Britons strike up love affair with sounds of Javanese gamelan
14-06-2008 23:18:09

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 01/26/2008 2:06 AM  |  Life

LONDON (JP): Peter Smith arranged rice-cakes, possibly bought in London'sChinatown, and colorful flowers in a bamboo basket. He put them in front ofthe gong at the back of a Javanese gamelan set.

Smith was making the final preparation for a performance of Island Hopping - a concert of Javanese and Balinese gamelan instruments at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London. The show featured The South BankGamelan Players and Lila Cita -a Javanese and Balinese gamelan group respectively - whose members are Londoners.

""It's a lorotan,"" whispered Smith. Lorotan is a Javanese word that means ""offering to fend off bad luck"". ""We're going to play a sacred piece calledGadhung Mlathi, he explained the reason.

It is a piece rarely performed and then only with special offerings to the Queen of the South Seas.

""It's an old composition, created about 200 years ago, but very modern atthe same time. It's such a nice piece, unique, nothing like it. Quite remarkable,"" said Smith, the acting artistic director of The South Bank Gamelan Players, who spent three years studying the art of Karawitan (Javanese music) in STSI Surakarta (Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts) in Solo.

The South Bank Gamelan Players is only one of around 50 gamelan groups scattered across Britain. Ninety four percent are Javanese gamelan while the rest vary from Sundanese to Balinese.

""The trend is exploding,"" confirmed Andy Channing - the artistic directorof Lila Cita - a Balinese gong kebyar group which also performed that night.

""Thirteen years ago when I first started (playing gamelan), there were only a few gamelan in Britain, mostly in universities such as Oxford, York or Durham,"" said Channing, who founded Lila Cita in 1998.

Now, that early enthusiasm in the academic world has trickled down to bigarts centers such as South Bank Center (SBC), which later introduced gamelan to community organizations and school-children.

The Javanese gamelan set housed in SBC was a gift from Indonesia in 1988.SBC has been giving gamelan courses ever since.

""We have at least nine groups playing during weekdays and three to five school groups on the weekend,"" said Smith, who also teaches at SBC and several universities including Oxford.

Besides regular courses, SBC occasionally organizes workshops where people can have a ""gamelan taster class"" before they decide to enroll in the course.

""It was very exciting. I tried everything except the big gong, since manyof us queued for it,"" said Shizuka Yokomizo, who tried a two-hour gamelan taster workshop.

Semi-professional

The group that performed last April is semi-professional and belongs to the advanced class.

""Most are playing as a hobby, only five or six make a living by teaching or playing gamelan. But it's a serious hobby since many of them - at least 16 of 21 - have studied gamelan either in Solo or Yogya for a year,"" explained Smith.

The SBC has a close link with STSI Surakarta where some of its good players, including Smith, have been benefiting from Darmasiswa - a scholarship from Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture for foreigners to study gamelan in Solo.

Some have extended their abilities by learning other styles. Bradley Smith, who works for a computer company, also learned Banyumasan style in addition to the classic Solo style.

It's very different. The drumming is more like Sundanese and it's more folk music. For me they're a livelier and happier tunes,"" he said.

Smith keeps coming back to Banyumas to hone his musical skills. ""I have friends there now. We're traveling around to see concerts. And they always ask me to play on such occasions. It's a scary thing - but very useful. Playing here in the South Bank is nothing compared to that,"" said, Smith who also founded a calung group - another form of Banyumasan music.

A large number of musicians started to play gamelan at university. RobertCampion of SBC and Valerie Gunn of Lila Cita are among that group.

""I saw people playing while I studied in Durnham University and I really like it, especially after I visited Solo,"" said Campion, now working both as composer and accountant.

Meanwhile, Gunn's first encounter with gamelan angklung (a type of Balinese gamelan) was when she studied at Dartington University in Devon. Now she joins Lila Cita to play gong kebyar while working as a sound engineer.

