Indonesian Music

Gamelan is comparable only to two things: moonlight and flowing water, It is pure and mysterious like moonlight, it is always the same and always changing like flowing water. It forms for our ears no song, this music, it is a state of being, such as moonlight itself which lies poured out over the land. It flows murmuring, tinkling and gurgling like water in a mountain stream. Yet it is never monotonous. Sometimes the sounds flow faster and louder, just as water also sometimes speaks more loudly in the night only to sink back again quietly.

--Leonhard Huizinga (Dutch Writer)

Indonesian Music

Click on this map to go to a "clickable map" of Indonesia. Once there, click on a place of interest to learn more about Indonesia.

To students of world music here in the United States, Indonesian music generally means gamelan music, especially those various related types found on the two neighboring islands of Java and Bali. Partly because of the availability of this type of Indonesian music, and partly because of the sustained interest by Western-trained ethnomusicologists, Javanese and Balinese orchestral gamelan traditions have been heard and studied by Americans over the past half century as much as have other related high art musical traditions of Asia, such as China, Japan, and India. Therefore, since there exists an abundance of available materials (recordings, books, and ensembles--there are more than 200 Indonesian gamelan groups -- e.g., Gamelan Sekar Jaya -- in the United States today), the gamelan music of Java and Bali will form the focus of this chapter. For the especially intrepid student of world music, it is possible, with considerable research, to hear and read about music from other islands of the archipelago, particularly the large islands of Borneo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra.

Background: Geography, Culture, and History

A Brief History of Java and Bali

Before discussing the gamelan music of Java and Bali, a brief survey of the wider context of this music will be useful for the student of Indonesian cultures.

The Indonesian archipelago is the largest and mightiest island chain in the world: a total of 13,677 islands are spread over some 3,200 miles of tropical seas, lying directly on the equator between the Australian continent to the south and mainland Southeast Asia (the modern Islamic country of Malaysia, specifically) to the north. If superimposed on a map of the United States, Indonesia would stretch from Bermuda to Oregon, and on a map of Europe, from Ireland to the Caspian Sea. Approximately four-fifths of the modern Republic of Indonesia is ocean, with many islands tiny and unpopulated. However, about 3,000 of the islands are inhabited: the Batak people and Minangkabau people live in Sumatra, the Toraja in Sulawesi, the Dayaks in Borneo, the Sundanese in West Java, the Javanese in Central and East Java, and the Balinese in Bali, to name only a few.

Jakarta is the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia. It is a special territory having the status of a province, consisting of Greater Jakarta (picture of Jakarta at night), and covering an area of 637.44 square km. It is located on the northern coast of West Java; it is the center of government, commerce and industry and as such has an extensive communications network with the rest of the country and the outside world. The group of islands in the Jakarta Bay known as Pulau Seribu offers a haven away from the bustle of city life. There are golden beaches fringed with coconut palms.

Historically known by Europeans as the celebrated "Spice Islands of the East," this tropical archipelago constitutes one of the most varied and diverse corners of the world. Spectacular rain forests, dormant and active volcanoes, exceptionally fertile ricefields, savannah grasslands, and even snow-capped mountain peaks are part of the geologic and biological features of Indonesia. An astounding variety of aromatic and hardwood trees may also be found: clove, nutmeg, sandalwood, camphor, ebony, ironwood, and teak, for example. Unusual exotic fruits, seldom tasted by Europeans and Americans are common: durian, rambutan, lengkeng, salak, nangka, manggis, and jambu are the local names of a few examples. The world’s largest lizard (the Komodo Monitor), the largest flower (Rafflesia), the Sumatran orangutan, the Javan rhinoceros, and the world’s best talking minah bird (from Java), too, are all indigenous to Indonesia.

The Republic of Indonesia represents a modern third-world nation with a veritable kaleidoscope of peoples, languages and cultures. Over 100 different ethnic groups, speaking more than 300 different languages, rigorously maintain different cultural traditions while communicating with one another through a relatively new national language called Bahasa Indonesia. Local languages are spoken in the home, while Bahasa Indonesia is used as the official language for public places. The Balinese language, for example, is normally spoken in informal gatherings in Bali, while Bahasa Indonesia is used on the radio, on television, and in the large public market places. Many words that comprise the vocabularly of Bahasa Indonesia reflect the historical influence of various foreign cultures that have passed through the archipelago; there are, for example, Indonesian words borrowed from Indian Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch and English.

The four great religions of the world--Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity--are widely practiced in Indonesia, with Islam (over 140 million followers) regarded as the official national religion. (Islam is the main religion in Java, while Hinduism is primary in Bali.) Modern religious practices, however, are strongly influenced by local beliefs and traditions known as adat (i.e., "custom"). Central to adat ceremonies are ritual sacrifices and communal feasts, during which offerings are presented to the spirits of departed ancestors whose essence lives on somewhere near the community and who may exercise influence over the still-living members of the village. Also central to the frequent and periodic religious observances associated with adat are the rich and varied performing arts. Music, dance, and theatrical genres are used (1) to create a liminal state between the reality of the mundane secular world and the transcendental reality of the cosmic world of deified ancestors, (2) to provide suitable entertainment for the ancestors, (3) to lend spiritual solemnity to religious occasions, and (4) to provide pleasant and provocative entertainment for human worshipers.

Comparison of Western and Indonesian Music

The main types of performing arts on the neighboring islands of Java and Bali are very closely related, since, in the 15th century when Islam overtook the entire island of Java, the royal courts of East Java fled to the island of Bali, bringing with them their music, dance, and dramatic theatrical arts (especially the shadow-puppet play and the dance drama). Consequently, today in both Java and Bali gamelan music is used to accompany closely related types of dance dramas as well as various types of aesthetically related puppet-theater traditions. As orchestral traditions, Javanese and Balinese gamelan music share several similarities with the orchestral symphonic music of the West. Both the Indonesian gamelan orchestra and the symphony orchestra, for instance, consist of a large instrumentarium of standard instruments: they perform highly structured sophisticated compositions, and they use the manipulation of dynamics (i.e., volume) for expressive purposes. However, aside from these few fundamental similarities, the two types or orchestral traditions have many differences, particularly in terms of aesthetics, playing techniques, and musical styles. The Western orchestra, for example, is essentially an audience-oriented, bowed-string ensemble played by professional musicians who "read" from notated music, while an Indonesian gamelan is essentially a performer-orientated, struck-percussion ensemble played by amateur musicians who "perform" from memory. In addition, the conductor of the Western orchestra is the designated "leader" of musical compositions of nearly unlimited melodic diversity but considerable restricted rhythmic range, while the drummer of the gamelan orchestra is the "leader" of compositions of limited melodic diversity but great rhythm ic range. Whereas Western symphonic music is typically an indoor, virtuosic, secular art form reserved as an elitist activity, Indonesian gamelan music is generally an outdoor, nonvirtuosic, religious art form designed ideally for Everyperson.

