Page 7 | A brief history of gamelan

Diverse styles

Contents

A brief 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

Noticeable though the differences between the Yogya and Solo styles are, these represent only a small part of Java as a whole.

Other regional styles flourish; for example Banyumas, a mountainous area on the Western edge of Central Java, is known for its lively gamelan style and comic wayang, and in West Java (Sunda) the court of Cirebon still maintains dance and puppetry styles of its own.

On the extreme East coast of Java, facing Bali, the town of Banyuwangi has gamelan music which reflects Balinese influences.

Interested readers should consult 'Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java' - R. Anderson Sutton (Cambridge 1991) for more information on regional styles.

Because the court styles are undeniably rich and magnificent, there has been a tendency to concentrate on them by the new Indonesian academies and Western scholars alike.

The academies, such as STSI in Solo and ISI in Yogya have adopted the idea of court gamelan traditions as an indigenous 'classical' music of Indonesia; though of course other regional styles are taught.

Get slightly off the beaten track, though, and a different picture emerges. During my time in Yogyakarta, I played regularly with two gamelan groups.

Each had its own distinctive practices, and neither conformed to the 'orthodox' Yogyanese or Solonese styles I learned at ISI.

It is clear to me now that, while a community gamelan based close to the kraton will play in a recognisably Yogya style, little variations from court practice are already apparent.

These become more marked the further away from the kraton you get.

In fact, it may even be possible to see the change from Yogya to Solo style as being a continuum, rather than there being a distinct boundary line.

The same probably holds true for the changes between Yogya and Banyumas, or Solo and East Java.

The academies may already be eroding this regional variety by teaching 'standard' versions of styles.

I know from personal experience that in Yogya alone there is still a wide range of styles available for the studying.

In modern times, experimentation of various kinds has greatly added to the range of styles and techniques available in gamelan.

The dhalang Nartosabdho added a large number of pieces (mainly of the lagu dolanan type) to the repertory of wayang music, and many of these are used on a regular basis in both Yogya and Solo.

In Yogya, at least, there is a tendency for broadcasting organisations to give air-time to more 'experimental' amateur or student groups in preference to amateurs playing in traditional styles, probably because traditional music tends to be the provenance of professional players.

Indeed the radio stations (RRI) have largely supplanted the kraton as employers of the country's best professional musicians.

Finally, for further reading on the historical development of gamelan try 'The Evolution of Javanese Gamelan' - Mantle Hood or (though this is harder to find) 'The Island of Music' - Bernard Suryabrata (Balai Pustaka, Jakarta 1987).

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