""I can't wait to visit Bali,"" said Gunn who has been playing for almost seven years. ""It's always the time-money problem. I don't want to go only for two weeks. I'd like to stay at least for a year,"" she said.

Although, encouraging students to compose gamelan pieces, SBC concentrates more on teaching the traditional style. ""For me the original way of playing Javanese gamelan is much more shocking, liberating and distinct than any fusion influenced by western music,"" said Peter Smith whofirst studied western music at York University.

""There's nowhere else where so many people can play in one group organically without preconception or structure, in the way of western composition. There's no conductor; very egalitarian. Twenty people can justsit and create the music,"" said Smith.

However, for some people, mastering the traditional style is only a firststep to creating their own composition, be it traditional or contemporary.

Andy Channing, for instance, in addition to playing traditional music fortwo Balinese gamelan groups, also writes new (modern) pieces for gamelan. He even founded a special group for this purpose, Alpha Betha, which recently released their first CD.

Pop music

Furthermore, Channing has introduced gamelan to other venues -- this timemore into pop music. Joining and funding various groups, including SBC, Channing has played in Edinburgh Festival, Glastonbury Festival (the biggest pop festival in Britain) and in London's clubbing scene, such as atthe once hip Ministry of Sound.

""It was a modern composition by an American composer for Mark Morris (a reputable American choreographer) in Edinburgh and with a jazz band in a club,"" said Channing.

Both SBC and Lila Cita rehearse once a week, and more frequently when approaching a big show like the one in April that was more an emotional anniversary.

""Ten years ago, we held a full week Island to Island event -- a festival of Indonesian music where we invited more than 50 musicians from STSI Solo to perform here,"" said Peter Smith.

Gamelan certainly continues to be cherished in Britain. If there is one thing lacking, it is the absence of an Artist-in-Residence for teaching gamelan.

""We used to have someone attached to the Indonesian embassy for Javanese gamelan. But it has stopped since krismon (monetary crisis),"" said Smith. The SBC can't afford to replace such facility.

Channing would also like to have a Balinese master for his Lila Cita, butlike SBC, can't afford to invite one. So far though, he feels the need.

""What I do is to encourage the members to visit Bali, learn the music andcome back with more knowledge,"" he said. For the future, founding a BritishGamelan Foundation is being considered, though it is unlikely to happen soon.

""Hopefully through such charity we can invite an Artist-in-Residence who can teach throughout Britain,"" said Smith.

Britain has become one of the gamelan centers outside Indonesia besides other countries in Europe and America. ""London is probably the only city outside Indonesia or even Jakarta where people can play many kinds of gamelan types,"" claimed Smith.

Interest is definitely growing, despite some prevailing problems. ""We even sent a British gamelan teacher to Paris recently since they would liketo set up a group similar to the one we have in SBC,"" said Smith, proudly. ""So, Indonesia is like our grandparents, and we are sort of the ""parents"" here who send off people. Paris has just sent their first player to learn gamelan in Java,"" added Smith.

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Scholarship draws international students to Indonesian art, culture
14-06-2008 23:14:57

Claudia Seise ,  Contributor ,  Yogyakarta   |  Fri, 06/13/2008 10:04 AM  |  Java Brew

Darmasiswa scholarship students and IOIO members (from left to right) Pa Modou, Aurel, Shouichi and Steven, give a creative gamelan performance at the Polytechnic College for Art and Culture, in Yogyakarta. (JP/Claudia Seise)

What would make a group of people from four different continents meet in one room and not discuss world politics or climate change?

A scholarship initiated by the Indonesian government known as Darmasiswa invites young people from nations that have good, friendly relations with Indonesia to study Indonesian culture, arts, music and language in the country.

The Darmasiswa program covers university fees and a monthly stipend of Rp 1 million (US$108) per student. The foreign students are placed in universities around the country.

The Darmasiswa program has been growing steadily over the last three decades since its inception in 1977: In the year 2005, only 120 students received the scholarship, but two years later there were around 400.

