In the summer of 2023 I chanced upon a podcast episode on Indonesian gamelan music from "Mazette ! Quelle musique !" (all in French), a weekly show on France Musique. I have been mesmerised ever since by these exotic sounds and have been listening to the podcast of that show several times since. It is still on my phone to listen to when I feel like floating on a soft carpet of chiming harmonies.
The episode tried to answer the esoteric question: "Can gamelan music be dissolved?" It wove a meandering path criss-crossing between traditional Indonesian gamelan music - with its orchestra of gongs, xylophones, drums, voices, solo string and flute - and Western classical music from medieval times to the present. It was fascinating to discover the similarities one can hear between music composed on two different sides of the world at very different periods. The witty show producer Jean-Yves Larrouturou also implied that traditional gamelan music was slowly disappearing from the modern Indonesian cultural scene.
With one week of leave to spend in mid-August and an objective of leaving Beijing's muggy heat, I took a flight to Java. I had a very loose plan of staying on the cool heights of the volcano chain, which runs through the center of the island, while also keeping my ears open to chance encounters with local gamelan music and examine whether gamelan music can still be dissolved into modern Javanese daily life.
When I asked the very helpful Rumah Lereng Bandung hotel staff if there were any traditional gamelan music shows running in Bandung, the answer was no. So I went to see the Angklung musical show in Bandung instead, featuring an orchestra of adorable children, each one playing an individual note of the scale on a portable bamboo chime. Luckily, the introduction to the children's show was a 15-minute preview of the art of Indonesian puppets accompanied by a gamelan orchestra. So I did get to hear a live rendition of gamelan music and observe how the different orchestra players watched each other for the cue to all go into repeated tempo-changing percussive beats, layered their playing to create harmony, or staggered their playing with one another to play a fluid melody between several instruments.
The Sundanese (West Java) version of gamelan music involves a small ensemble of gongs and a solo flute playing an airy melody. I did hear it twice in public spaces during my trip. At the lobby and restaurant of the modern Hotel Santika in Tasikmalaya, instead of the usual soft repetitive pop music one usually hears in international hotel chains nowadays, the sound system was playing the traditional Sundanese gamelan degung with its airy magic flute. It was a perfect background to sample the impressive breakfast buffet showcasing all the delicious variety of a Sundanese street market.
Sundanese gamelan was also being broadcast on the sound system when I visited the outdoor hot springs of Ciater, North of Bandung. So I could hear the fluid melody of this gamelan music while soaking in the hot thermal pools. A fitting background music dissolving its sounds from the air into the mineral-rich water.
While travelling on the high plateau of Central Java, I let my taxi driver choose our music. To my delight, some tracks of local Javanese dangdut pop music have clear reminiscences of traditional gamelan music. The orchestras accompanying artists like Happy Asmara and Denny Caknan feature at least 2 guitars, 3 keyboards, a modern drum set, a traditional Indonesian drum set and a solo saxophone or electric guitar. These instruments choose their electronic settings to layer different tones of sounds, the solo instruments will weave an intricate melody with the singer's simpler tune, all instruments will sometimes break the tempo with a series of repeated beats introducing the bridge or the return of the main tune. All these musical processes are hallmarks of traditional gamelan music!
Thus, from this very short trip on Java, I have gathered some insights of how traditional gamelan music can not only be dissolved into Javanese modern life, but how it can also sometimes fuse into modern Javanese pop music. I will now let qualified musicologists study the dissolution potential of gamelan music.
In the end, the very helpful staff at the Villa Sumbing Indah in Magelan assured me I could listen to a live gamelan orchestra at the Borobodur temple complex. However, the building was mesmerising enough by itself to capture all my attention for the one-hour fixed duration of my guided tour without the need for any background music.
King Kong Five
Mano Negra
