Page 109 - RWY LARASSUMBOGO KARYA DAN PENGABDIANNYA
P. 109

92


                              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
   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114