Year 7, #3
18 January 2008 Dear Friends, On Friday night, 18 January 2008, we had the 3rd klenengan in the 7th fiscal year running. It was held at the home of Dr. Rahayu Supanggah in Benawa. It started at about 8:00 pm and lasted until 2:30 am. Our fiscal years now start in September, so the 3 klenengan so far have been Sept 22, Nov 10, and this last one. It had been over 2 months since the last klenengan (10 November), because December was so busy and I was in the USA from 18 Dec-14 Jan. It was a very lively klenengan and our very own Pak Harjito was in attendance—visiting Java for a few weeks. This is the month of Sura in Java—the lunar month in which, by legend, the formidable Queen of the South Seas is always marrying off one of her relatives, and a month in which mortals defer to her and don’t plan weddings, circumcisions, or any other ceremony aside from various types of cleansing ceremonies. As modern as life in Solo may get the month of Sura remains a month for wayang of a certain variety—cleansing villages, offices, neighborhoods, etc—but not much else activity. There were a fair amount of sindhen busy at other events—probably village cleansing wayang—but most musicians were in attendance. The ISI group (Bp-s Raji, Kamso, Pardi, Djoko/gerong, Bu Yayuk) had a performance in Yogya and could not attend. Solo recently experienced very serious floods, and in January Pak Tulu’s home was completely destroyed by flooding and all his possessions washed away. We did some research and discovered that no other member of Pujangga Laras was affected. After conferring with Pak Harjito and mas Wakidi, we decided to give Pak Tulus Rp. 1.000.000 (about $110) of Pujangga Laras funds to help. He already had next to nothing before this happened and is now truly destitute, and has been coming to Pujangga Laras every month since its inception in 2001. The next klenengan will probably be held in mid February, but location not yet determined. —Kitsie Emerson, Solo/Jakarta Acara Gendhing
Musicians Attending
Audience:
BudgetWe spent Rp. 6,425,000 or $690 (Rp. 9304= $1). (Not counting the funds given to Pak Tulus.) |