Ceramic and bamboo gamelan instruments could be a hit

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A set of traditional Javanese music gamelan instruments is usually made of bronze with wood as the supporting material.

But Sunaryo, a lecturer at the Yogyakarta Arts Institute, has created an exciting innovation with his ceramic and bamboo set gamelan instruments.

Sunaryo, 49, a lecturer at the institute's school of ethnomusicology, said his gamelan set was not as complete or elaborate as a traditional one. Yet, he said it could produce almost the same music and sounds.

"You can use it to perform uyon-uyon (Javanese music played with gamelan instruments), you can play it to accompany campur sari (Javanese pop songs) and you can also play it to sing modern songs," Sunaryo explained.

A complete set of traditional gamelan usually consists of about 25 instruments and needs about 16 players to perform the instruments. Sunaryo, however, only created 17 instruments for 10 musicians.

The forms of the instruments are simple.

There are five gamelan instruments which are supported by bamboo stands resembling the gambang instrument (gamelan instrument similar to xylophone).

The other instruments are kendang (small drums). Unlike traditional kendang, which chiefly use wood, Sunaryo used ceramics instead.

A rebab (two-stringed musical instrument) and suling, a traditional bamboo flute usually accompany a ceramic gamelan performance.

"The sound produced by ceramic gamelan is indeed a bit heavier than that produced by the traditional one," Sunaryo said.

The idea for creating a ceramic gamelan set was one of his obsessions when he was still a student at the institute.

The idea entered his mind in 1980. Yet, he could only realize his dream six years later. "I was inspired by the way old Javanese people buy and select the best earthenware products at a market," he said.

These people, as Sunaryo recalled, repeatedly knocked the items before buying them to test the quality of the goods.

It was the sounds of the earthenware goods Sunaryo heard during his childhood that inspired him to create ceramic gamelan instruments.

So in 1986 Sunaryo began his project. Due to his limited knowledge about ceramics, Sunaryo thought it might be a mission- impossible project.

He initially used ceramic roof tiles as the raw materials.

But the materials could not produce a clear sound. He experimented with other ceramic types until he finally found the appropriate materials.

At the institute's second anniversary in 1986, Sunaryo proudly presented his creation and played the instrument before the audience.

Sunaryo has now established a joint cooperation venture with Timbul Ceramics in the craft village of Kasongan to produce special ceramic styles for his gamelan sets. Some of them are made of red clay, while others are made of white clay.

"The most difficult work is to synchronize the sound of each piece of ceramic material," Sunaryo said.

Sunaryo said that in terms of the sound and design, his gamelan needed many improvements. He said that currently, it was only fit for chamber music performances.

However, Sunaryo has already gained some fans after performing last month with his ceramic gamelan set at Purawisata and then again at the Garuda Hotel two weeks ago.