Gamelan novelty evokes admiration

Gamelan novelty evokes admiration

Ridlo Aryanto, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Poverty and other such limitations can sometimes be a driving
force behind the creativity needed for a unique contemporary
invention. Such is the experience of Fredy Pardiman Joyonegoro, a
young musician from Yogyakarta.

It all began in 1992, when a dance student friend from the
Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta asked Fredy to
compose a gamelan accompaniment for her exam performance. The
short deadline and the lack of instruments caused Fredy a great
deal of stress in meeting his friend's request.

With the impending deadline looming precariously closer, Fredy
decided to create a gamelan piece using the human voice to
imitate the sounds of the various instruments.

To his surprise, Fredy's "vocal gamelan" arrangement became
the source of much admiration from the lecturers of his friend
for its creative originality. Praise also poured in from many
colleagues at the institute's music department, giving Fredy the
assurance needed to develop this newfound art.

"Then I realized that the instrument with the largest
potential for improvisation and the most challenging
possibilities to explore is the human voice," said the father of
three-year-old Jagad Tejondaru.

The debut of Fredy's vocal gamelan as an independent musical
ensemble was at the Dies Natalis celebration at the Indonesian
Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta in 1992.

During that demonstration, Fredy performed Cangkem Revo, a
medley of typical Javanese riddle-songs, accompanied by vocal
gamelan. The vocal gamelan did not only imitate sounds of typical
Javanese gamelan, such as gambang, slentem, saron, and gongs, but
Fredy also incorporated more unorthodox sounds into the music,
such as drunken noises, snores and farting.

The reaction of the audience was that of side-splitting
laughter. Highly impressed, TVRI Yogyakarta invited Fredy to
perform his unique compositions on camera, hence the creation of
trotoar (sidewalk) and bis kota (city bus). These pieces were so
successful that Yogyakarta provincial tourism office invited him
to take part in a chain of performances in five regencies.

After graduating in Karawitan performing arts from the
Yogyakarta Institute of Arts, this Bantul native, born on Aug. 7,
1968, joined the Kua Etnika music community under the leadership
of Jadug Ferianto. With Kua Etnika, known for allowing its
members an unlimited amount of creative freedom, Fredy was given
the opportunity to perform his vocal gamelan compositions in
Sound Sketches, an event put on by the French-Indonesian
Organization in Yogyakarta.

After hearing two of Fredy's compositions, Njeplak Thung-Thung
and Oral Kambang performed at that event, the MC, comedian Butet
Kartredjasa, dubbed Fredy's group "The Mataraman Acapella", a
label which stuck.

"Mataraman", derived from the word Mataram -- the ancient
Yogyakarta kingdom -- refers to arts with typical Yogyakarta
flavor.

"It does not matter to me if my music is considered a new
genre; my goal is to add more color and variety to Indonesian
acapella music, as well as introducing this type of music to a
wider audience, while hopefully developing an appreciation for
it," says Fredy, who was voted Best Musical Arranger at the
National Arts Festival in 1995.

As part of the Kua Etnika family, Fredy and his musical
ensemble have traveled from Malaysia to Europe introducing vocal
gamelan to the world, resulting in its growing popularity and
recognition. Fredy also performed at the anniversary celebrations
of private, Jakarta-based television stations Indosiar and RCTI
in 2001 and 2002.

In the course of time, appreciation for the Mataram Acapella
has continue to grow. At the latest concert in October at Gedung
Societet Militer Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, hundreds of members of
the audience demanded to hear Fredy's latest composition, Tutut
Timulut.

"In an ensemble of 15, I arranged a reenactment of traditional
Javanese Opera (wayang orang), retelling The Birth of Wisanggeni
and Antasena as a kind of criticism of today's misguided
reforms."

In this vocal performance, the players are not restricted to
imitating the various voices of the wayang characters. There is
an independent section of performers who vocally accompany the
storyline with the sounds of gamelan, and also with other
traditional musical sounds from other parts of Indonesia.

Fredy's seriously arranged vocal works are often met with
laughter from the audience. Perhaps this is because during jam
sessions the ensemble members try to explore their vocal
possibilities according to their own perceptions, resulting in a
sometimes odd and comical cacophony of sounds.

But what, exactly, is unusual about Fredy's vocal music?

"The basic acapella concept is a traditionally accepted form
of musical expression. A few examples are Balinese kecak, and
wayang Jemblung puppetry in Java. But rearranging Javanese
acapella with different colors and in a contemporary manner is a
distinctive mark of Fredy's talent," says Djadug Ferianto, the
ethnic musician who has played a great part in the cultivation of
Fredy's creative concept.