The scholarship holders include Gambian, French, German, British, Japanese, Hungarian, Mexican, Australian and Bangladeshi students, among others.

The Indonesian government has ambitiously planned that in the next two years more than 700 students would receive invitations to study Indonesian arts and culture on the Darmasiswa scholarship.

While some foreign students use this scholarship to enjoy an easy year off from their normal life back home, other Darmasiswa students effectively use their time to contribute to campus and community life.

They leave an imprint on their environment and the people around them, and become a part of Indonesian modern culture.

An exciting event recently held at the P4TK Seni dan Budaya (Polytechnic College of Art and Culture), one of the education institutions receiving the foreign scholarship students, allowed the public to observe the foreign students' activities in Yogyakarta.

The main event was a concert by the Inter Oriental Invasion Orchestra (IOIO), which was founded last year by four international students united through the gamelan orchestra and the urge to explore and enjoy traditional Indonesian music.

Three of the four founding students performed on stage on June 5, enchanting the audience with their gamelan sounds and showcasing their creativity.

Shouichi (Japan), Aurel (France) and Steven (UK), all Darmasiswa students, experimented with gamelan instruments to create totally new sounds -- similar to a psychedelic kind of electronic music.

During the June concert, several other Darmasiswa students joined the IOIO performance. Their collaborative work with Pa Modou and Ibrahim from Gambia, as well as Sabir from Bangladesh, made the IOIO's performance even more colorful, oriental and international.

Pa Modou, Ibrahim and Sabir surprised the audience with rap and sketches in their local languages while their traditional dresses and dances completed the introduction to their cultures.

Guests also enjoyed a Mexican wayang kulit shadow puppet play performed by young Mexican dalang (puppet master) Miguel, who is currently studying at P4TK.

Using Indonesian, Miguel retold the myth of the founding of Mexico City. The audience, mostly Indonesians, enjoyed his dalang skills and jokes -- an interesting performance that showed even the very traditional wayang kulit could be adapted into something global.

Pa Modou, a graduate from a teacher's college in his home country Gambia, said he came to Indonesia to study theater and film at the P4TK. He added he had always been interested in film, even more so since the growth of a youth movie industry in Gambia.

Pa Modou belongs to the first group of young Gambians taking part in the Darmasiswa scholarship program since its beginning.

Interested in film and theater for a long time, he decided to apply for the scholarship through his government. Gambia is the smallest country in Africa, located in the West of the continent, and bordered by Senegal from the north, east and south.

Since studying at P4TK, Pa Modou has taken part in several projects, including the making of a documentary about the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan -- called A legacy of Buddhism and Hinduism in Indonesia -- and different theater performances illustrating traditional Indonesian folk tales.

Pa Modou and his classmates have performed in many villages and towns around Java, including at the Banyuwangi Multi Media Art Center in East Java.

Pa Modou's current project includes a documentary about the Darmasiswa program and daily activities for a theater piece titled The Rabbit and the Wolf.

Sabir from Bangladesh -- a freelance photographer with a master's degree in economics -- came to Yogyakarta to study photography and multi media. His favorite theme is human life.

"We have to do something here in this world, first for our faith, for our country and for ourselves," he said of his philosophy in life.

Tari Sikol (150x100cm, acrylic on canvas, 2008) by Franziska, a German student who is studying Indonesian art on the Darmasiswa scholarship program.(JP/Claudia Seise)

Franziska, another Darmasiswa student who is originally from Germany, is studying fine art -- in particular, painting. She is known for her "golden hands", after almost all her works exhibited in her first solo exhibition in the country (at the Affandi Museum in Yogyakarta) were sold out.

In the exhibition, titled "Everything is Rites", Franziska showed the world, culture and tradition around her. Everyday life scenes in her Javanese kampong somehow become mystical and abstract through the sweeping strokes of her brush and the often triangular, religious compositions in her work.