Indonesian Musical Instruments

There are six basic instrument types shared by the principle kinds of gamelan in Java and Bali. The first is a large vertically suspended gong, sometimes over three feet in diameter, which is used to punctuate the ends of long musical phrases (i.e., it is used like a period in a sentence); smaller suspended gongs are used for shorter internal phrases (i.e., they are used like a comma in a sentence). A second instrument type found in both Java and Bali is the gender type--an instrument that has thin, metal (usually tuned bronze) keys suspended over sympathetically tuned tube resonators; it is played with either one or two mallets (two are used for playing polyphonically). Another instrument type common to both cultures is the rebab, a two-stringed bowed fiddle, which is a relatively new instrument of the gamelan--one that was imported along with Islam from the Middle East. An end-blown bamboo flute, the suling, is another important instrument in both Javanese and Balinese gamelans: in Java it characteristically plays melodic phrases only intermittently, while in Bali it plays the main melody continuously throughout long sections of music. A fifth shared instrument type is a gong chime of tuned metal kettles. Called bonang in Java, it comes in two sizes, each played by one player; called reyong in Bali, it is played simultaneously by three or four players sitting side by side. (The even larger Balinese trompong, like the Javanese bonang, is played by a single musician, however.) The last and most important--since it is generally the "leader," that is, the conductor of the gamelan--of the six instrument types shared by Javanese and Balinese gamelan types is the drum. The kendang, a

double-head, barrel-shaped, laced drum is normally played with bare hands and thus produces a wide range of different sounds, depending on precisely how it is struck.

Javanese Musical Instruments (Gamelan Gong Ageng)

There are some twenty-five different types of instruments used in a complete modern Javanese gamelan orchestra: (1) vertically suspended and horizontally mounted tuned gongs of six or seven different basic sizes, (2) tuned wooden and metal (normally bronze or iron) xylophones of four different sizes struck with wooden or felt-covered beaters (tabuh), (3) stringed instruments (two plucked zithers and one bowed fiddle), (4) two end-blown flutes with different tunings, and (5) laced or tacked barrel-shaped drums of four different sizes. In addition, there are two important vocal parts, the female pesinden (often a solo singer) and the male gerong (normally a chorus of a half dozen unison singers). Although they render classical poetic texts, the singers are not often featured as soloists, but are treated, as are all the other instruments of the gamelan, as merely an additional tone color or just another melodic strand in the intricate warp and weft of the complex orchestral fabric. Along with their descriptions, the instruments of the most common type of gamelan heard in Java today, the Gamelan Gong Ageng, are listed categorically below.

Suspended tuned gongs: 1. gong ageng/gede (the largest gong), 2. gong siyem/suwuk (second largest gong), 3. kempul (set of medium-size gongs);

Horizontally mounted tuned gongs: 4. kenong (set of medium-size gongs), 5. ketuk (1 medium-size gong), 6. engkok/kemong (2 small slendro gongs), 7. kempyang (2 small pelog gongs), 8. bonang barung (set of 2 parallel rows of small gongs), 9. bonang panerus (set of 2 parallel rows of smallest gongs);

Tuned xylophones: 10. gambang (wooden), 11. saron demung (largest saron), 12. saron barung (medium-size saron), 13. saron peking/panerus (smallest saron), 14. gender barung (medium-size gender), 15. gender panerus (small gender), 16. slentem (large gender);

Stringed instruments: 17. clempung (large plucked floor zither), 18. siter (small plucked floor zither), 19. rebab (bowed 2-stringed vertical fiddle),

End-blown flutes, 20. suling pelog (6-holed bamboo ring flute), 21. suling slendro (4-holed bamboo ring flute);

Drums: 22. kendang gending/gede (large double-head laced drum), 23. ketipung (small double-head laced drum), 24. batangan/ciblon (medium-size double-head laced drum), 25. bedug (very large double-head tacked drum).

In actuality a complete Javanese gamelan consists of twice as many instruments as those listed above, since in such a full set there are two completely different tuning systems, pelog and slendro . Accordingly, each musician sits cross-legged on the floor between two instruments of the same type, one that is tuned to a 7-tone pelog scale and one that is tuned to a 5-tone slendro scale. If a particular gending ("composition") is to be rendered in pelog tuning, then all the

musicians must turn to face and play the instrument of the pair that is tuned specifically to that scale. Similarly, if slendro is desired, all the musicians turn 90 degrees in order to face the slendro-tuned instrument of the pair. A complete pelog/slendro gamelan, then, consists of two instruments for each type (i.e., two demung, two gender, two gambang, etc.). Sets of instruments are also doubled, such as the set of kempul, the set of kenong, and even the set of bonang (one pelog, with 14 kettles, and one slendro, with 10 kettles). Both tuning systems, however, share three characteristics: (1) they both share a common pitch, often pitch 2 of the two scales (with all the other pitches of the two scales being different and thus musically incompatible, that is, the pitches of the pelog scale cannot be mixed musically with the pitches of the slendro scale in the same composition), (2) they both share the four drums, and (3) they both share the largest gong, particularly if its pitch is too low to produce a specific and identifiable musical sound.

All the instruments of the complete pelog/slendro Javanese gamelan orchestra can be arranged into six different basic categories according to their musical responsibilities, that is, according to their musical roles in the formal organization of a musical composition (a gending): (1) the colotomic layer, (2) the drum layer, (3) the fixed-melody layer, (4) the elaborating layer (loud style), (5) the elaborating layer (soft style), and (6) the vocal-tone layer. Normally the largest instruments, those in the colotomic layer, function to define the musical form of a composition which is organized into a series of several repeated rhythmic cycles of various lengths called gongan. Each instrument in this first category is seldom struck, but when it is it punctuates the course of the main melody, thus imparting context and meaning. The various types of drums play stereotypical rhythmic patterns--patterns that are closely associated with the different musical forms punctuated by the colotomic layer. The drums also give acoustical signals to the other members of the gamelan--signals to speed up, to slow down, to play a new melody, to change to a different style of interpretation, or to end a composition. Together in strict unison, many of the instruments play a basic fixed melody (a nuclear melody); that is, they play the same musical part, the so-called balungan. This part forms the melodic basis for the entire composition, and it is punctuated by the colotomic layer, controlled by the drum layer, and paraphrased through different types of melodic variations by the elaborating layers and the vocal-tone layer. The elaborating layers are two, one suitable for a rigorous and rhythmic loud-playing style and one for a more subtle and refined soft-playing style. Each of the elaborating instruments, loud style or soft style, paraphrases the fixed melody by rendering different melodic variation--variations that are idiomatic to each instrument type. The vocal-tone layer consists of those voices and instruments that may sound pitches from outside the main tuning system of a particular composition, borrowing pitches, for example, from pelog to add melodic variety to a gending in slendro. A list of the specific instruments associated with each of these six basic categories is provided below.

