Gamelan : cultural interaction and musical development in central Java / Sumarsam.
| Author/creator | Sumarsam |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Chicago : University of Chicago Press, ©1995. |
| Description | xviii, 350 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Chicago studies in ethnomusicology Chicago studies in ethnomusicology. ^A261178 |
| Contents | From Hindu to Islam: the early history of Javanese music. Hinduized Javanese culture -- The early period of Islamized Java and early contacts with Europeans -- Early views of Javanese Islam: Sufism and the Javanese court -- Early Islamic perspectives toward music: outside the court -- Javanese interaction with European colonialism, Islam, and the Peranakan Chinese: a period of intensive cultural development. Background and theory of the development of the Javanese performing arts -- Mestizo culture: relationships between Europeans and Javanese courtiers -- Evasion and expression of colonialism in the Javanese court culture -- Chinese patronage of Javanese arts -- The decline of Islamic ritual in the courts of central Java -- The flourishing of literature influenced the development of Gamelan Gendhing -- The impact of western thought on Javanese views of music. The early impact of European intellectualism on gamelan -- The art of Adi luhung and Indonesian nationalism -- The development of theories of Gendhing in the twentieth century -- The involvement of musicians in the formulation of gamelan theories -- Insearch of the origins and significance of Balungan -- Classification systems of gamelan instruments -- Current theories of Gendhing. Vocal melodies as the melodic precedent of the Gendhing: views from the Serat Centhini, Serat Gulang Yarya, and Serat Sosorah Gamelan -- Additional examples of the process of composition -- The instrumental element of Gendhing and Gendhing bonang -- The terms gatra and cengkok -- Appendix. Gamelan instruments. |
| Abstract | This is a study of the music of Java and the development of the gamelan. An ensemble dominated by bronze percussion instruments that dates back to the twelfth century in Java, the gamelan as a musical organization and a genre of performance reflects a cultural heritage that is the product of centuries of interaction between Hindu, Islamic, European, Chinese, and Malay cultural forces. Drawing on sources ranging from a twelfth-century royal poem to the writing of a twentieth-century nationalist, the author shows how the Indian-inspired contexts and ideology of the Javanese performing arts were first adjusted to the Sufi tradition and later shaped by European performance styles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He then turns to accounts of gamelan theory and practice from the colonial and postcolonial periods. He also presents his own theory of gamelan, stressing the relationship between purely vocal melodies and classical gamelan composition. |
| General note | Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1992, originally presented under title: Historical contexts and theories of Javanese music. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-337) and index. |
| LCCN | 94043013 |
| ISBN | 0226780104 |
| ISBN | 0226780112 (pbk.) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML345.I5 S86 1995 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |