GAMELAN (2)

gamelan (2)

Indonesia is counted as the most populous Muslim nation in the world, but this is somewhat misleading. Islam is not a "state religion" as it is in many Islamic countries, and there is quite a bit of variety, although the majority of inhabitants do profess Islamic beliefs. Among the larger cultures, North Sumatra is the "most" Muslim; in fact, it was home to a major Islamic University (known, for instance, in China) during the later medieval era. Java is also Islamic, in the sense that the people believe in many of the tenets of Islam and identify themselves as Muslims, but there are also other simultaneous belief systems. Prior to Islam, Java was alternately Hindu and Buddhist (and Bali remains Hindu), and these beliefs continue to be important for Muslim people. There is also an older layer of native religious practice which is still alive and well. Javanese religion is termed "syncretistic" (i.e., combining various influences), and it is generally only our tendency to give priority to the monotheistic religions which yields the Javanese the designation of "Islamic" per se. Of course, the influence of Islam should not be understated either.
The above discussion of syncretism should not give the impression that Java is an area of religious conflict. The different belief systems have been molded into a coherent whole, and the various public rituals (like the calendar with its simultaneous cycles of five and seven days, i.e. these coincide every thirty-five days) are thoroughly ingrained throughout the Javanese population (of course, as we know, the "Europeanized elite" frequently have different ideas). The Sanskrit classic epic Mahabharata continues to be a huge cultural influence on Java (it is easily apparent from the simple fact that many personal names are taken from that text, etc.) and the shadow puppet theater based on episodes from this epic is one of the most distinctive and wide-spread Javanese cultural practices. The gamelan is always used to accompany these plays (wayang kulit). The classical dance forms of Indonesia are also attaining some level of popularity in the USA (you could have seen them regularly in the Rose Bowl Parade, for instance), and much of the court music was written to accompany dance. There is also a large and impressive body of surviving classical literature on various topics, usually written in verse (including a verse encyclopedia, if you can imagine...).
The gamelan orchestra, based on metallic percussion with some wooden xylophones and drums, is well-known to many readers. In various forms, it is ubiquitous to Southeast Asia. In Java, the full gamelan also adds a bowed-string instrument (the rebab, a name illustrative of Islamic influence), a bamboo flute (suling) and voices. The rebab is one of the main melodic instruments, together with the bronze xylophone "gender," and is often played by the senior musician to lead the ensemble. Voices consist of male (and sometimes female) choruses called gerong, together with female soloists called pesindhen. However, the voices are not used as "lead" instruments in court gamelan (as opposed to wayang kulit, shadow puppet theater) and blend with or complement the sound. More specifically, the chorus is very much a part of the texture, whereas the soloist has an almost-separate improvisatory role, including the use of notes outside of the mode of the piece. In these abstract pieces, mostly "gendhing" on the current list, the words are largely secondary to the music.