1. Colotomic Layer: a. gong ageng (marks the end of a cycle), b. kempul (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), c. kenong (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), d. ketuk (marks time units within gong cycle), e. kempyang (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), f. engkok/kemong (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), g. bedug (secondary emphasis of gong cycle);

2. Drum Layer: a. kendang/ketipung (rhythmic patterns that scan the gong cycle), b. ciblon (complex rhythmic patterns for dance accompaniment);

3. Fixed-melody Layer: a. saron demung (balungan or variations), b. saron barung (balungan or variations), c. saron panerus/peking (variations), d. slentem (balungan);

4. Elaborating Layer (loud style): a. bonang barung ("melodic leader," variations), b. bonang panerus (variations of bonang barung);

5. Elaborating Layer (soft style): a. gender barung (variations in 2-part polyphony), b. gender panerus (fast variations of passagework), c. clempung (variations in 2-part polyphony), d. siter (variations in 2-part polyphony);

6. Vocal-tone Layer: a. rebab ("melodic leader," variations), b. suling (stereotypical figures that preceed punctuation), c. pesinden (variations with poetic text), d. gerong (variations with poetic text).

Javanese Gamelan Types

In addition to the most common type of Javanese gamelan just described, the so-called Gamelan Gong Ageng, there are a variety of other types found in Java today: some old and rarely played, some made from bamboo, some made from iron, but most made from bronze. The most important, especially those that can be heard on recordings in the United States, are listed and described below. 1. Gamelan Munggang (a dozen instruments tuned to a 3-tone scale), 2. Gamelan Kodok Ngorek (a dozen instruments in 3-tone pelog), 3. Gamelan Sekati (a dozen instruments in 7-tone pelog), 4. Gamelan Carabalen (a half dozen instruments in 4- or 6-tone pelog), 5. Gamelan Klenengan (a kind of "chamber gamelan," without bonangs or sarons), 6. Gamelan Godon (a kind of "chamber gamelan"), 7. Gamelan bumbung (a bamboo gamelan), 8. Gamelan Wayangan (a small slendro to accompany wayang kulit), 9. Gamelan Calung (a bamboo gamelan).

Balinese Musical Instruments (Gamelan Gong)

There are a variety of different types of instruments used in a complete modern Balinese Gamelan Gong orchestra (the most common kind of over two dozen different gamelan types currently found in Bali), many of which are similar to those used in the Javanese Gamelan Gong Ageng: (1) vertically suspended and horizontally mounted tuned gongs of five different basic sizes, (2) tuned metal (bronze) xylophones of six different sizes struck with wooden or padded beaters (called panggul), (3) one stringed instrument (a small rebab), (4) two or more end-blown flutes slightly out of tune with one another, and (5) two drums of roughly the same size. Vocal parts are not as common in the Balinese gamelan as in the Javanese gamelan. The instruments of the Balinese Gamelan Gong are given below.

Suspended tuned gongs: 1. gong ageng/gede (the largest gong), 2. kempur (second largest gong), 3. kemong (small gong);

Horizontally mounted tuned gongs: 4. kajar (1 medium-size gong), 5. reyong (single-row set of 13 small gongs);

Tuned xylophones (gender type, "gangsa"): 6. giying (1, medium-size gender), 7. pemade (4, small gender), 8. kantil (4, smallest gender), 9. penyacah (2 medium-size gender), 10. calung (2, medium-size gender), 11. jegogan (2, largest gender);

Stringed instruments: 12. rebab (bowed 2-stringed vertical fiddle);

End-blown flutes: 13. suling (2, 6-holed bamboo ring flute);

Drums: 14. kendang (2, medium-size double-head laced drum);

Miscellaneous percussion: 16. ceng-ceng (small set of mounted cymbals).

Similar to the arrangement of the Javanese gamelan, all the instruments of the complete modern Balinese Gamelan Gong orchestra can be arranged into six different basic categories, according to their musical responsibilities: (1) the colotomic layer, (2) the drum layer, (3) miscellaneous percussion, (4) the fixed-melody layer, (5) the elaborating layer, and (6) the vocal-tone layer. Again similar to the Javanese gamelan, the largest instruments, those in the colotomic layer, generally function to punctuate musical sections that are organized into repeating gongan. The two drums play highly virtuosic interlocking rhythmic patterns intimately associated with different musical forms, while also providing important signals for the rest of the players in the gamelan, especially to coordinate frequent dramatic rhythmic breaks for pieces that accompany dance. The fixed melody, called pokok in Bali, is rendered by only two instruments in unison (the two calung), producing a slow-moving melody that is punctuated by the colotomic layer, controlled by the drum layer, and decorated by interlocking melodic variations (called kotekan) by the elaborating instruments. In Balinese gamelan music the vocal-tone layer does not sound pitches from outside the basic pelog tuning system, but is used for variety, contrast in timbre and the delivery of an occasional poetic text. The specific instruments associated with each of the six basic categories of the Balinese Gamelan Gong are given below.

1. Colotomic Layer: a. gong ageng/gede (marks the end of a cycle), b. kempur (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), c. kemong (secondary, internal emphasis of gong cycle), d. kajar (marks time units within gong cycle);

2. Drum Layer: a. kendang wadon (rhythmic patterns that interlock with the kendang lanang), b. kendang lanang (rhythmic patterns that interlock with the kendang wadon);

3. Miscellaneous Percussion (various interlocking rhythmic patterns): a. ceng-ceng (small set of cymbals);

4. Fixed-melody Layer: a. calung (pokok), b. penyacah (pokok or variations), c. jegogan (punctuation or “stressing” of pokok);

5. Elaborating Layer : a. giying (“melodic leader,” decorates pokok), b. gangsas (fast, virtuosic, interlocking kotekan);

6. Vocal-tone Layer: a. rebab (paraphrase of giying), b. suling (paraphrase of giying).

Balinese Gamelan Types

In addition to the most common type of Balinese gamelan described above, there are numerous other types found in Bali today, some in pelog tuning (with a 7-tone scale, a 5-tone scale, or only a 4-tone scale) and some in slendro tuning (with either a 4-tone or a 5-tone scale). Some are old and rarely played, while some are made from bamboo, others from iron, but most from bronze. A complete list of the 27 different types of Balinese gamelan orchestras (many of which can be heard on commercial recordings available in the United States) is provided below.

