Darsono's Gamelan Melodies Immortalise Indonesia in the United States

Gamelan is a way of life for Darsono Hadiraharjo, Director of the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble at Emory University in Atlanta, United States, a path he has been on since he was in the womb. His father was Saguh Hadiraharjo, or Ki Saguh Hadi Carito, a gamelan musician and puppeteer. His mother, Nyi Panuti, was a professional sinden singer. Ki Saguh was well-respected among Central Javanese artists. In the 1980s, he led a musical group called Karawitan Ngudi Laras, which frequently produced recordings under the Fajar Record label. “My father was also once a member of Ki Nartosabdo’s group,” Darsono said, referring to the legendary artist and shadow puppeteer from Klaten, Central Java. His parents’ dedication to the art of Javanese karawitan meant they travelled often, even while his mother was pregnant with Darsono, the youngest of their eight children. This is why Darsono became intimately familiar with Javanese arts from the moment he was born in Wadunggetas Village, Wonosari, Klaten, on 22 September 1979. Upon entering elementary school, Darsono began studying gamelan seriously, an ensemble within the karawitan tradition believed to have existed since 404 AD. From fondness grew a deep love. This profound feeling led Darsono to continue his education at the Indonesian Karawitan High School in Surakarta, Central Java, in 1995. For the first time, he was separated from his parents. “I lived in a boarding house in Solo,” Darsono said. After graduating, Darsono furthered his studies at the Indonesian Arts Institute Surakarta in 1998, naturally majoring in karawitan with a focus on gamelan. At the institute, Darsono’s talent was further refined. During his studies, he was already trusted to perform on many stages, albeit at a local level. His above-average skill allowed him to complete his degree in just about 3.5 years, the fastest among his peers, graduating with cum laude honours. However, the life-changing moment came not after he graduated, but just before. Darsono recounted that at the end of his final semester, his lecturer and the head of the institute, Rahayu Supanggah, offered him the chance to audition for ‘I La Galigo’, a music theatre production adapted from a classic South Sulawesi literary text, scheduled to tour in 2004. Rahayu Supanggah, a karawitan genius who was the composer for ‘I La Galigo’, personally approached Darsono during his final exams. At the time, Darsono did not know what ‘I La Galigo’ was. Nonetheless, he immediately said yes to his lecturer. Darsono then went to Bali for the audition. After passing a series of stages, he was selected as one of the karawitan musicians for ‘I La Galigo’, a production directed by American director Robert Wilson. Darsono and dozens of other selected Indonesian artists performed their first ‘I La Galigo’ show at the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in Singapore in March 2004. The Singapore performance was his first experience playing professionally abroad. At the time, Darsono was mesmerised by the magnificent stage. Throughout his journey, Darsono grew not only as a karawitan artist but also as a puppeteer and composer of Javanese gending. ‘I La Galigo’ was performed not only in Singapore but in many other countries. Darsono toured with the production, including a European tour where they played in several venues across Spain, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. In 2005, they stopped in New York, United States, to perform at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in Manhattan. It turned out that a representative from Wesleyan University, a US institution that has studied gamelan since the 1960s, was in the audience. Wesleyan University is located in Middletown, Connecticut, about 169 kilometres from New York. The Wesleyan representative later met with Rahayu Supanggah personally and requested that Darsono teach gamelan there.