Abstract
Whereas, in most islands of the Archipelago, the student of native music finds the available data to be limited almost exclusively to what is still being practised by the people to-day, in Java—and also in Bali—discoveries during excavations, temple-reliefs, documentary evidence in stone and bronze, as well as the ancient literature have enabled us to cast a glance into the past also, by revealing the existence of a manifold and highly-developed instrumentarium, namely in the Hindu-Javanese (and ancient-Balinese) period.
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References
Cf. also 313 and 369.
281, füe 1929, p. 40.
The large kettle-drum, also hourglass shaped, of Pèjèng (South Bali), might possibly have been cast in this island. Dr. Crucq found in 1933 some fragments of a mould of a similar drum—though of much smaller size—among a collection of pusaka (holy) images in a temple (the puta puseh, i.e. the temple of ancestors) of Manuaba in the district of Gianyar).
A chronological bibliography relating to the subject of kettle-drums maybe found as an Appendix to my treatise “Een en ander over muziek en dans op de Keieilanden” (227). In alphabetical order it has been reproduced in Vol. II of the present work (vide Bibliography). Cf. the numbers printed at the head of this Chapter.
Barabudur relief 0 39 (vide ill, 12 sub b). This grelot would actually appear to be identical with the wooden Anamitic mo, which is beaten like a gong in the temples (cf. Knosp, “Histoire de la musique dans l’Indochine”, in Lavignac, “Histoire de la Musique”, vol. V, p. 3100 et seq. (319, ill. 616).
The representation has become very indistinct. In any case, however, a gong-kettle of this description has been identified (under the name of brekuk) for the year 902 (inscription of Kembang arum), and as kangsi for about 1000 A.D. (Purwādhigama), whilst the Rämäyana also mentions it under the latter name. And what are we to think of those remarkable bonang-shaped stones, which have been found here and there in the soil of Central- and East-Java? Should we really regard these as imitations of gong-kettles (and, if so, very likely put down in the forest for the comfort and recreation of demons and sylvan deities)? The Majapahit fieldmuseum at Trawulan possessed several of these, hailing from the North-western slope of the Anjasmara mountain (Residence of Majakerta); the Batavia Society has about a dozen of them, one of which (Cat. No. 449a) was found in East-Semarang, and eleven (Cat. No. 449b) in the Klatèn district (ill. 165). The museum-catalogues, however, call these objects “neuten” (i.e. a kind of plinths) and Maclaine Pont, the founder of the museum at Trawulan, also believes that, at any rate several of them, were intended as such. The knob on the top would then have served to prevent any beams or bamboo post erected upon them from sliding off. Cf. also H. E. Steinmetz in T.B.G. XL (1898), p. 29; H. R. van Heekerenui “Djawa” XI (1931), p. 14 and ill. 10; J. Th. à Th. van der Hoop (124, p. 121 et seq.) and N.I. Oudheidkundig Verslag 1938, p. 10.
In Eastern Java; the style, however, is Central Javanese.
Relief IV; photo’s Gall E 39 and D 74.
Kakhara’s are jingling-staves used by begging monks. Cf. also Tobias Norlind, “Beiträge zur chinesischen Instrumentengeschichte” (“Svensk Tidschrift för Musikforskning” 1933, p. 51 et seq.).
From Nganjuk in the regency of Madiun, i.e. on the border of Central- and East-Java; as regards its style, however, it belongs to the period called 01d-(Central-) Javanese.
“De dateering van het Oud-Javaansche Rämäyana” (“Gedenkschrift Kon. Inst. v. T., L. en Vk.,” p. 365 et seq.), 1926.
Cf. Georg Buschan, Die Sitten der Völker II (without date), p. 96, fig. 118 at the left!
This also shows a full-bellied, two-headed drum.
In addition, one more image of a réyong has come to our knowledge, i.e. on a relief of a sacred shrine discovered by F. M. Schnitger, at Si Joreng Belangah in Padang Lawas (Tapanuli, N.W. Sumatra). Cf. Schnitger, “Oudheidkundige vondsten in Padang Lawas” (1936), plate VI, ill. bottom left, right-hand relief. The author himself took it to be a drum (ibid. p. 12, sub a).
There are indications, however, which render it feasible—and if the Old-Javanese version of the Rāmāyaṇa actually originated in the 9th century, it would even be certain—that the gong was known in Java already before 900 A.D. (176, p. 78/9).
Vide Dr. Th. Galestin, “Houtbouw op Oost-Javaansche tempelreliefs” (thesis 1936), p. 60/1.
Gendèrs (without resonance-tubes) with iron keys are to be found in Bali to this day; they still bear the Hindu-Javanese name of salunḍing (196).
Groeneveldt (97), p. 21.
202, p. 68 and plate X, ill. 37; also 226.
Schröder, Nias, par. 711, sub I 5; Kunst, 217, p. 39.
The word, which derives from tabuh, i.e. beating hammer, may be used for any instrument made to sound by means of such a tool (also, therefore, for saron, gendèr, gambang, etc.).
In our own times, for that matter, we have much the same state of affairs, notwithstanding all the snobbery and affectation of profound interest in the matter, (and not to mention the well-founded admiration, based upon knowledge of the facts, on the part of a very few students). Even in the 2nd part of the 2nd edition of the “Encyclopaedic van Nederlandsch Oost-Indië”, dated 1918, one may read, under the heading “Javanen” (p. 219a): Their music is on a fairly low level of development and deserves only partly the name of “tonal art”.
i.e. Mataram.
For a historical survey of the various written utterances known to us, concerning Indonesian music, we refer to 225.
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Kunst, J. (1949). Historical Survey. In: Music in Java. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7130-6_3
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