'Trunthung', contemporary music from Merbabu

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

At times, the sounds are soft, but at other times, they are strong. Resembling a heavy downpour, tambourines respond to one another, producing a pleasant sound to the ears.

The music that echoed through Warangan, a remote village on the western slope of Mount Merbabu in Central Java, came from Trunthung music, played by some 60 people aged between eight and 75 years old, who shook and beat their terbang (tambourines) of various sizes, while dancing around the arena.

The audience, standing or sitting in spaces between banana trees near the stage, seemed to be hypnotized by this rural music. They moved their heads to the regular rhythm of the music, or even clapped their hands.

Some 20 foreign musicians in the audience could not hide their deep admiration for the music, a unique performance by the Mount Merbabu orchestra. The musicians, coming from Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, had just attended the recent Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival 2002.

Some of the foreign musicians even experimented in simple ways with the music, covering their ears and then uncovering them or joining the orchestral group by playing the tambourines and dancing among the villagers.

"Fantastic, beautiful and authentic," praised Jack Body, a composer from New Zealand.

The music master from Auckland Teacher's College in 1967, Body said the local residents' music performance was really admirable.

"The villagers do not simply produce sound with their instruments, but they even use their feelings and instincts to present this performance. This was the root of the art of music, and the basis of art in general," Body said.

The first winner of the Fourth International Concourse of Electro-Acoustic Music held in Bourges, France, said that Trunthung music from Warangan was an expression of art from inside a human being. Therefore, he went on, its value was high, while the music was beautiful. The music is authentic and original since the players can create harmony between movement and rhythm in their music and routine life.

Trunthung music is actually intended to complement the traditional Trunthung art show from Mount Merbabu, which resembles the Jathilan, a performance where the dancers ride horses made of plait work, locally known as kuda lumping. During the traditional Truntung performance, one person plays the tambourine, but during the music performance, some 60 people will play them.

In the process, the local residents also improvise and experiment with the music, creating a sound like an orchestra.

"Who claims that contemporary music is monopolized only by urbanites and the educated? Villagers from Warangan have been familiar with contemporary music for a long time. The latest example is Trunthung music," said Sutanto, a musician and art organizer now living in the Mendut area of Magelang, Central Java.

Sutanto, who helped spark the emergence of Trunthung music, said it had become an inseparable part of the villagers although they started experimenting with it over the last four months.

"The residents always longed to play and didn't care whether they were paid or not. That's why we can watch their performance in this village at almost any time," he said.

And the group has performed in various cities, even as far away as Jakarta. The group enjoyed warm applause from the audience when they recently performed in the area around the National Museum in Central Jakarta.

Trunthung music, which is presented by the local growers of cloves, tobacco leaves, roses and vegetables, is simple in rhythm but arranged in such a way that it creates harmony, leaving no empty spaces. The performers also move their bodies like Jathilan dancers while beating their tambourines. In the show, the music reflects the simplicity of the performers.