Pelog Tuning: Seven tones (rare types): 1. Gamelan Gambang , 2. Gamelan Slonding, 3. Gamelan Saron/Luwang, 4. Gamelan Gambuh, 5. Gamelan Semar Pegulingan, 6. Gamelan Caruk; Five tones: 7. Gamelan Gong, 8. Gamelan Gong Kuno, 9. Gamelan Gong Gede, 10. Gamelan Pelegongan, 11. Gamelan Semar Pegulingan, 12. Gamelan Gandrung, 13. Gamelan Suling; Four tones: 14. Gamelan Bebonangan/Baleganjur, 15. Gamelan Jegog;

Slendro Tuning: Five tones: 16. Gamelan Gender Wayang, 17. Gamelan Batel, 18. Gamelan Joged Bumbung, 19. Gamelan Angklung, 20. Gamelan Genggong; Four tones: 21. Gamelan Angklung; Pelog or Slendro Tunings: 22. Gamelan Arja, 23. Gamelan Janger, 24. Gamelan Pencak, 25. Gamelan Gong Beri, 26. Gamelan Barong Landung, 27. Gamelan Barong Bangkung.

Performance Practices

In terms of the logical and aesthetic principles of musical organization, both Javanese and Balinese gamelan traditions share several general characteristics. First, the orchestral fabric, its texture, is based upon the structural principle of theme and variations. Unlike this form in the West, however, where it is treated as a formal structure of successivie musical events (i.e., first a theme is stated, followed by a successive series of increasingly more complex and remote variations of the theme), in Indonesia it is a formal structure of simultaneous musical events. Thus the theme (the balungan in Java, the pokok in Bali) and its variations (i.e., paraphrases of the theme) are presented simultaneously: some instruments state the theme, while others paraphrase it, expressing different ways (i.e., variations) of ornamenting it. The technical term for such a musical texture of such closely related parts is "heterophony." But sometimes in Indonesian gamelan music paraphrasing becomes so complex that the principle of variation is very difficult to perceive, since the melodies produced by the elaborating instruments seem to be--although, on closer examination they are not--completely independent of the fixed melody . Thus some musicologists prefer to think of Javanese and Balinese gamelan music as "polyphony."

Basic Musical Organization of the Balinese Bebonangan

In Example 2, a typical score of a short repeated eight-beat Javanese musical form, these two principles may be clearly seen. The fixed melody (i.e., the balungan) is played by the slentem. The different styles of interlocking variations of the balungan (i.e., the paraphrases) are played by the two bonang, the peking, the two saron, and the two demung. In addition, the interlocking colotomic instruments are included: the ketuk, the kenong, the kempul, and the gong ageng

Basic Musical Organization of the Javanese Gamelan Ageng

In Example 3 these two principles may be clearly seen in their Balinese gamelan equivalent. The fixed melody (i.e., the pokok) is played by the calung; the interlocking variations of the pokok (i.e., the kotekan) are played by the gangsas; the beat is played by the kajar; a lyrical paraphrase of the pokok is rendered by the giyang, rebab, and flutes; the stress tones of the pokok are played by the jegogan; and the interlocking colotomic instruments, the kemong and the gong, keep track of the formal interrelationship of all the musical parts.

Basic Musical Organization of the Balinese Gamelan Gong

Indonesian Theater Accompanied by Gamelan Music

In both Java and Bali gamelan music may be played for a variety of reasons: (1) for entertainment, (2) for religious ceremonies, or (3) to accompany a theatrical presentation, either a dance performance or a shadow-puppet performance. Indonesian theater most often draws on two ancient Hindu epic poems, the Ramayana (The Story of Prince Rama) and the Mahabarata (the War of the Baratas), which have been dear to the hearts of many Southeast Asians (including Cambodians, Burmese, Laotians, and Thais) for over one thousand years. One theme that pervades both epics is the symbolic struggle between good and evil, on a human level as well as a cosmic one. Thus the various characters of a dance drama or a shadow-puppet play that retells one of these two ancient epic tales embody different combinations of good and bad qualities. Rama (the hero prince of the Ramayana), for example, embodies the Indonesian ideal of male virtues: love, strength, endurance, follower of truth. His wife, the princess Sita, idealizes female qualities: faithfulness and marital love, in particular. And the ten-headed demon king, Rawana, personifies the qualities of lust, deceit, hatred, and pure evil. While the Ramayana portrays human relationships, the Mahabarata (The War of the Baratas) relates an heroic tale of the battle between two related families: the Pendawas (the "good side") and the Kurawas (the "bad side"). Both tales have been summarized in two appendices at the end of this chapter.

In an Indonesian dance drama (whether danced with painted, carved wooden masks or not) the characters of the Ramayana or the Mahabarata are portrayed by the dancers themselves, dancing and reciting their lines (to the accompaniment of gamelan music) in a combined art form of sumptuously costumed ballet and dramatically orientated theater. When the epic tales are presented in the form of a long shadow-puppet play (generally three hours in Bali, and often nine hours in Java), however, one highly trained puppeteer, a mystic storyteller and interpreter of the supernatural (not unlike a Shaman), is in total control of the performance. The puppeteer, called dalang, is a multi-talented artist of the highest calibre, not a specialist as in many cultures around the world. The dalang single-handedly directs the course of the complex drama: he is the conductor of the gamelan; he is a scholar of Hindu literature who understands the ancient languages of the age-old epics; he is an orator and singer; and often he is even an ordained priest who possesses the power to ward off evil influence, make offerings to the gods, and protect the people of the village.

Wayang Kulit Shadow-Puppet Play

The wayang kulit shadow-puppet play is presented at night, with a large white screen (stretched vertically over a wooden frame, sometimes elaborately carved) which is illuminated by a bright light from behind (i.e., the side where

the dalang and the gamelan musicians are seated, formally atired, on the floor). The screen-stage of the wayang kulit symbolically represents the spiritual world in microcosm. The screen is the sky; the banana trunk (used to support and hold the puppets) denotes the earth; the bright light (an electric light bulb in Java and a primitive coconut oil lamp in Bali) is the sun; the puppets are human beings; and the dalang is god (i.e., the hidden forces and powers that conduct human behavior). In Java a regular gamelan, most often in slendro tuning only, is used to accompany wayang kulit, while in Bali a so-called Gamelan Gender Wayang, normally a slendro ensemble of only four genders, is preferred. Since the same two epic tales are told and retold in the Javanese and Balinese wayang kulit, it is appropriate that a representative section of a play be presented in this chapter. The following is an English translation of the opening song of the dalang from the Javanese wayang kulit play called, "The Reincarnation of Rama."

"Let silence dominate. Many are the creatures of God that roam the earth, the sky, and the oceans. Innumerable are the beautiful women of the world. Yet none can equal those who reside in the Kingdom of Dwarawati. Even if you search hundreds of countries, you will never find a kingdom to match it. Thus, do I introduce the Kingdom of Dwarawati as the beginning of our story this evening.

