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made use of the services of an arist of the "topeng dance, a
maskdancer by the name of R.M.A. Tondokusumo and they
had invited him to the Yogyanese Mangkubumen, the crown
prince's mastion, to teach the elements of the "Langen" type of
play to their wayang wong performers. The result was the
creation of the 'Langen Wanara" play in the 1890's, the first
of the operalike presentations of its kind in Yogyakarta.
Y ondokusumo had helped earlier to develop the 'Langen'
idea from the aristic initiative of a German factory chief in
Solo and he had to create the first 'Langen driyan" with female
actors to be played exclusively in the Mangku Negaran place.
Nyi Behi Madusari later became the f armous star of this perfor
mance. However its was believed in Surakarta and Y ogyakarta
in the circles of the Palaces, that during the Gfanti agreements
in 1756, Yogya and Solo had been divided, never for glance
back at each other. That was engineered by the Dutch. What
was so good in Dutch colonial politics of the time that Solo and
Yogya should be forever divided by it?
The Yogyanese Kraton had accepted as its court orches
traleader the grent R.L. Larassembogo. Yogya's musicians and
mucic experts had been working with and Austrian lady, with
the pseudonym Linda Bandara, with the German painter and
musician Walter Spies with the etno-musicologist Jaap Kunst
and with other music experts during the iwenties and the thirti
es.
The Y ogyanese musicians were also very good at playing
the "ketoprak", teh music on the 'lesung', the wooden mortar
for the rice inthevillages. Their interest in this folkish style led
to the development in Yogya of the development in Yogya of
the 'ketoprak' stageplay and later the radio play of the name.
Larassembogo comoposed, besided many long gamelan pieces,
also the little gem ''Westminster', which ticking beat he perfor
med with excelence. One day, while teaching the secrets of
rhytm, he walked while tapping hiscane in triplets against the