'Changing Islands': GAMELAN PULOGANTI
 Though
for sun-seeking Brits Summer is traditionally a time for island hopping,
it is not something we normally associate with Music Department facilities.
Nevertheless, over Summer 2004 a new gamelan for Royal Holloway was
named Puloganti after moving from its place of origin on the West Javanese
island of Sunda to its new home here in the British Isles. Though the
Javanese and Balinese give ornate names to their gamelan sets, such
as Gamelan Widya Santi (Gamelan of Wisdom and Peace), the Sundanese
usually don't. Ours, however, has been named Puloganti, after a degung
tune with interesting tempo changes and literally meaning 'Changing
Islands'.
Gamelan degung is a type of gong-chime ensemble found only in Sunda,
the mountainous region of West Java. Emerging during the 19th century
in the courts of the Sundanese regents, who ruled under the Dutch colonial
regime, it has become an important expression of Sundanese cultural
identity. Since Indonesian Independence in 1945, it has become increasingly
widespread and nowadays it is often played at wedding receptions or
as background music. Gamelan degung is tuned to a pentatonic scale,
pelog degung, which approximates to the pitches G F# D C B. Sometimes
the sorog tuning is used: G F# E C B. Gamelan degung is used in the
performance of classical genres but has also become the vehicle for
arrangements of Sundanese popular music.
Gamelan Puloganti will be directed by honorary lecturer Simon Cook,
and the ensemble will give its inaugural performance in 2005.
Royal Holloway lecturers in ethnomusicology, Dr
Tina K. Ramnarine and Dr
Henry Stobart are delighted at the prospect of developing gamelan
performance in British contexts. As well as contributing to the musical
life of RHUL the gamelan will feature in outreach projects organized
by the Department of Music. |