Wide is the reputation of Dwarawati, and high is its fame. The sands of mighty oceans border it, and tall mountains protect its rear. Along one side lie rich and abundant rice fields, on the other a mighty river that leads to a harbor along its shore. Fertile is the soil, and prosperity abounds. Night and day, merchants trade their wares, while the herds and flocks of peasants' flocks roam freely. Never has strife disturbed the peace of this kingdom. Foreigners crowd to make Dwarawati their residence. The officials of the kingdom all have a single purpose--to magnify the fame of Dwarawati. The Kingdom illuminates all the world with its beauty. Numerous are Dwarawati's colonies, on Java and many other countries far and wide.

Who is the powerful King who rules over this wondrous Kingdom? He is the King Kresna--"Kresna the Black," whose body, inside and out (blood, bones, and skin), are black as the color of a moonless night. One of the incarnations of the god Wisnu is King Kresna, while the other incarnation is Ardjuna. As the front and back sides of a fragile leaf, they appear different, but their tastes are the same. The King of Dwarawati is a wise sage, a fair judge, a fearless warrior, and a glorious noble. He is powerful yet humble, wise and generous. He provides for his subjects. To recount all the virtues of the King and the splendor of his Kingdom would take the whole night. Thus, what has been said must suffice for now.

Glossary

Adat (ah'-daht) Customarly laws and traditions of local ethnic groups in Indonesia;

Angklung (ahng'-klung) A shaken tuned percussion instrument with bamboo tubes loosely suspended in a frame, produces a single note (plus its octave or octaves);

Balungan (bah-lung'-ahn) The Javanese term for the basic (or nuclear) melody of gamelan music; a melody used as the basis for a gamelan gending, that is, as the basis for contrapuntal musical parts (the bonang, gendÀr, suling, rebab, gambang, celempung, etc.);

Barong (ba-rong') A mythical Balinese animal (danced by two men) and symbol of goodness and prosperity;

Bedug (buh-duhg') A large, tacked, barrel-shaped Javanese drum used as a gamelan instrument to accompany dance;

Bonang (bo'-nahng). A lead instrument in Javanese gamelan, composed of a double-row of horizontally mounted tuned kettle gongs played with two padded beaters (tabuh);

Boss Raised center section of a gong;

Buka (bu'-kah). The "opening" of a Javanese gamelan composition played by a solo instrument;

Ceng-ceng (cheng'-cheng) Balinese cymbals used in the gamelan for rhythm and color. Also an important instrument in marching gamelan bands;

Celempung (chlem'-pung) A large plucked zither of the Javanese gamelan;

Dalang (dahl'-lahng) The puppeteer of the wayang kulit shadow-puppet play;

Damping To put something against the sound-producing material or part of the instrument as soon as the sound has been produced in order to silence it. With metallophones, the fingers of one hand may firmly grasp the metal key immediately after it has been hit with the mallet in the other hand;

Demung (duh-mung') Javanese saron. Of the three one-octave sarons it is the lowest;

Form A term that expresses the basic fact that music, like all art, is not a chaotic conglomeration of sounds but consists of elements arranged in orderly fashion according to numerous obvious principles as well as a still greater number of subtle and hidden relationships;

Gambang (gahm'-bang) The name of the xylophone of Java, Sunda, and Bali. Played with two beaters; in Java and Sunda it is made from wood (often teak), while in Bali from bamboo;

Gamelan (gah'-mah-lahn) A Javanese, Balinese, or Sundanese orchestra of tuned bronze or iron percussion instruments, often with a flute (suling), a two-stringed fiddle (rebab), and drums (kendang). The Javanese word gamel means a type of hammer, e.g., one used by a blacksmith;

Gamelan angklung Balinese orchestra of bronze metallophones, gongkettles, drums, cymbals, hanging gongs, flute, and occasionally bamboo rattles (tuned) that are shaken laterally, from which the ensemble has taken its name; usually has a high-pitched four-tone tuning. Plays in processions and for rites of death. Very common type of gamelan in Bali;

Gamelan gambuh (gahm'-buh) Rare Balinese orchestra of meter-long flutes (suling), bowed spike fiddle (rebab), drums (kendang), cymbals (ceng-ceng), gongkettles and archaic percussion instruments, and hanging gongs; a court ensemble with large repertoire of seven tone scales played pentatonically which accompanies a dance drama;

Gamelan gender wayang Balinese quartet of ten-keyed bronze metallophones (gendÀr) played polyphonically and used to accompany rites of passage and the traditional shadow-puppet play, wayang kulit;

Gamelan gong Most common orchestra in Bali with five-tone tuning (pelog), metallophones (gangsa), gongkettles (reyong), hanging gongs, drums (kendang), cymbals (ceng-ceng), and flutes (suling);

Gender (gen-der') Metallophone of Java and Bali, with thin bronze bars suspended on cords in a carved wooden frame, usually above tubular resonators. The resonators are tuned in unison with their respective bars. They are played with mushroom-shaped beaters held loosely between forefinger and middle finger;

Gender wayang Ten-keyed gender of Bali. Used for the shadow-puppet theater, wayang kulit;

Gending (gen-ding') A musical composition for gamelan with a variety of different formal structures determined by strokes of the various sized gongs;

Genre A particular type of composition;

Gong The Javanese term for a large, suspended metal percussion instrument with a raised section in the center (the boss), often called gong ageng in Java and Bali;

Gong chime An instrument where the individual gongs are arranged on a low, horizontal frame or bed, with each gong resting boss upward on crossed cords;

Gong-kettle A gong-shaped metal instrument with a wide flange and a boss (the raised knob in the center of the flat surface), placed horizontally in a rack, often in tuned sets (frequently called "gong-chime"), and played on the boss with a mallet;

Heterophony (he-ter-off'-one) The paralleling of a musical line by another voice or instrument (a melodic paraphrase called a "part" or "voice") with almost, but not quite, the same tones. The second melodic line may slightly embroider the first, anticipate it, follow it by a beat or so, or move with it, often slightly distuned to it;

Hocket (hah'-kit) Consists of a rapid alternation of two (or more) melodies with single notes or short groups of notes;

Idiophone (id'-eo-fon) Any instrument that yields a sound by its own substance, being stiff and elastic enough to vibrate without requiring a stretched membrane or strings (e.g., gongs, cymbals, xylophones, metallophones, et al);

Kecak (ke-chahk) A Balinese dance of the Hindu story Ramanyana, accompanied by a male chorus with chants, shouts, and recitations with highly rhythmic and complex interlocking syllables that are intended to sound like a forest of monkeys;

