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VIII. Court Music Treasures
A Commentary by Sumarsam
Born in East Java, Bapak Sumarsam received
formal gamelan education and grew up as musician in Surakarta (Central
Java). He is Adjunct Professor and Chair of the Music Department at Wesleyan
University (Middletown, Conn) and an internationally renowned gamelan
musician. He conducts workshops and concerts throughout the world. He
has written “Gamelan - Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in
Central Java”, University of Chicago Press, 1995.
This CD is meant to complement
the sixth Volume (‘Kraton Surakarta’) in the series ‘Gamelan of Central
Java’. Both CDs do not try to simulate the ways in which gamelan is
practiced in a typical klenengan (traditional gamelan playing)
- following prescribed modal (pathet)
and mood progression - rather, it is a selection of “classical” court style pieces, each to be appreciated
on its own. In both CDs, the gamelan playing is done on the most well-known
set in the Kasunanan court of Surakarta, Kyai Kadukmanis and Manisrengga;
this fact enhances the value of the recordings in featuring a court
gamelan practice. In fact, this gamelan set, and two pieces which appeared
in a 1963 LP recording (Philips 831 201 PY), have inspired the producer
to remake and record the performances of the pieces - Kombang Mara and
Tukung - in the sixth Volume of the collection. The musicians in the old
LP record were kraton musicians. At the time, the use of notation was
not as prevalent as today. Most likely the court musicians in that recording
did not use notation. Their musical training was an aural one, learning
by listening and by trial and error. On the other hand, most musicians
of the present CDs are faculty members of the STSI (Institute of the
Arts) in Solo. Notation takes an important role in their formal education.
In much of today’s gamelan playing, it is not uncommon to see some musicians
(including singers) using notation, even if only casually. I should explain the use of gamelan
notation. The most commonly notated part of the gamelan pieces is the
balungan (melodic skeleton of a gendhing,
usually performed by a groups of instruments, each having one-octave
range). Balungan notation
is the most readily available, and the only notation used in gamelan
playing. Notations for other instruments exist, but are used for learning
only, privately or in a classroom. Sometimes notation for gerongan
(a male chorus part) is used. Commonly, a musician in charge of organizing
a performance provides notation of the gendhing that the musicians will
be playing. In some cases, a musician has his own book of notation.
Format is unimportant - the notation is used according to the needs
of its user, following his or her musical competency and repertoire.
Particularly when playing rarely-performed pieces (especially long gendhing),
notation is often used intensely. For other more familiar gendhing,
notation is used as a backup (if it is used at all), in case the user
forgets a certain passages. It is quite revealing to
compare the musical treatment of Kombang Mara and Tukung as they are
performed by two groups of musicians of different generations and background
- the 1960s court musicians and the 2000s STSI musicians. In aurally
transmitted music such as gamelan, musicians learn the music and build
up their musical competence by way of repetition and trial and error,
as already noted. In this context, there is no difference between rehearsal
and performance (both are to be conceived as a platform for both performance
and learning). And precision in musical treatment is not always a relevant
criterion in gamelan practice. A given musical treatment by a musician
can be seen as a way to develop his musical competency, his execution
of musical embellishment, or both. The court musicians of the old LP
represent this musical practice at its best. The imprecise musical treatment
by the peking and the belated
entering of the bonang panerus
in Tukung (then playing lively embellishments but also occasional inaccuracies
in musical treatment), these all make better sense if one considers
the aural musical practice that I have briefly outlined above. On the
other hand, STSI musicians produce more polished music. Kombang Mara
and Tukung in the sixth CD (‘Kraton Surakarta’) constitute a musical
offer with clean, more precise musical treatment and stylistic articulation.
The training and background of STSI musicians I mentioned earlier shape
their musical production. The recordings of the present CD (‘Court Music
Treasures’) also reveal that kind of precision in musical treatment/articulation
and that more polished musical production by the STSI musicians. Now, I will comment on each of the pieces. Track 1 - Gendhing GAMBIR SAWIT,
slendro sanga This is one of the well-known pieces
in gamelan. There is a song-text of a bawa
(vocal introduction to gendhing) composed especially for Gambir Sawit
that testifies the fame of this piece. It says in part: “….from ancient
time to nowadays, Gambir Sawit has never bored anyone, even if it is
sounded three times in one hour….” There are a number of versions of Gambir
Sawit. Besides klenengan,
the piece can also be performed to accompany dance and wayang scenes. Usually, gerong-texts
for the first part of the piece (merong)
is Kinanthi (a macapat sung-poetry
consisting of six lines per stanza), and the gerong starts at the beginning of the second kenongan phrase. In this CD, the gerong singers chose Sinom (seven lines per stanza). To fit into the
gendhing structure, the gerong
starts to sing in the third kenongan,
and the last line of the verse is split in two lines. Gambir Sawit in this CD is presented
in an abbreviated version. In a typical klenengan,
the merong is played two times
before it goes to the ngelik
section. In this CD, after the first gongan,
it goes straight to the ngelik.