Her works were reminiscent of old Chinese illustrations for folk tales and myths mixed with the strong colors of Indonesia's fathers of modern art, like Sudjojono and Affandi.

After she completes her degree at the Fine Arts Academy in Dresden, Germany, Franziska said she planned to return to Yogyakarta to continue her activities as an artist.

With almost 400 hundred foreign students studying in Indonesia under the Darmasiswa scholarship this year, each can be seen as an ambassador for inter-cultural understanding and world peace.

The IOIO will perform at 7:30 p.m. on June 19 at Tembi House of Culture, Jl. Parangtritis, in Tembi, Bantul, Yogyakarta.

The group will collaborate with other international artists in a June 21 performance at LIPI, the French Cultural Centre in Yogyakarta.

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Pertukaran Budaya Lewat Darmasiswa
13-06-2008 16:14:51


Oleh : Eva rohilah/Pena.com

Lenggang-lenggang kangkung, Kangkung dimasak cuka

Sungguh kami beruntung jadi peserta Darmasiswa

Lenggang-lenggang kangkung, kangkung dipinggir kali

Oh Bapak Menteri, terimalah kami disini

Mengenakan baju adat Meksiko berwarna hijau dengan ikat kepala melingkar berbentuk bunga warna warni, Carolina Melgarejo Torres, terlihat gembira menyanyikan lagu Lenggang Kangkung. Lagu khas Betawi ini dinyanyikan bersama 15 orang temannya, mewakili 548 siswa dari 62 negara dalam pembukaan Darmasiswa, Indonesian Scholarship Program 2007-2008 di Sasono Langen Budoyo, Komplek TMII, Pondok Gede awal September lalu.

 Diiringi gitar akuistik yang dimainkan mahasiswa asal Australia, Carolina nampak fasih menyanyikan bait demi bait lagu yang liriknya diubah oleh Titis Angsana ini. Seorang perempuan cantik asal China yang bertindak sebagai konduktor, terlihat serius memberi aba-aba. Lenggang Kangkung adalah lagu kedua yang sukses mereka lantunkan usai lagu Halo Halo Bandung menggema malam itu.

Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Bambang Sudibyo yang hadir bersama jajaran Direktorat Jenderal Perguruan Tinggi, Biro Perencanaan dan Kerja Sama Luar Negeri dan para Duta Besar (Dubes) terpukau melihat penampilan para calon mahasiswa yang akan mengikuti program Darmasiswa selama setahun ini. Maklum, mereka baru datang, namun sudah mampu menghafal beberapa lagu Indonesia.

Begitu turun panggung, Carolina, gadis kelahiran Mexico City, 20 Juni 1980 terlihat bahagia dan tersenyum lebar. ”I am so nervous,” ujarnya singkat. Setelah melalului seleksi yang ketat menyingkirkan beberapa saingannya dari Meksiko, Carolina yang berkulit sawo matang dan bermata indah ini bersama teman senegaranya Ilse Peralta Lopez berniat memperdalam tari Bali di Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar Bali.

Berbeda dengan Carolina, Celine Alice Guillouet mahasiswa asal Perancis kelahiran Avignon 24 Oktober 1978 ini lebih tertarik mempelajari Bahasa Indonesia di Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang.

Darmasiswa adalah program beasiswa dari Pemerintah Indonesia, melalui Depdiknas kepada mahasiswa asing untuk belajar bahasa dan budaya Indonesia di Perguruan Tinggi (PT) di Indonesia. Kegiatan ini dalam rangka mempromosikan pendidikan Indonesia terutama pendidikan di PT kepada dunia internasional. Setiap mahasiswa diberi kesempatan mempelajari budaya Indonesia melalui pelbagai disipilin ilmu di beberapa universitas di seluruh Indonesia, seperti bahasa, seni, musik, tari, dan kerajinan.