A Scene from the BalineseChoreography of the Hindu StoryRamanyana known as kecak

Kempul (kum-pool') An 18-inch suspended tuned gong of the Javanese gamelan; normally there are several, each with a different pitch, hanging in a row so that melodies may be rendered on the complete set;

Kendang (kuhn-dahn') The term for the two-headed drums used in the gamelan orchestras of Java, Sunda, and Bali;

Kenong (kuh-nahng') A high-pitched kettle gong of Java, with a central boss, set on crossed cords over a wooden box, and forming part of a gamelan;

Ketuk (kuh-tuhk') A small horizontally mounted tuned gong of the Javanese gamelan;

Klenengan (kluh'-nuhg-ahn) A type of Javanese gamelan music, played in a soft and contemplative style, used for listening entertainment rather than for the accompaniment of a dramatic theatrical event;

Kotekan (ko-tek'-ahn) A Balinese term for ornamental interlocking figuration;

Metallophone Percussion instrument having a series of tuned metal bars, rather like a xylophone except for the material of which they are composed;

Mode A particular arrangement (hierarchy) of related pitches;

Orchestra A relatively large group of instrumental players;

Orchestration The art of employing, in an instrumental composition, the various instruments in accordance with (a) their individual properties and (b) the composer's concept of the sonorous effect of his work;

Part The music for a particular instrument or voice in an ensemble;

Patet (pah'-tet) Melody type or mode in Javanese gamelan music;

Percussion General name for instruments which are sounded by striking or shaking, such as drums and tambourines;

Pesinden (puh-sin'-dhun) A female singer (often a soloist) who sings with the Javanese gamelan orchestra;

Pelog (pa'-log) A 7-toned tuning system, from which three five-tone melodic modes may be constructed, for gamelan music in Java, Sunda, and Bali;

Phrase In music, by analogy with speech, a phrase is a small coherent unit--more than a "word" and less than a "sentence." A small musical unit;

Polyphony (po-lif'-o-ne) Music or musical texture with two or more simultaneous voice-lines rationally ordered together;

Puput (puh'-puht) A Minangkabau wind instrument;

Rabana (rah-bah'-nah) A frame-drum used principally in Indonesian Muslim music;

Rebab (ruh-bahb') A 2-stringed bowed fiddle of Indonesia: espe-cially Sumatra, Java, and Bali;

Renteng (ruhn'-tuhng) A row of tuned metal kettles in a wooden frame which gives its name to a particularly type of Sundanese gamelan type;

Resonator Any acoustical implement, usually in the shape of a hollow vessel, that serves to reinforce sounds by resonance;

Reyong (ra'-yong) A row of tuned metal kettles in a wooden frame played by three or four players in a characteristically virtuosic interlocking rhythmic manner;

Saluang (sahl'-u-ahgn) A long end-blown Sumatran (Minangkabau) bamboo flute;

Saron (sah-ron') The main metallophone (four sizes) of the Javanese gamelan, with thick metal keys that are struck with a wooden mallet (tabuh);

Siter (si'-ter) A small, plucked zither of the Javanese gamelan which gives its name to a particular genre of Javanese traditional music called siteran;

Slendro (slen'-dro) A five-tone tuning system, from which three five-tone melodic modes may be constructed, for gamelan music in Java, Sunda, and Bali;

Slentem (slin'-tuhm) Single-octave, low-pitched gendÀr of the Javanese gamelan orchestra. Carries the main melody (balungan);

Suling (su'-ling) The name for the end-blown bamboo flute of the gamelans of Java, Sunda, and Bali;

Sunda (sun'-dah) The Western one-third of the Island of Java, where the Sundanese language is spoken;

Talempong (tah-luhm'-pung) A small kettle-shaped gong of the Minangkabau which gives its name to a particular ensemble of four or five talempong as well as gongs and drums;

Unison Simultaneous performance of the same notes or melody by various instruments or by the entire ensemble;

Wayang (wi'-yahng) A generic name for theater in Bali, Java, and Sunda. There are three main types: (1) wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater), wayang orang or wayang wong (human dance-drama theater, and wayang golek (three-dimensional wooden puppet theater);

Xylophone Percussion idiophone consisting in its developed form of a series of graduated, tuned wooden slabs, laid parallel to one another and supported at two points that form vibrational nodes. Xylophones are played with two sticks or knobbed beaters;

Zither A type of instrument in which the strings run over a resonating chamber the length of the body of the instrument (with no appreciable neck).

Comparison: Western and Indonesian Music

This outline summarizes some of the salient features - both similarities as well as differences - of Western orchestral music and Indonesian gamelan music: aesthetics, techniques, and musical style.

Recommended Listening

Bali: Divertissements musicaux et danses de transe, Ocora OCR 72 (recorded by Gilles Fresnais)

Bali: Folk Music. EMI CO64 17858 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)

Bali: Joged Bumbung. Ocora 558 501 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)

Bali: Musique et Teatre. Ocora OCR 60 (recorded by Gilles Fresnais)

Bali: Paradis des Iles de la Sonde. Alvares LD113 (recorded by Merry Ottin)

Bali South. IER 7503 (recording by Gertrude Rivers Robinson)

Chants et danses d'Indonesie, Le Chant du Monde. LDX 74402 (record)

Dancers of Bali. Columbia Masterworks ML4618 (recorded by the Peliatan gamelan of Bali)

Gamelan Garland. Fontana 858 614 FPY (recorded by Ernst L. Heins in a royal court in Surakarta Java)

Gamelan Music from Bali. Lyrichord LL7179 (recorded by Ruby Ornstein)

Gamelan Music from Java. Philips 831 209 PY (recorded in the main royal court)

Gamelans de Bali. Alvares LD096 (recorded by Louis Berthe and Bernard Ijzerdraat)

Gamelan Semar Pegulingan. Nonesuch H-72046 (recorded in Bali by Robert E. Brown)

Golden Rain. Nonesuch H-72028 (recorded in Java by David Lewiston)

Indonesia. Columbia Masterworks KL 210 (recorded by Jaap Kunst)

The Jasmine Isle. Nonesuch H-72031 (recorded in Java by Suryabrata and David Lewiston)

Java: Historic Gamelans. Philips 6586 004

Java: Langen Mandra Wanara. Ocora 558.507/9

Java: Une Nuit de Wayang Kulit, LŽgende de Wahyu Tjakraningrat. CBS 65440 (recorded by Jacques Brunet)

Javanese Court Gamelan. Nonesuch H-72044 (recorded by Robert Brown)

Javanese Court Gamelan, Vol. II (recorded by Robert E. Brown)

Javanese Court Gamelan, Vol. III (recorded by Robert E. Brown)

Music for the Balinese Shadow Play: Gender Wayang. Nonesuch 72037 (recorded by Robert E. Brown)

