Gotta love double meanings – say it with a hard ‘g’ as in ‘get’ (the standard ‘g’ in Bahasa Indo) and roll your rrrrrrr.
Yes, it means gender, no shocks there. But, as a friend of mine once pointed out at an ultra-geeky dinner party (we moved on to alphabet-based word games later in the evening after a strong hit of teh hijau – green tea – and all in all it was a good night), gender is, of all things, also the name of a small gamelan percussion instrument.
Read more about these instruments on the UK Gamelan Network website, which I’ve just discovered at: http://www.dcgamelan.com/ensembles.html
It’s been a while now, but I first had a crack at gamelan back in high school. Our Indonesian teacher back then made eclectic use of your average public school resources. We had xylophones, recorders, a triangle, random cymbals and to top it all off, metal cricket wickets for a gong. Not exactly the ornate, 80 piece East Java-bequeathed set I got to play with years later in the fledgeling Murdoch gamelan group, but it did the job. In a way. Well we got the theory and none of us knew our genders from our gong kebyars at the time.
We started out at Murdoch in 2002, playing out the back of the environmental science precinct and gaining a small run in the Melville Times until the Joglo Rahayu pavillion was built closer to the Asian Studies action with a temperature controlled annex to to house the instruments. Practices were led by an Indonesian dalang (puppet master), and inevitably noisy so late in the day for the sake of those having tutorials around us. They usually followed a very relaxed pattern going something like this – wait for a while, say hello to each other, slowly get the instruments out, stop for a beer or cigarette, play a few tunes, rest, and so on… years later, Java put the laid-back waiting in context for me…
Here’s a really quick Gamelan excerpt (Javanese Style):
If you’re youtube surfing, try searching Wayang Kulit - gamelan orchestras play at these epic shadow puppet performances which can be stunning if slow moving…
From the INCULS Closing Ceremony last year in Yogya. Thanks to Meg from ACICIS (study Indonesia! www.acicis.murdoch.edu.au) for cutting this together. It probably a more realistic representation of a novice Javanese dance performance than the montage of stills I cut together set to early 90s pop-rap classics. I might post that one for comparison at a later date.
There was a lot of hairspray, make up and waddling around in batik before this big day, not to mention weeks of swinging our heads from side to side, flick scarves and avoiding the small matter of a mini cyclone in the weeks leading up to the performance.
I would point out which one of the dancers is me but as my brother said: “…no offence but which one is you? They all look the same…”
These are from an orphanage trip/donation drive some of us in the ACICIS crew did, plus Tari Jawa! That’s right, 6 of us shuffled on stage clad head to toe in batik, make up and miscellaneous hair pieces to try and get our traditional Javanese dance groove on. Tari Jawa is a very slow groove set to gamelan music. We spent many Friday afternoons trying to get our heads around this very different and intricate kind of dance. Go us! 3 hours getting ready guys – 1 hr for make up, one for hair, one for clothes. There was a team of 6 or so people to help us get ready, hats off to them for somehow sticking a fake black hairpiece to the back of my head. We were even given corsets to wear underneath, aduh!
prior to costuming, many hours were spent in rehearsal jiggling our heads from side to side.
at the panti asuhan with the kids
Ok lah, kopi bangeeet! is just for fun. The rest of these pics are from a kos mate (flatmate’s) wedding in Solo yesterday. It was a Javanese Islamic wedding. Very different style to what we’re used to at home! The man comes to meet the woman, there are a few ceremonies (for eg the man steps on an egg and the woman washes it off to symbolise that she cares for him), and some vows which I don’t really understand as there’s a bit of arabic involved, and the family are involved too, then there’s lots of eating. The bride and groom stand and are greeted by/have photos with every guest… check out the outfits, they’re amazing.
me with kos mates
singer entertains the many guests still sitting while others greet the newly married couple.
in this part of the ceremony the bride and groom ate and drank tea together.
The set-up
The bride waits for her husband to come and meet her before they marry.