The second part of the piece (inggah)
is also a condensed version. It is played only in irama wilet. Performing this section in irama rangkep, which is
known for its very lively treatment and evokes a lively atmosphere,
would be a must in a klenengan. Track 2:
Gendhing bonang DHENGGUNG TURULARE, pelog
nem Gendhing bonang is an instrumental
piece - vocalists and all soft-sounding instruments do not participate.
As in any gendhing bonang, toward the end of the gendhing, the inggah is played in a loud style. This is the climax of gendhing bonang
- musicians must produce a loud sound from their instrument in fast
tempi. The intense percussive sound of bronze instruments is where musical
delight lies. It has been said by some musicians that pieces with the initial name Dhenggung (there are several of them) have a connection with Sundanese gamelan Dhegung. But there is not yet any proof or analysis about this connection. The only similarity of these pieces with gamelan Dhegung is the fact that they all utilize only five notes (12356 out of 1234567 of the pelog tuning system for Javanese Dhenggung).
Track 3:
Gendhing MANDULPATI, slendro nem Another presentation of this piece can be heard in a Nonesuch record (H-72044) of a Paku Alam gamelan in Yogyakarta, recorded in 1971. Featuring soft-sounding elaborating instruments and singing, and composed in pathet nem, this is a calm and stately piece, suitable to be played in the early part of a gamelan concert. The second part of the piece is called ladrang Agun-Agun. Like Dhenggung Turulare, toward the end of the piece the inggah is performed in loud style, while the soft-sounding instruments drop out. Only a few gendhing rebab have the inggah played in loud style.
Track 4:
Gendhing CARABALEN Carabalen is believed to be one of the
archaic ensembles (Monggang and Kodhok Ngorek are the others). This
ensemble has only four tones and consist of only a few instruments: (1) Two sets of gong-type instruments, one playing
constant interlocking patterns, the other the melody of the piece. (2) A pair of drums, providing a rhythmic configuration
and supervising temporal flow. And
(3) a group of gong-type instruments, delineating the rhythmic structure
of the piece.
Track 5: Gendhing kemanak bedhayan
PANGKUR This piece is typified by the use of
a pair of archaic instruments, the banana-shaped kemanak; hence gendhing kemanak. Providing a basic pulse, the kemanak, together with kethuk, kenong, and gong, delineates
the gongan structure of the
piece (in this case it is ketawang
- sixteenth basic pulses per gongan
comprising two kenongan phrases).
The kendhang provides a simple
rhythmic configuration and supervises temporal flow. Instead of having
multi-layer instrumental and vocal melodies (as in a regular gendhing),
the melody of gendhing kemanak is provided by a single line sung by
a mixed chorus. There are not many pieces in this genre; they are all
for accompanying bedhaya and serimpi dances. As in dance performance, the piece starts with a pathetan to accompany the entrance of the dancers. Pathetan is an un-metric modal song performed by rebab (as melodic leader) gender, gambang, and suling. A short vocal introduction (buka celuk) commences the piece. The piece in this CD consists of two cycles (i.e. two verses) of the poem. A complete performance consists of eight verses. The verse sung in this piece is macapat Pangkur, and the dance is named after it.
Gendhing GAMBIR SAWIT - Gerongan, Sinom metre An
example of good behaviour
Gerong (male chorus): Darsono, Rustopo,
Waridi Rebab: Suraji Gender: Ibu Pringgo Hadiwiyono Bonang: Supardi, Rusdiyantoro Musicians of STSI and Kraton Surakarta Music coordinator: Joko Purwanto Recording
made 11 May, 2004, at the pendhapa Sasono Sewoko of Kraton Surakarta Gamelan
Kyai Kaduk Manis Manis Rengga Musical
Design, Mastering, and Photos: John
Noise Manis Special
gratitude is expressed to G. P. H. Cakraningrat (Gusti Nur), a son
of the late Susuhunan Paku Buwana XII YANTRA PRODUCTIONS yantra@gamelan.it |