Music from Bali. Argo RG1 and RG2 (recorded in England by Derrick de Marney)

The Music from Bali. Philips 831 210 PY (recorded by Joachim E. Berendt)

Music of Indonesia. Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4537A/B (edited by Henry Cowell)

Music from the Morning of the World. Nonesuch Explorer Series H-72015 (recorded in Bali by David Lewiston)

Music of Sulawesi. Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4351 (recorded by Eric and Catherine Crystal)

Musique et Chants Traditionels Soundanais: Java Ouest. Alvares LD110 (recorded by Merry Ottin)

Musiques Populaires d'Indonesie: Folk Music from West Java. Ocora OCR 46 (recorded by Ernst Heins)

Street Music of Central Java. Lyrichord LLST 7310 (recorded by Roger Vetter)

The Mahabarata Story

Choosing his son Pandu as a successor, the ageing king of the kingdom of Ngastina, Abiyasa, decided to retire to a life of meditation. Upon the death of Pandu, the kingdom was to go to his children, the five Pendawa brothers. But since Pandu's death came when the Pendawa were still too young for the throne, Pandu's blind brother Drestarastra assumed power during the interim.

Even at their early age the Pendawa had already demonstrated many remarkable qualities, and, indeed, Drestarastra treated them as he did the Kurawa, his own children. Under his guidance the two groups of cousins were expected to love and respect each other, and, under the guidance of the great teachers Resi Durna and Resi Bisma, the Pendawa and the Kurawa learned the proper ways of the Satriya warrior, his high ethics and lofty values.

It was clear from the beginning, however, that the Pendawa were fast becoming Satriyas, with high virtue and courage. Thus Drestarastra selected Yudistira, the eldest of the Pendawa, to be the next king of Ngastina. However, his decision was ill-received among his own sons, the Kurawa. The eldest Kurawa, Duryudana, under the influence of the his deceitful Kurawa adviser, Sangkuni, persuaded Drestarastra to exile the Pendawa to a forest, thus providing Duryudana the chance to rule over Ngastina. Drestarastra was too weak to counter his evil son's plans. Thus the Pendawa went off to live near Ngastina, while Duryudana ruled Ngastina as king.

Even though the Pendawa graciously accepted their dilemma, the Kurawa feared that the Pendawa would eventually claim their rights. Thus the Kurawa attempted to ensure the permanent exile of their cousins. First they invited the Pendawa to a banquet, providing them with a place to sleep. But it was set on fire by the Kurawa. Fortunately the Pendawa were able to escape unharmed through an underground tunnel. Since the fire killed six innocent guests, the Kurawa thought the five Pendawa and their mother had died and thus celebrated with great glee at their believed victory.

Even in great poverty and danger the Pendawa managed to survive in the wilderness, partly because Bima was their fearless guardian. Once the Pendawa journeyed to the distant kingdom of Pancala for an archery contest--one for the hand of princess Drupadi. Arjuna won and Drupadi became the Queen of the five Pendawa brothers. The god Kresna was also at the contest, and from this time on he became the friend and adviser of the Pendawa.

Still while the Pendawa were in the kingdom of Pancal, the Kurawa learned, to their dismay, that their enemies, the Pendawa had not died in the fire, and attempted a battle with them. The Kurawa, however, were brought to their senses by their old teacher Durna, Bisma, and the cripple Widura. In order to avoid such fighting, it was proposed that Ngastina should be divided into two parts: one for each group of cousins. Drestarastra agreed, and the Kurawa under the leadership of Duryudana chose the better half of the kingdom for themselves, allocating that area that was only uncleared forest to the Pendawa. With great effort, however, the Pendawa converted the forest into a fabulous kingdom called Indrapasta (or Ngamarta), with Yudistira as its king.

The enchanting loveliness of Ngamarta made the Kurawa even more greedy, however. On the advice of Sangkuni, Duryudana invited Yudistira to a game of dice in Ngastina. The betting started with only cattle and servants, but ended with Yudistira betting the Drupadi, the beloved Pendawa queen herself. When the Pendawa lost, Drupadi was paraded before everyone by Dursasana, humiliating her so much that she swore she would wash her hair with Dursasana's blood (Bima vowed to rip him apart in battle). With the next roll of the dice the loser would leave his kingdom to spend twelve years in exile, with the thirteenth year spent in disguise. And if for any reason they were discovered while incognito, the entire period of exile would start over again. Loosing the roll again, the Pendawa were thereby obliged to leave Ngamarta, and for twelve years, the Pendawa again faced many new trials and tribulations.

During their thirteenth year, the Pendawa lived in the kingdom of Wirata, whose king, Matswapati, was a good friend of theirs. But since they were still in full disguise, the king failed to recognize them. At that time they helped King Matswapati repel an unprovoked attack from the Kurawa. They remained incognito for the entire thirteenth year, during which Arjuna's son, Abimanyu, married Utari, the daughter of King Matswapati. It was their son, Parikesit, who forms the link in traditional Javanese legends between the mythological Pendawa and the historical lineage of Javanese kings.

At the end of their exile, the Pendawa naturally assumed that they could just automatically return to their kingdom. But the Kurawa became even more hostile, with their hate for the Pendawa growing day by day. Thus the two groups of cousins befriended many powerful allies. The Kurawa especially desired lord Kresna's services as their adviser who informed Duryudana that he would help him with only one of two possible forms of assistance: (1) troops or (2) Kresna himself as an adviser. Unfortunately for the Kurawa, Duryudana chose the troops, and Kresna, therefore, aligned himself with the Pendawa side.

Finally the situation was so bad that there was no alternative but war. The Bratayuda, or Great War, that ensued was a long and highly complicated series of bloody battles between the two opposing factions. At each confrontation the atmosphere was highly charged with debilitating confusion and overwhelming emotions for both sides. Each Satriya warrior was fully mindful of his loyalty to duty and the code of ethics at any expense, but yet the enemy consisted of their own flesh and blood. Kresna offered his profound counsel to the bewildered Arjuna in the passage known as the Bagawad Gita ("The Song of God"), just as Arjuna was called on to kill his own cousins.

One by one the magnificent heroes from both sides were slain: Resi Durna, Resi Bisma, Adipati Karna, Dursasana, and Duryudana himself from the Kurawa side; and Abimanyu, Gatutkaca, among others from the Pendawa side. After the bloodshed of the Great War and as the relieved Pendawa were resting, Durna's son Aswatama secretly entered the Pendawa camp and assassinated all the Pendawa women and children. Even Parikesit, the son of Abimanyu and Utariis, was slain while still in the womb of his mother. However, revived by Kresna the child grew up to become the last descendant of the Pendawa and one of the first ancestors of the kings of Java.