 ”Darmasiswa sudah diadakan sejak tahun 1974, sampai saat ini sudah 1857 siswa dari 77 negara yang mengikuti program ini, ” kata Dr. Ir. Gatot Hari Priowirjanto, Kepala Biro Perencanaan dan Kerja Sama Luar Negeri Departemen Pendidikan Nasional kepada Pena Pendidikan.

 Pada awal berdirinya, program ini hanya diikuti negara anggota Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) saja. Namun sejak 1976 beberapa mahasiswa dari Australia, Kanada, Prancis, Jerman, Hongaria, Meksiko, Belanda, Norwegia , Swedia, dan Amerika Serikat juga tertarik.

 Pada tahun sebelumnya, beasiswa ini hanya diikuti 100 orang saja. Namun untuk periode 2007-2008, pesertanya menjadi 500 orang lebih. Hal ini dikarenakan minat yang luar biasa akan budaya Indonesia. China dan Polandia adalah dua negara yang mengirim mahasiwa paling banyak tahun ini.

 Dalam sambutannya, Bambang Sudibyo menyambut baik mereka. “Saya ucapkan selamat datang dan saya persilahkan kepada para mahasiswa untuk menggali aspek spritual, inteletual, budaya, logika dan potensi lain dari bangsa Indonesia yang memiliki 17.000 pulau dengan 7.000 bahasa daerah dengan beragam keunikan dan perbedaan,” katanya, disambut tepuk tangan peserta.

 Selain Bambang Sudibyo, Dubes China Lan Lijun dan Dubes Polandia Thomasz Lukaszuk juga memberikan sambutan. Kedua Dubes ini mengatakan, ajang beasiswa ini sangat bagus untuk meningkatan kerjasama bidang pendidikan negaranya dengan Indonesia.

 EVA ROHILAH

Mahasiswa Hungaria Terima Beasiswa Darmasiswa Dari Indonesia
13-06-2008 16:13:18


3 Juni 2008 | 23:50 WIB

London ( Berita ) :  Sebanyak 30 mahasiswa Hungaria mendapatkan beasiswa Darmasiswa dari Pemerintah Indonesia untuk belajar di berbagai perguruan tinggi di Indonesia Duta Besar RI untuk Hungaria merangkap Kroasia, Bosnia Herzegovina dan Makedonia, Mangasi Sihombing mengumumkan pemberian beasiswa itu pada pertemuan dengan pimpinan Abigel Multifunctional Institute, Debrecen Hongaria yang dihadiri sejumlah diplomat asing dan tokoh pendidikan.

Sekretaris I, PF Pensosbud KBRI Budapest,Arena Sri Victoria dalam keterangannya kepada ANTARA London, Senin [02/06] mengatakan pelajarHungaria sangat antusias menanggapi program beasiswa dari pemerintah Indonesia. Menurut Arena, setiap tahunnya tidak kurang dari 10 pelajar Hungaria menerima beasiswa Darmasiswa. Pada tahun 2007 sebanyak 17mahasiswa Hungaria memanfaatkan beasiswa Darmasiswa.

Dikatakannya , hingga saat ini alumni Darmasiswa di Hungaria mencapai lebih dari 120 orang, sebagian besar alumni menjalin kerja sama erat dengan KBRI dalam upaya mempromosikan kepentingan Indonesia di Hungaria dan Negara-negara sekitarnya. Pimpinan Abigel Multifunctional Institute dalam pertemuan itu menjelaskan tentang program pendidikan yang ada diantaranya pendidikan dasar bahasa,pelajaran seni serta pelatihan teknis.

Kekhasan sekolah Abigel Multifunctional Institute adalah sejak dini anak-anakdiperkenalkan pada seni baik seni tari, musik dan seni kerajinan yang diharapkan mereka melanjutkan pada jenjang yang lebih tinggi pada bidang yang sama. ( ant )

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Kesenian Indonesia Memukau Masyarakat Hongaria
13-06-2008 16:00:58

KOMPAS IMAGES/KRISTIANTO PURNOMO

Angga, dari kelompok tari Nan Jombang, berkolaborasi dengan kelompok perkusi KunoKini di Bentara Budaya Jakarta, Rabu (26/3).

