Page 6 | A brief history of gamelan

Courts and Kêris

Contents

A history of gamelan (1)

The earliest gamelan (2)

The influence of Islam (3)

Soft instruments and other additions (4)

Division and the Dutch (5)

Courts and Kêris (6)

Diverse styles (7)

Seleh Notes Volume 2 Number 2 March 1995

© Tim Byard-Jones

The Javanese concept of kingship had always rested to some degree on the possession of certain objects, the sacred heirlooms or pustaka.

Particular sets of gamelan instruments, especially the sekaten, munggangan and kodhok ngorek gamelan, are considered to be pustaka, along with daggers (kêris) and other weapons, royal regalia, manuscripts and so on.

And no, I've never got a convincing explanation out of anyone as to how the unique sacred gamelan were able to divide themselves magically in two in 1749.

The relationship between the various courts has remained very complex to this day. Yogya and Solo are, after all, only about 40 miles apart, closer than Oxford and Cambridge for instance.

Frequent marriages between the various families meant a steady flow of royalty and their retainers (including artists, musicians and dancers) between the two cities.

As a broad generalisation, the Paku Alaman (in Yogya) ended up cultivating a more Solonese way of doing things; while the Mangkunegaran (in Surakarta) leaned more towards Yogyanese practice.

In character, the Yogyanese arts are said to be more gagah, or vigorous, reflecting the Yogyanese court's more aggressive attitude to the Dutch - Diponegara was Yogyanese and, in 1945, the Sultan sheltered the Indonesian leaders Sukarno and Hatta inside the kraton and faced down a Dutch military force.

Meanwhile the Solonese cultivated halus or 'refined' art styles. These days nearly all the gamelan you are likely to hear outside Yogyakarta itself, and even much of that within, will be in the Solonese style.

More background on the Central Javanese courts can be found in 'Life in the Javanese Kraton' - Aart van Beek (OUP 1990) and 'Javanese Culture' - Koentjaraningrat (OUP 1985).

As a postscript to this discussion of the Javanese courts, my favourite story from the kraton concerns an interview with one of the courtiers (abdi-dalêm) of the Surakarta Kraton, who was talking about the sacred kêris.

'At night', he said, 'they leave their scabbards and fly around the palace. But they aren't any trouble. It's usually the magic spears we have trouble with'.

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