Category: USA

Marvin Goldman purchased a gender barung (pelog) in 2001, a gender panerus in 2006 and two more gender panerus in 2012. One gender panerus slendro is now part of Gamelan Kusuma Laras in New York City; the other instruments are played and preserved in his personal collection.

Although the pelog scale consists of 7 pitches, the pelog gender uses only 5 pitches, either 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6 in pelog bem or 7 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6 in pelog barang. This allows the gender player to play the same patterns in pelog as in slendro (which has 5 pitches). Thus, a complete pelog gamelan must have 2 gender barung and 2 gender panerus, as it is inconvenient to replace the 1 and the 7 on the gender. Suhirdjan devised a pelog gender for which the pitches 1 and 7 were more easily exchanged without having to restring the entire row of keys. The replacement keys (either pitches 1 or 7) can be tied into place and either a weight to drop into the resonator or a partial cap for the resonator is used to tune the resonator to the appropriate pitch.

When I was doing fieldwork in Yogyakarta in 1989 and 1990, I commissioned a small slendro Yogyanese gamelan from Ki Suhirdjan. Due to budget and space constraints, I requested a very simple set of brass and iron instruments with the gongs made from recycled oil barrels. It is amazing to hear the deep resonance that these humble gongs produce. The gender and slenthem have brass keys and the saron and bonang (with brass bosses) are iron. Overall, Dewi Sri has a lovely bright sound and Ki Suhirdjan’s original tuning has remained remarkably stable all these years.

As I do not have a lot of space in my apartment, I had a kenong renteng made in place of full sized kenong and frames. Each kenong pitch is represented on a brass slab like a slenthem key with a raised boss. In addition there is a kethuk key. I asked for a rosewood stain for the frames with gold highlights for the carved motif and the name Sri in honor of the rice goddess, in a circle in Javanese script and was quite pleased with the results.

Every time I look at or play on Dewi Sri, or see photos of her performances, I think of Mas Hirdjan and how kind and gentle he was. It goes without saying that he was a fabulous kendhang player with such graceful hands. Ki Suhirdjan will always have a very special place in my heart and somehow I feel that a part of him resides with Dewi Sri.

The University of Texas at Austin acquired its gamelan at the end of 1998. We were fortunate to have Pak Rasito Purwopangrawit teach for several semesters between 1999 and 2012. He named our set of instruments Kyai Rosowibowo.

Professor Stephen Slawek is currently teaching students and community participants the repertoire he learned from Pak Rasito. Our most recent concert was on December 7, 2013. We will be working on pieces in the Spring 2014 semester for our concert in early May.

Stephen Slawek
Professor and Division Head, Musicology/Ethnomusicology
Affiliate, South Asia Institute
Butler School of Music
The University of Texas at Austin
slawek@austin.utexas.edu

I teach “Children of the Mud Volcano,” a Central Javanese gamelan ensemble class at Arizona State University. We play traditional repertoire, but often with somewhat eclectic and neoIndonesian techniques appended to more traditional ones.

Our university bought the nucleus of the gamelan in 2002 from Andy Sutton, used, but have probably more than doubled the size since then through a series of orders from Joan and Suhirdjan. Examples: 2002 only a suwukan 2 and a gong 6 (originally it was a suwukan 6); now we also have a PL7/SL1 and PL1 and a large gong 3.

We’ve almost doubled the number of sarons, including a saron wayang, acquired two more kendhang kalih sets, kendhang wayang, 2 more ciblons, have filled out both the kempul and kenong ranges, and numerous other instruments. We also have a distinctive naga, which our Javanese friends constructed based on two Arizona tourist postcards with pictures of diamondback rattesnakes (see photos).

I’d say Suhirdjan and Joan have been instrumental (literally) in the success, such as it is, of our program. Suhirdjan provided the world at large a unique and indispensable artistry in the acquisition and assemblage of gamelans and gamelan instruments, and we will all be very much the poorer for his very untimely demise. Rest in Peace, Suhirdjan, and many thanks.

Ted SolÌs
Professor, Music History/Ethnomusicology
School of Music
Barrett Honors Faculty

Director, Latin Marimba “Maderas de Comit·n” and Javanese gamelan
“Children of the Mud Volcano”
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405, U.S.A.
Office phone (480)965-8612
e-mail: ted.solis@asu.edu