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Indonesians and Australians Playing Javanese Gamelan in Perth, Western Australia: Community and the Negotiation of Musical Identities

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14442210902852831

1740-9314

Jonathan McIntosh,

Asian Studies and History

Abstract The present article centres on a group of Indonesians and Australians who are members of a gamelan ensemble based at the Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Perth, Western Australia. By examining why Australians and Indonesians choose to participate in this musical community, the article investigates how these individuals negotiate and construct musical identities to give local meaning to gamelan in the West Australian context. Keywords: Javanese GamelanMusical IdentitiesCommunityPlaceGlobalisation Acknowledgements The author extends his special thanks to the members of the Langen Budoyo Gamelan Group at the Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Perth, Western Australia, who permitted him to undertake this research and made me feel so welcome at their weekly rehearsals. An earlier version of this article was presented at the international symposium 'Asia and Australia in the 21st Century: Globalisation, Culture and Identity', hosted and chaired by Dr Gary Sigley, Director of the Confucius Institute, The University of Western Australia. The author also thanks the two anonymous reviewers for TAPJA, Noomi Mozard from the School of History and Anthropology, Queen's University Belfast, and Aaron Hales and Juliet Faulkner from the School of Music, The University of Western Australia, who read and provided helpful comments on previous drafts of this article. Notes 1. Various gamelan-like ensembles are found throughout south-east Asia, for example in Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, although these ensembles use similar instruments and musical structures to those found in gamelan music, they are not categorised by using the term 'gamelan'. 2. For examples of such programmes in the UK, US and Australia, see Goldsworthy (Citation1997), Harnish (Citation2004), Harnish, Solís and Witzleben (Citation2004), Ramnarine (Citation2004), Sumarsam (Citation2004) and Vetter (Citation2004). In addition, other music performance traditions, for example West African Drumming, North Indian classical music and Chinese ensembles, have been introduced in ethnomusicology programmes. 3. The Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia is also the home of a women's gamelan group, which rehearses there every Thursday. However, the present article is only concerned with the Monday evening group. 4. Pak is the equivalent to 'Mr' in English and, in Indonesian, is used as a polite form of address. 5. For examples of pedagogic practices promoted in tertiary-level performing arts institutions in Bali and Java, see Sanger (Citation1986), Weintraub (Citation1995), Hough (Citation2000), Sutton (Citation2001) and McIntosh (Citation2006). 6. Informants have given their consent for their names to be used in this article. 7. For more information about the Lambang Sari gamelan group, visit their website at http://www.lambangsari.com/ 8. 'Damping', holding the hammer in your right hand, striking the key and damping it with the left hand as you strike the next, is the technique used to play all the metallophone instruments in a gamelan ensemble, for example the saron and slenthem. 9. Aiden played the recorder and trumpet for brief periods while at primary school, but he maintains that these experiences have not helped his learning of gamelan music.