Gambang Kromong, the beats of Betawi jazz

Gambang Kromong, the beats of Betawi jazz

Ida Indawati Khouw, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At weekends, rumah kawin (wedding halls) lining the roads in
the Chinese peranakan areas of Tangerang (peranakan being the
offspring of marriages between ethnic Chinese and those from
other ethnic groups), such as Sewan, Kampung Melayu and Rawa
Kucing, are filled with the music of energetic orchestras.

The music can be heard from quite a distance, thanks to the
powerful sound systems, even though the halls are usually hidden
behind houses or found in an open space covered with coarse
grass, far from the main roads.

Only a few people will immediately recognize the sound of
gambang kromong, a traditional Betawi music ensemble. The
orchestra consists of the gambang (a xylophone-like instrument),
kromong (a set of small gongs), tehyan (a Chinese string
instrument), flute, a percussion set, gongs and kecrek (a metal
string instrument). Western instruments including electric
guitar, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, electric keyboard and
Hawaiian guitar are also played.

The singers, mostly female, perform pantun (lyrics written in
Betawi dialects) with their shrill voices. They sing lagu sayur,
the modern repertoire of gambang kromong.

Welcome to the jazz band of Betawi!

Members of the audience are allowed to dance with cokek
dancers, and can also embrace and even kiss them.

Ethnomusicologist Philip Yampolsky said the texture of gambang
kromong was similar to that of Javanese and Sundanese gamelan
orchestras and also had echoes of the "small-band jazz" music
popular in America and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, not to
mention the strong influence of Chinese music.

"Most lagu sayur were composed before World War Two. Jazz
bands in Batavia (old Jakarta) were very popular on the radio and
in recordings at that time," he said, adding that the older
repertoire, the so-called lagu lama (old songs) in which the
lyrics are written in Chinese, was now on the brink of
extinction.

Yampolsky considers gambang kromong to be unique, because it
reflects the mixture of the various ethnic groups in Batavia.

"It is a reflection of the 400 year-long melting of the
Chinese, Sundanese and Batavian cultures," said Yampolsky, who
conducted research on Betawi music between 1990 and 1999. The
results of his research were recorded and released on compact
disc.

Yampolsky, who is the program officer for media, the arts and
culture at the Ford Foundation, said the gambang kromong first
emerged in the 18th century, where it began as an ensemble for
Chinese peranakan (from the Fujian area of China) in Batavia.

It is difficult to uncover the music's history as the oldest
surviving information is contained in an article written by Phoa
Kian Sioe in 1949 in Pantja Warna magazine.

Phoa, who said the ensemble was established in 1743, was
unsure of the history himself -- as he put it "the older
generations once heard the story from their ancestors". During
those years, performances of the music were hosted by various
Chinese kapitant (a leader of an ethnic group in Batavia).

History records that the ensembles then consisted of a
combination of Chinese and Sundanese instruments including
gambang. Therefore they were called orkes gambang (gambang
orchestra).

"The term gambang kromong was introduced in 1880 after the
emergence of new repertoires for the ensembles, using Sundanese
instruments like the kromong, a small drum and gong," Yampolsky
said.

Since then lagu sayur have become more and more popular,
pushing aside lagu lama which are no longer considered a proper
accompaniment for dancing. Another factor was the anti-Chinese
sentiment during the rule of former president Soeharto.

Now, there are only two singers still able to perform the old
repertoires. They are Ibu Masnah and Ncim Ating.

As part of its efforts to preserve the culture, starting last
July the Ford Foundation began supporting the preservation of
lagu lama through a training program led by the two elderly
singers.

"Without this program, lagu lama would disappear following the
deaths of the singers," Yampolsky said.