The Ramayana Story

Near the mighty Himalaya mountains, in the fabled kingdom of Kosala, reigned King Dasarata and his four sons: Rama, Barata, Laksmana, and Saturgna. Raised with wisdom and virtue, the princes lived in peace and provided an endless source of well being to the king and his subjects. When he was old and tired, Dasarata realized that he should give up his throne to his eldest son, prince Rama. The people gleefully decorated the palace for the momentous occasion. However, Dasarata’s second wife, Kekayi, was not at all enthusiastic, for she had ambitions for her own son. So she reminded Dasarata that he owed her two unfulfilled promises and demanded that Barata, her son, be crowned king and that Rama be banished to the forest of Dandaka for fourteen years.

The king, shuddering with grief and anger, could not break his promises and, therefore, was forced to proclaim Kekayi’s requests as royal decrees. Rama respectfully submitted to his father and prepared to leave. As he was departing, Sita begged permission to go into the forest with him. Even though there would be dangers, Rama reluctantly agreed to take both Sita and his brother, Laksmana, with him.

The king was overcome by grief, the people of Kosala cried, many became ill, some even died, and everyone was in deep mourning. Kekay, pretending to mourn, approached her son only to discover, to her surprise and horror, that Barata refused the crown, saying that he would rule the kingdom only as Rama's deputy and with his elder brother’s sandals on the throne. In the mean time, Rama, Sita, and Laksmana journeyed deep into the forest where they found comfort with saints and hermits, one of whom, named Agastya, awarded Rama a magic bow. In the forest the three outcasts built a primitive house where they lived in peace and contentment for thirteen years, even though Rama was often haunted by a sense of danger and would never permit Sita to be alone without a guard; one brother would watch over her while the other hunted.

Soon, however, their idyllic lives were shattered when the demon-king Rawana discovered their hiding place. Entranced by Sita's beauty and charm, Rawana was determined to abduct her, inspired on by his sister, Sarpakenaka. Rawana ordered his minister, the powerful giant Marica, to entice Rama away. A stunning golden deer came to Sita, and she pleaded with Rama to catch it. After a brief period of trying to trap it, however, he become suspicious at being lured so far from the dwelling and shot an arrow at the beautiful and graceful creature. Immediately, right where the deer had died, the grotesque body of Marica materialized. But, before he died the Marica cried out for assistance, but in Rama's voice. Fearing the safety for her prince, Sita persuaded Laksmana to go to his rescue, leaving her alone for a brief time. Thus, Laksmana rushed off to assist Rama, explaining to Sita that under no circumstance should she leave the dwelling.

Suddenly, the cottage was shook by a blast of wind, and Rawana appeared before Sita, but in the disguise of a begging holy man. Flattering her, he soon convinced her to open the door. Upon seeing his flaming eyes, Sita immediately realized her fatal error, but not soon enough! Rawana grabbed her in his arms, leaped high into the air, transformed himself back into his original ugly form, and flew to his palace in Langka (Sri Lanka). On the way Rawana was attacked by the bird Jatayu who, trying to rescue Sita, was mortally wounded.

Rama and Laksmana, setting forth into the dangerous forest to search for Sita, found the dying Jatayu who told them of Sita's abduction. They eventually met a great white monkey, called Hanuman, who told them he was the servant of the monkey king, called Sugriwa. Befriended by the two itinerant travellers, Sugriwa ordered his armies of monkeys, under the leadership of Hanuman, to help search world wide for the princess Sita.

After numerous exciting adventures, they all reached the shore of the sea separating them from the large island of Langka. Hanuman leaped across the sea and found Sita alone in the garden of Rawana's palace. He informed her that Rama would come to her rescue within one month and gave her Rama's ring. In return the delighted Sita gave Hanuman her ring to take back to her husband. Before returning to Rama, however, Hanuman created great havoc in Rawana's kingdom. He increased his size by one hundred times and shouted a terrifying warning to all the giants. Even though his tail was set on fire by Rawana's troops, Hanuman used the flames to burn the entire village before leaping back across the sea to the mainland.

All the monkey armies, under Hanuman's command, prepared their assault, forming a bridge of boulders across the sea. Thus Rama and his allies invaded Langka and forged a violent battle, ending with the death of Rawana by a well-aimed arrow from Rama's magic bow. Rama, Sita, and Laksmana, joyously reunited, returned to Kosala after their fourteen years of exile, whereupon, Barata happily gave up his regency to the proper king, Rama.

Further Reading

Anderson, Benedict. Mythology and Tolerance of the Javanese. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Modern Indonesia Project, 1965.

Baum, Vicki. Tale of Bali. Trans. by Basil Creighton. New York: Literary Guild of America, 1938.

Becker, Judith. Traditional Music in Modern Java. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Belo, Jane. Bali: The Temple Festival. New York: J. J. Augustin, 1953.

Brandon, James R. On Thrones of Gold: Three Javanese Shadow Plays. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1970.

Coast, John. Dancers of Bali. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1953.

Covarrubius, Miguel. Island of Bali. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1942.

Geertz, Clifford. The Religion of Java. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1960.

Harrell, Max. Some Aspects of Sundanese Music, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology (Vol. 2), pp. 81-102.

Heins, Ernst. “Cueing the Gamelan in Javanese Wayang Performance.” Indonesia, 9 (April), pp. 101-27. Holt, Claire. Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967.

Hood, Mantle. The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of Patet in Javanese Music. Groningen/Djakarta: J. B. Wolters, 1954.

________. The Enduring Tradition: Music and Theatre in Java and Bali. Indonesia, New Haven, Conn.: Southeast Asian Studies, Yale University, by arrangement with HRAF Press, pp. 438-71, 555-60.

Kunst, Jaap. Music in Java (Its History, Its Theory and Its Technique). 2nd ed. 2 Vols. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1949.

Lindsay, Jennifer. Javanese Gamelan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.

McPhee, Colin. A House in Bali. New York: John Day, 1946.

________. Music in Bali: A Study in Form and Instrumental Organization in Balinese Orchestral Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1976.

Mellema, R. L. Wayang Puppets, Carving, Coloring, Symbols. Amsterdam: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, 1954.

Rassers, Willem H. Panji, the Culture Hero: A Structural Study of Religion in Java. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1959.

Soedarsono. Classical Javanese Dance: History and Characterization. Ethnomusicology, 13 (September), pp. 498-506.

Stutterheim, Willem F. Indian Influences in Old-Javanese Art. London: The Indian Society, 1935.

Susilo, Hardja. Musics of Southeast Asia. Part of Music in World Cultures in Music Educators Journal, October 1972.

Van Ness, Edward C. and Shita Prawirohardjo. Javanese Wayang Kulit: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Zoete, Beryl de, and Walter Spies. Dance and Drama in Bali. New York: Harper, 1939.