Page 5 - Fifty-fifty Sep 2021

The Music Behind the Shadow Puppets
by Jo Hilder, Anton Killin, Megan Collins and Budi S. Putra

Gamelan Padhang Moncar will accompany puppet master Ki Joko Susilo in his wayang kulit
(shadow puppet) performance on 28 September 2021 at the Beehive Theatrette, in Wellington.
Gamelan Padhang Moncar is part of Gamelan Wellington, a music collective that performs
Indonesian music in New Zealand.

Gamelan in Wellington, New Zealand
Gamelan is Indonesia’s famous percussion-based ensemble, primarily featuring metallophones, gongs, and
hand-drums, often with singing and some other instruments (wooden xylophone, vertical fiddle, bamboo flute,
plucked zither). In Wellington we are lucky to have three different types of gamelan ensemble—Central Javanese
gamelan, gong kebyar and beleganjur instruments from Bali, and an antique gamelan from Cirebon, northern
West Java. This September’s wayang kulit performance will use Central Javanese instruments.

Within a Central Javanese ensemble, one family of percussion instruments provides the core melody at different
registers, while another family provides musical “elaborations” of that core melody. The elaborating musicians
draw from large repertoires of conventional musical patterns specific to each type of elaborating instrument. A
third family of instruments, which includes the kenong and kempul (large gong-chimes and hanging gongs),
punctuates the music, providing the structure. The gong ageng, the largest gong, sounds to announce the
longest melodic phrases in the music’s cyclic form. The kendhang (drum) leads the ensemble.

Gamelan has a long history in New Zealand and in Wellington. The first gamelan in the country arrived in 1974
when ethnomusicologist Allan Thomas imported an antique gamelan from Cirebon on the north coast of West
Java, assisted by Jack Body. When Allan moved to Wellington in 1975, he brought this gamelan with him, which
soon became part of Victoria University’s musicology programme where Allan was employed as
ethnomusicologist. This gamelan is now housed at The Long Hall in Roseneath, where The First Smile meets to
rehearse traditional pieces and new compositions.

In the late 1970s, the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington received a complete Central Javanese gamelan and
agreed that the university’s music department should have the pelog (7-note scale) section of the gamelan on
permanent loan. This was later supplemented by matching slendro (5-note scale) instruments commissioned by
the university resulting in the complete Central Javanese gamelan set that Gamelan Padhang Moncar uses
today.

Since 1983 the Indonesian Embassy has provided three successive Javanese gamelan teachers, all highly
trained graduates: Midiyanto, Joko Sutrisno, and now Budi S. Putra.
In 1992, during Joko Sutrisno’s tenure, the name of Padhang Moncar was given to the group, a Javanese name
which can be interpreted in several ways. “Padhang” means brightness or daylight; “moncar” means growing or
developing vigorously. Padhang Moncar can thus refer to the sunrise (the growing light), and the fact that
gamelan in New Zealand are the first in the world to see the new day. Padhang Moncar can also be interpreted
as harmony and growth and thus the name can reflect the aspirations of the group.

In 2003, composer and percussionist Gareth Farr imported a set of Balinese gong kebyar instruments made by
Pak Rantes in Denpasar, Bali, to Wellington. Gamelan Taniwha Jaya—the other half of Gamelan Wellington—
was soon formed, dedicated to the study of Balinese music. This ensemble has also been rehearsed by Rupert
Snook and I Wayan Gde Yudane.

For over four decades, the Javanese gamelan has been an important part of what is now the New Zealand
School of Music, with regular players comprising current and former students, alongside interested members
from the wider community. A number of the members have studied in Indonesia on the Indonesian Government
Scholarship programme (Darmasiswa). Gamelan Padhang Moncar has embarked on study and performance
tours of Indonesia four times, most recently in 2013, and has released a number of CDs of new compositions for
gamelan. The most recent, Naga (2014), was produced by Rattle Records and is available on the iTunes Store,
Spotify, and the like

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