Music series explores local traditions

Music series explores local traditions

Seri Musik Indonesia (Indonesian Music Series)

CD Dian Records

Copyright: Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia

Distributor: PT Dian Pramudita Kusuma, Jakarta

Rp 25,000 per CD

First six CDs titled Musik Dari Pinggiran Jakarta; Musik Populer
Indonesia; Musik Dari Nias & Sumatera Utara; Gandrung Banyuwangi;
Musik Betawi Dan Sunda; Musik Malam Dari Sumatera Barat.

Informational booklets included in all CDs

JAKARTA (JP): Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia
(Indonesian Performing Arts Society) launched six CDs of a
variety of Indonesian musical forms on Aug. 2. These are the
first of a series of 20 CDs produced by MSPI in cooperation with
the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., with financial
support from the Ford Foundation.

The scope of the project is nothing short of amazing -- the
first six CDs cover more than 12 different types of Indonesian
musical forms, some of which, like Gandrung Banyuwangi and the
music from Nias and North Sumatra, are not often featured in the
daily menu of Indonesian music, save in the areas whence they
originate.

Kudos go to the team of compilers and recorders, headed by
noted ethnomusicologists Philip Yampolsky and Anthony Seeger. I
do not know exactly which areas the team has covered, but it is
obvious that considerable efforts have been made to present as
many types of Indonesian musical forms, including popular music
such as dangdut and the kind of Batak music (Gendang Karo,
Gondang Toba) which are worlds apart from the four-part harmony
singing one associates with Batak music heard in hotel lobbies.

Nothing short of amazing and nothing short of timely. Some of
the forms, especially those of a ritualistic nature which may
well have their roots in times that precede the advent of major
cultural waves including Islam and Christianity, could be on the
brink of extinction. Perhaps extinction is too extreme, but what
is at least certain is that music is a constantly evolving art,
one that is far more susceptible to changing mores and values.

There are no better examples of this than in Western music
itself. The music and songs in such medieval forms of
entertainment as miracles and mysteries have, to my knowledge,
left almost no trace. Despite the many commendable efforts to
revive pre-18th century instruments, it is their modern
descendants who are far more in the forefront, and Bach's French
and English suites are these days performed more often on the
piano than on the harpsichord for which they were composed.

About a year ago recordings of Gregorian chants reached the
top of various pop music charts. But I am inclined to regard the
latter more as a novelty (something of an oxymoron there) than an
effort to create a decisive influence on the course of popular
music.

What has ensured the continuity of these ancient types of
music is notation -- a system invented by the Greeks who regarded
music also as a science, aided in no small degree by the
mathematician, Pythagoras. Ensuing civilizations, including the
(Catholic) church adopted and further streamlined this system.
The stave (not balok in Indonesian) is the system's direct
descendant. This, then, is one of the aspects that guarantee the
continued existence of ancient music, although it is by no means
certain that today's interpretations are exactly like those
rendered in the year 900.

So where do the traditional forms of Indonesian music stand?
I'm not referring to established forms like the different types
of gamelan for which, apart from the vast collection of
recordings, there already exists a system of notation. As far as
I am aware, none exists for the types of music practiced in the
remotest parts of Indonesia.

In this instance, the contribution of MSPI and, of course, the
Smithsonian Institution, is invaluable because the recordings are
the only acknowledgement of the existence of the music of the
faraway tribes of Nias, of Kalimantan, Irian Jaya. They are also
far removed from mainstream Indonesian music today, including
hybrid forms like kroncong and dangdut, so whether traditional
forms will evolve further and become a source for future music in
Indonesia, only time will tell.

Only then will it be possible to raise the question of
intellectual property rights and protection for the
practitioners. I have a hunch that the person or group of persons
who chant mantras at certain rituals do not regard themselves as
artists, but as protagonists of certain socioreligious-religious
observances.

The reason I am touching on intellectual property rights is
because the launching of the CDs was held in tandem with a
seminar on such matters. Distinction perhaps needs to be made
between the kind of music that serves a socioreligious purpose
(I'm sure the MSPI's project covers a lot of this), and music
based mostly on esthetic considerations, between a singer singing
Kyrie Eleison in church and one who renders Schubert's Gretchen
At The Spinning Wheel or Norwegian Wood. The former would
probably not get paid, but the latter would insist on
remuneration.

-- Gus Kairupan