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Appendix 5. Gamelan in Sumatra
- University of Illinois Press
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Appendix 5 Gamelan in Sumatra Many modern bronze and iron gamelan ensembles have been imported by Javanese transmigrants into their many settlements throughout Sumatra. Historically, however, only one gamelan from Java is known to have been accepted into traditional practice by a Sumatran musical-lingual subgroup, namely, the seventeenth-century gamelan from Demak played by Javanized Palembang Malay (Orang Jawa-Melayu Palembang) musicians. Different gamelan ensembles made in Central Java vary from one another slightly in their tunings , due mainly to the tuning preferences of their makers. However, all gamelan are tuned in one of two basic intervallic structures: the seven-tone pélog and the five-tone sléndro. The following is presented as a background to the discussion of the tunings of the Palembang court gamelan (chap. 7) and the song “Gending Sriwijaya” compared to other tone systems found in Sumatra. The basic pélog tones are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, from which three modes (pathet), namely, nem, lima, and barang, and four five-tone modal scales derive: Bem I: = (6 .) 1 2 3 5 6 L S S L S Bem II: = (6 .) 1 2 4 5 6 L S L S S Barang I: = (7 .) 2 3 5 6 7 L S L S S Barang II: = (7 .) 2 3 4 6 7 L S S L S Where S = small interval, L = large interval, numerals = pitch degrees, superscript/subscript dots = higher/lower register, and bem = a combination of nem and lima modes. The basic sléndro tones are 1 2 3 5 6, from which three pathet, that is, nem, sanga, and manyura, with three five-tone modal scales derive: Nem = (1 .) 2 3 5 6 1 . L S L S L Sanga = (3 .) 5 . 6 . 1 2 3 L S L S S Manyura = 5 . 6 . 1 2 3 5 S L S S L5 Approximate pitches: 1 2 3 4 5 6 . 7 . pélog E F G A B C1 D1 2 3 5 6 1 . sléndro D E G A C1 Kartomi_Text.indd 381 6/15/12 2:29 PM 382 appendix 5 The Palembang Court Gamelan The gong-chimes (bonang) of the pélog half of the seventeenth-century gamelan from Demak in the former palace in Palembang are tuned to a hemitonic pentatonic scale, the approximate pitches being {C D E♭ F A♭}. (The sléndro half was not available for scrutiny.) Although this pélog scale occurs in modern Java gamelan music (app. 3), it is not frequently used. The instruments are retuned when deemed necessary (R. M. Husin Nato Dirajo, pers. comm., Palembang, 1988). Unlike in Central Java, where tunings of very old gamelan ensembles owned by the former regents and royal courts seem to have provided a model for some noncourt gamelan (Kunst [1949] 1973, 1:43), the tuning of the Palembang gamelan apparently had no impact in South Sumatra beyond the palace, since it was the only known historical gamelan in the region. The sultanate certainly did not encourage norms of tunings among makers of the various gong-chime ensembles in the countryside. Although different Javanese gamelan may vary slightly in their tunings, all must be in one of two basic intervallic structures, namely, the five-tone sléndro or the seven-tone pélog. Neither of these tunings is compatible with the Western tuning system. The term gamelan in Sumatra is not to be confused with gamolan, which is the name of a single xylophone played solo or an ensemble in parts of Lampung province (Kartomi 1985, 31). Its seven or eight bamboo keys, which roughly range over an octave, are freely suspended by rattan lacing to a trough, and are beaten by two performers with a pair of sticks each. Kartomi_Text.indd 382 6/15/12 2:29 PM ...