Year 7, #11
6 September 2008 Dear Friends, On 6 September 2008, we had the last klenengan in the 7th fiscal year running. It was held at the home of Dr. Rahayu Supanggah in Benawa. It started at about 8:30 pm and lasted until 2:00 am. As is normal, there were 11 klenengan this year, and Lebaran bonuses were handed out last year in October, accounting for the 12th klenengan funds. The new fiscal year will start with the klenengan after the fasting month and after Lebaran—probably the 17th or 18th of October. Please send in your subscriptions for this next fiscal year, as right away at the very first klenengan we will be handing out the Lebaran bonuses for this year! The official organizer of gendhing this month was Pak Darsono. The klenengan was VERY lively. First of all it is the fasting month, so almost everyone was in attendance. Pak Wahyo rarely attends during fasting, as he is usually not feeling well, and this was no exception. But secondly, as Bp. Darsono “Jepang” was the organizer of the gendhing, he was quite prevalent and present at all times. People actually showed quite a fondness for him at this klenengan, and the sindhen even spontaneously did a special suite of langgam (the more rare ones), clearly extending the suite because they knew he likes them so much. Bp. Darsono has a phrase he loves to use these days “kapan matine”—which he adds to every phrase he utters when he wants to lighten up the atmosphere. He even wrote something for me recently and signed it Darsono, “kapan matine”—basically meaning “Darsono. And when is he going to kick the bucket?”. So when someone sings or plays something unusually bad or exquisite, ill informed or profound—either way—he comments “wah, kapan matine”—it’s his signature phrase now. It’s probably impossible to explain the effect in words—you’d have to know him, know a little about the way certain circles of Javanese who know each other super well tend to swear at each other when they’re amazed. . . Well at the klenengan it seemed everyone was using it and you’ll hear on the recording that there were loads of laughs all around the whole night through, and “kapan matine” must have been spoken dozens of times in many situations. The next klenengan will be the 17th or 18th of October. So far we have invited the following people to arrange the set gendhing each month:
And our plan for the 8th fiscal year organizers:
—Kitsie Emerson, Solo/Jakarta Acara GendhingGd Rara-Ngangsu kt 2 kr mg 4 kalj. Ldr Lenging Driya (Ntsb) ktp Ktw Warastra (Ntsb), pt ngelik jugag, pl 5 (Bp. Darsono added his own 2-gongan ngelik to the merong of what is traditionally played as a one-gongan merong.)
rb: Yadi Gd. Kocak kt 4 kr mg Ldr Diradameta, sw gropak, Srepegan Pinjalan mawi palaran Gambuh (Harjutri), Pangkur Surya Greged (Hartono “Sajuri”), Asmaradana miring (Warti), Srepegan rangkep, pt jugag, sl nem (chosen by Bp. Darsono)
rb: Yadi Gd Budheng-Budheng kt arang mg 4 kalj Ldr Sarayuda Lgm Antepingsih (Yayuk “Triyagan”), langgam by Bu Padmi Ldr. Kembang Kacang (chosen by Bp. Darsono)
rb: Panggah
pt sl 9 wantah Bawa (Panut) (gendhing chosen by Bp. Darsono—He got the notation from Marc Perlman a few years ago for this gendhing. The merong is from Bp. Warsodiningrat manuscripts and based on pathetan sanga wantah. Mas Darsono added a 2-gongan ngelik to the merong and then decided to use Nartosabdo’s Ldr Pariwisata as the inggih, instead of the inggih in the manuscript. There were three versions of the gendhing—3 ways in which the composer tried to base a merong on pathetan sanga wantah—and this particular choice of the 3 used by mas Darsono is also in Bp. Mloyo’s notation book as “Holo-Holo”, and attributed to Wirowiyaga rather than Warsodiningrat. The manuscript from Marc Perlman is titled “Ala-Ala” (meaning pretty bad, of bad quality). Mas Darsono says he belives it’s a way of the author to belittle himself so as to not feel arrogant in composing a gendhing in the face of the great tradition. As though to say, “I contribute this gendhing to the repertoire, but it’s actually not any good.” That’s mas Darsono’s interpretation anyway.
rb: Panggah (break for dinner) pt jugag, pl 6 Bawa Sinom—Lgm Sadarma (Yayuk “Triyagan”), langgam by Bp. Mujoko, alm Lgm Panalangsa (Yatmi), lgm by Ki Nartosabdo—final pitch in the melody is low 4!!!!! Lgm Ora Nglindur (Dewi), langgam by Ki Nartosabdo Lgm Impènku (Parni)
Pl 6 Bawa (Panut)
rb: Raji Gd. Lobong kt 2 kr mg Kinanthi seling Puspanjana kalj Ldr Kembang Pepe dados Ayak-ayakan Mijil Larasati
rb: Saptono Musicians Attending
Audience:
There were MANY more there, but so many that I didn’t get everyone’s name. Also any were hanging around in the dark area under the trees by the road side, and weren’t visible. BudgetWe spent Rp. 7,295,000 or $792 (Rp. 9200= $1). |