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Reviewed by:
  • Gamelan of Central Java II: Ceremonial Music, and: Gamelan of Central Java IV: Spiritual Music
  • Sarah Weiss (bio)
Gamelan of Central Java II: Ceremonial Music. Felmay FY8042. Recorded and produced by John Noise Manis, Yantra Productions, 1996 and 2001. Notes by John Noise Manis.
Gamelan of Central Java IV: Spiritual Music. Felmay FY8074. Recorded and produced by John Noise Manis, Yantra Productions, 2003. Notes by John Noise Manis with essay by Daniel Wolf.

Reviewing two CDs from the Yantra Production series, Gamelan of Central Java, provides the opportunity to contemplate simultaneously the strengths and some of the weaknesses of Giovanni Sciarrino’s (aka John Noise Manis) continuing endeavor to record the myriad manifestations of gamelan performance in con- temporary Central Java.

One album here considered is dedicated to and entitled Ceremonial Music, and the other is entitled Spiritual Music. As in many other cultures, the spiritual and the ceremonial are not generally separable in Central Java. Indeed, the two albums each present, among other selections, performances from the Gendhing Sekaten repertoire, demonstrating without articulation the intersections between spiritual, religious, and ceremonial music in Central Java.

Ceremonial Music presents recordings of five different gamelan ensembles: two different Gamelan Sekaten ensembles (Guntur Madu and Guntur Sari) from the Kraton Palace in Surakarta; and three ancient ensembles (Gamelan Monggang, Gamelan Kodhok Ngorek, and Gamelan Carabalen) from the smaller Mangkunegaran palace. The recordings are all of live performances. There is no description of the recording equipment used, but the sound of the different ensembles is clear and there is depth and clarity in the recordings. This provides pleasurable listening, an experience not always possible with live recordings, especially those made, as these were, in semi-outdoor settings with myriad ambient sounds and the possible distractions of the sounds of large crowds of people in the distance. [End Page 157]

The first two pieces on this album are unnamed gendhing sekaten, pieces played during Sekaten, the celebration of the birth of Muhammad in the Javanese month of Mulud. This festival occasions all-night markets, a carnival-esque atmosphere, and nearly a week of competitive performances between two gamelan ensembles placed in pendapa or pavilions outside the walls of the palace for the week. These ensembles are comprised of the loud-style instruments found in an everyday gamelan, but in much larger form: bonang that require two people to play them; saron that dwarf the performers behind them. During the Sekaten week, the two ensembles perform in sequence all day with only short breaks for the scheduled Islamic prayers, each trying to outdo the other in terms of loudness and grandeur. Although the notes do not identify the pieces, they are Gendhing “Sambul Gendhing” and Ladrang “Tembung Cilik” both in pelog pathet nem. It is lovely to hear the two Kraton gamelan sekaten in sequence. Their idiosyncratic tunings and affects are clearly audible, especially since the recording presents the complete racikan, or ametric introductory segment, for each piece. Racikan are often distinctly similar except for the final gong tone, affording ample opportunity to hear the sonic differences in character between Guntur Madu and Guntur Sari.

The three other pieces on the album are recorded during public airings of the different gamelan at the Mangkunegaran palace in Surakarta. These ensembles are sporadically performed in public on Saturdays in the midmorning at the Mangkunegaran pendopo where they are stored, usually under protective wraps. John Noise Manis mourns the fact that the ensembles were no longer performed in public as of 2001. This author can report that, at least in the summer of 2006, the Palace had again begun to have some of the ensembles played on a weekly basis.

Each ensemble has an eponymous gendhing, which is the primary piece performed on the instruments. The pieces are invariably simple in structure and instrumentation.1 These two aspects as well as the high status accorded to the ensembles in their palace environments have been used as evidence of the relative antiquity of the ensembles and their repertoire. Originally used only on solemn occasions such as the coronation of a king or the departure of a king from the palace, the Monggang ensemble was also used to celebrate...

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