Preface
>Articles<
Instruments
Musicians
Books + CDs
Links
_______________________
The traditional music
of Indonesia
written by Ingo Stoevesandt
1. Karawitan and Islam
“Karawitan” is the term for every kind of Gamelan music in Java. The history of Gamelan ensembles in Java is very old, starting as soon as from the DongSon bronze era in the second century BC. The term “Gamelan” can be understood as a collecting term for different kinds of metallophon ensembles (old Javanese “gamel” means something like “to handle”). As there are many excellent Gamelan pages online, an explanation of the instruments of the different Gamelan ensembles will be neglected.
Until today, otherwise than in other Arabian countries where music as a part of the liturgia is prohibited, in Java the Gamelan sekati had to play six days for the sekaten celebration, which is a holy week to the remembrance of prophet Muhammad. As the name already indicates this ensemble was inherited by Islamic function.
When the first Wali (missionaires) appeared in early 16th century their mission was not only of religious purpose. Soon they occupied the local politics and soon managed to infiltrate the Hindu sultanats. Being aware of the important role of music for the all day life of the Javanese population, they tolerated local habits like the shadow play with wayang kulit puppets, and, even in the palace, the Gamelan music was not abandoned but supported too.
Following the contract of Gianti (1755) each division of the old Mataram state got its own Gamelan sekati ensemble, but as there now were two ensembles required they just copied the existing ensembles which still exist today. The Gamelan sekati set is special in history as it is the earliest ensemble to cover the whole range of 3 octaves with the saron metallophones. It is a very loud ensemble, silent instruments like the lute rebab and the lengthflute suling are missing. The playing tempo is slow and the resounding instruments quite deep for a Gamelan set.
It is assumed that some ensembles only played in order to convince the Hindu by their love for music to convert to Islam, but this is still questionable to be the only reason. It seems to be more reliable that even the Wali could not resist the beauty of this music. One of them, famous Sunan Kalijaga, did not only considerate to let the Gamelan play for sekaten celebrations, he is also supposed to be the composer of several new gender (pieces) for this ensemble. There is even more evidence for the importance of generations of sekati ensembles if one sees the great effect on the manifestation of the heptatonic pelog system in the later centuries.
Page 2 of 5 -> Go to Page 3
written by Ingo Stoevesandt
1. Karawitan and Islam
“Karawitan” is the term for every kind of Gamelan music in Java. The history of Gamelan ensembles in Java is very old, starting as soon as from the DongSon bronze era in the second century BC. The term “Gamelan” can be understood as a collecting term for different kinds of metallophon ensembles (old Javanese “gamel” means something like “to handle”). As there are many excellent Gamelan pages online, an explanation of the instruments of the different Gamelan ensembles will be neglected.
Until today, otherwise than in other Arabian countries where music as a part of the liturgia is prohibited, in Java the Gamelan sekati had to play six days for the sekaten celebration, which is a holy week to the remembrance of prophet Muhammad. As the name already indicates this ensemble was inherited by Islamic function.
When the first Wali (missionaires) appeared in early 16th century their mission was not only of religious purpose. Soon they occupied the local politics and soon managed to infiltrate the Hindu sultanats. Being aware of the important role of music for the all day life of the Javanese population, they tolerated local habits like the shadow play with wayang kulit puppets, and, even in the palace, the Gamelan music was not abandoned but supported too.
Following the contract of Gianti (1755) each division of the old Mataram state got its own Gamelan sekati ensemble, but as there now were two ensembles required they just copied the existing ensembles which still exist today. The Gamelan sekati set is special in history as it is the earliest ensemble to cover the whole range of 3 octaves with the saron metallophones. It is a very loud ensemble, silent instruments like the lute rebab and the lengthflute suling are missing. The playing tempo is slow and the resounding instruments quite deep for a Gamelan set.
It is assumed that some ensembles only played in order to convince the Hindu by their love for music to convert to Islam, but this is still questionable to be the only reason. It seems to be more reliable that even the Wali could not resist the beauty of this music. One of them, famous Sunan Kalijaga, did not only considerate to let the Gamelan play for sekaten celebrations, he is also supposed to be the composer of several new gender (pieces) for this ensemble. There is even more evidence for the importance of generations of sekati ensembles if one sees the great effect on the manifestation of the heptatonic pelog system in the later centuries.
Page 2 of 5 -> Go to Page 3