Bogor, Jabar - It is here, in one of Indonesia`s last remaining gamelan workshops, that the complex, layered tones of the country`s traditional music are shaped, fine-tuned and shipped around the world.
This family-run enterprise in its smoke-filled, tin-roofed shack has been turning out the xylophones, gongs, drums and strings that make up a gamelan orchestra for nearly 200 years. All its employees are descendants of the laborers hired when it opened in 1811.
Every day, a dozen of these grizzled men, shirtless, shoeless, clove cigarettes dangling from their lips, hover over a pit of fire and wait for a nascent gong to glow red. Then, almost musically, with sparks flying, they take turns pounding it into shape with the crudest of hammers. It takes days to make a single gong.
The workshop in Bogor, 48 kilometers, or 30 miles, south of Jakarta and known simply as the Gong Factory, has been one of the main suppliers of gamelan instruments in Java since the 1970s, when three of its competitors shut their doors because of a lack of demand.
But over the last decade, its owner says, orders here too have been steadily decreasing.
"I try to make sure there is always work for them so they can earn money," Sukarna, the factory`s sixth-generation owner and current patriarch, said of his workers, who earn about $2 a day. "But sometimes it is difficult."
Though gamelan music is still played throughout Indonesia - its collaborative rhythms can be heard at most traditional ceremonies and serenely wafting out of Bali`s meeting houses - its popularity is dwindling among the next generation of Indonesians, who are more easily lured by Western rock.
Sukarna, who like many Indonesians uses just one name, is 82 years old and worried for decades that his children, who do not share his passion for gamelan, might abandon the family business.
Sukarna`s youngest son, Krisna Hidayat, who is 28 and has a business degree, has, after some resistance, taken over as the workshop manager. But he says his favorite band is the American hard rock spectacle Guns N` Roses.
"My father still listens to gamelan at home," he said. "I prefer rock `n` roll."
Similar stories can be heard from the handful of remaining gamelan instrument-makers across Indonesia. Joan Suyenaga, an American who came to Java to indulge her fascination with its traditional performing arts and married a gamelan musician and instrument maker, said she, too, had noticed a decreasing interest in the art form locally.
"Our children play in rock bands and are immersed in emo, ska, pop and Western classical music," she said. "There definitely are a few desperate attempts to preserve the gamelan tradition here in Java, but not nearly as much as there could be."
But in early February, a performance in Jakarta by the Icelandic pop star Björk highlighted another trend, however slight, that might offer hope of the music`s survival.
Björk has used gamelan instruments in a number of her songs, most famously in her 1993 recording "One Day," and has performed with Balinese gamelan orchestras several times since. Several contemporary composers have incorporated gamelan into their works, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich and the late Lou Harrison.
It can also be found in the American rock scene. Art-rock bands like King Crimson and The Residents adapted gamelan`s layered, interlocking rhythms for Western instruments. Gamelan is heard in the soundtrack to the American television series Battlestar Galactica.
Perhaps more significantly, some schools in the United States and Europe now offer gamelan courses. Britain even includes it in its national music curriculum for primary and secondary education.
"They are doing all kinds of interesting community education projects with gamelan in Great Britain," Suyenaga said. "It is interesting and very sad that gamelan is used to teach basic musical concepts in Great Britain, whereas in Indonesian schools our children are exposed only to Western music and scales. The national curriculum here pays little attention to the incredible richness of traditional culture."
Hidayat, who, to the relief of his aging father, finally agreed to manage the factory in Bogor, said these days most of its orders were from the West - a trend he finds exciting.
"Most orders come from America, but we also get many from Australia, France, Germany and England," Hidayat said proudly. "Nowadays a lot more people know about gamelan outside of Indonesia."
Despite his original reluctance to become involved, Hidayat`s pride in the family business is obvious. The factory`s success is dependent on achieving the perfect mix of tin and copper for the gongs. It is a process that begins every morning at 5 and is now known only by Hidayat and his father.
Source: www.iht.com (14 Maret 2008)
