young people interested and engaged through innovative integration of contemporary elements into traditional performing arts? What are the attractions and limitations of this hybrid?

-Efforts to preserve and revive traditional performing arts, including under ASEAN frameworks (some success stories and what are the biggest challenges).

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-commentaries/aseanfocus