LONDON, MINGGU -- Menandai promosi Visit Indonesia Year 2008 (VIY) di Hongaria, pertunjukkan kesenian Indonesia yang dibawakan oleh sebagian besar remaja Hongaria penerima beasiswa Dharmasiswa memukau sekitar 300 penonton di kota Debrecen, kota kedua terbesar Hongaria. 

Kesenian Indonesia yang ditampilkan pada acara Malam Kesenian Universitas Debrecen itu diisi dengan tari-tarian dari berbagai daerah. Acara dimulai dengan menampilkan beberapa nomor tari dari negara Hongaria yang dibawakan oleh kelompok remaja dan mahasiswa. 

Arena Sri Victoria, Sekretaris-I Pensosbud KBRI Budapest, kepada Kantor Berita Antara di London, mengatakan penampilan kesenian Indonesia yang berlangsung sekitar satu jam itu memukau hadirin yang terdiri dari para dosen, mahasiswa, pers, dan sejumlah duta besar asing serta tokoh masyarakat setempat. 

Menurut Sri, tim kesenian Indonesia yang menampilkan tujuh penari asal Hongaria dan satu dari Indonesia telah menarik perhatian masyarakat Hongaria terhadap dunia seni Indonesia. 

Dikatakannya, sebagain besar dari penari pernah menerima beasiswa Darma Siswa RI dan mereka belajar budaya Indonesia dan mengembangkannya sebagai profesi. Salah satunya, Iveth Bardos, yang dalam acara itu membawakan Tari Topeng Jawa bahkan telah membuka sanggar tari dan terus melatih muda-mudi Hongaria.

Sebagai tari pembuka ditampilkan tari Panyembrama,  karya Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII, yang dibawakan oleh Felicia Zinka dan Olivia Zinka, tari Ayun-ayun oleh Iveth dan Andrea, dan tari Yapong Betawi oleh Husna.

Penampilan tarian yang diiringi musik Rindik Bali yang dibawakan Andras Terfy dan Gabor Nemeth serta alunan Gamelan Degung oleh Andras Terfy, Gabor Nemeth, dan Peter Szilagyi menambah semarak kesenian Indoensia.

Seminar globalisasi
Sebelum acara kesenian berlangsung,  Universitas Debrecen terlebih dulu mengadakan seminar bertajuk "Globalisasi dan Pluralisme Budaya". Duta Besar RI untuk Republik Hongaria merangkap Republik Croatia dan Bosnia Herzegovina serta Republik Macedonia, Mangasi Sihombing menjadi salah seorang pembicara.

Pada seminar itu Dubes Mangasi Sihombing mengemukakan,  ragam budaya, keindahan dan potensi Indonesia telah menjadikan Indonesia sebagai tujuan wisata yang menarik bagi wisatawan manca negara.  Ia juga menyinggung berbagai kesamaan antara kedua bangsa dan negara yang terus menjalin kerjsama. Dubes mencatat kesamaan pada masa pra sejarah karena di kedua wilayah sama-sama ditemukan fosil-fosil homo erectus pithecanthropus.

Sementara itu Dr Andras Kesmarky, dosen pada Universitas Debrecen yang mengetahui bahwa sejumlah warga Hongaria telah menjadi seniman Indonesia, menyampaikan keinginanya agar mahasiswa Universitas Debrecen mendapat kesempatan mengikuti program beasiswa Darmasiswa Indonesia. 

Andras Kesmarky adalah anggota Tim Bantuan Medis Universitas Debrecen yang  yang pertama masuk Aceh dan mendirikan rumah sakit lapangan beberapa saat setelah musibah tsunami melanda Aceh. Bahkan ia juga membantu penanggulangan bencana gempa yang  terjadi di Yogyakarta.

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