Gamelan is also, of course, cultural. It is played collectively as a group (you cannot play gamelan by yourself) and it is what often forms a community in Bali (and Java). The beauty of the (hand-made) instrument colors, the costumes, dances, etc. is absolutely wonderful. It is really something that I'm proud of as an Indonesian. The last time I knew, there were fewer and fewer people my age no longer interested in this traditional music and dances. It was sad, and that was why I decided to join the group.
About a month ago, a quite close friend from another country talked with me and suddenly she told me, I think you should stop playing gamelan. It's spiritually dangerous because they worship gods and everything. I don't think it's good for your faith.
I have been thinking about what she said. Okay, it's spiritual, but it's cultural. So? What should I do? If it's dangerous spiritually, should I stop playing? If Indonesians won't appreciate our own cultures, who will?
Oh...no..no.... don't stop playing.
ReplyDeletehonestly, i envy you can play gamelan. i wish i can play too.
i used to teach angklung and kulintang at school i worked in Semarang. i miss it now.
i think it all depends on the person whether it will influence the faith or not.
it depends on how you see things. I don't deny that Satan is everywhere and he can use anything to get us away from God. but we need also remember that God is also omni present (more than satan). HE is watching us and guiding us.
in that case of your friend's opinion, then christian chinese people should not play barongsay (they worship dragons gods), christian african people should not dance while worshiping (it symbolizes worshiping gods), etc...etc....
well, once more, it depends on the person. we never know what's inside someone's heart.
i will say to that friend; hey wake up, churches also can use gamelan to worship our God.
i remember on christmas day, i watched some people from "gereja cabang" of my church played gamelan and they sang christian songs :)
Good job my man!!!We are unity in diversity...
ReplyDeleteI dont agree with your friends's opinion. Perhaps from where she/he comes from there is no such thing like gamelan or kind of traditional instruments,dunno?
ReplyDeleteBut here faith and culture can walk along together in harmony as long as we understand how it works nicely without having a judgement that culture is ruining the faith due to its ceremonial traditions :)
Agree with what Viliya has said above that even in church gamelan is used to worship God :)
What the leader did by having offering and splashing water are parts of the traditions,I think and so we should respect that traditions. Afterall,they respect other player of gamelan in your groups that might having different religion,isnt it? ;)
Keep playing Pam :)
Mba Pamela, I totally agree 100% with two previous comments, Viliya's and Bu Benedicta's.
ReplyDeleteI think it's another shallow opinion to have said that playing gamelan is spiritually dangerous. We know what or who we worship. We know what or who we don't worship. Not to maintain culture is such a waste, think about other people who don't have a real cultural root like Americans, Canadians. They long to know their roots, but then they have to really trace from their own family lineages, not really them as Americans or Canadians. Culture has formed people into whatever we are now. There's more in it other than only traditions, there are philosophies and I many more, which are good to know and learn and it is not useless.
I'm from GKJ (Gereja Kristen Jawa). And luckily, GKJ I attended at home in Semarang has a set of gamelan. We even have a gamelan team we call "Panembromo", which my mom is a member of.
I have never joined Balinese gamelan group, so I don't know about this ritual, but I believe splashing water as a blessing ritual exists, but really though, in Balinese culture, they don't have an intention to convert people, or even a bad intention. On the contrary, they only mean well, they want everybody to be holy and blessed, regardless where they're from, who they are, and what they believe (I lived in Bali for 1 year).
Another thing. If we worship God and believe in God, we believe that God is not blind, not stupid, not deaf, not shallow. Our fathers won't tell us "Kids, don't play with next door kids, because they smell," will they? :) God creates all humans, and He only wants humans to live side by side peacefully and love each other.
So, keep playing. And I'm so jealous of you.
Thank you for all the encouragement!!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate what your wrote Vil, Kart, Utami, and Ika:
This friend is from (People's Republic of) China, so I'm sure there's no gamelan from China :)
By the way, three of us from the group just had a small gamelan showing in one elementary school here. And let me tell you, it was amazing!! Those kids have been learning about Indonesia and gamelan; they have been doing arts projects on Indonesia as well!
So when we came bringing some instruments (of course, including the gongs), they asked so many questions about the gamelan and Indonesia:
- Why did you dampen the bars after you hit them?
- Are there tubes inside the gamelan?
- Are these hand-made (YES!!!)
- Can you teach us a few Indonesian words?
- Why did you take you shoes off before playing?
And they just couldn't wait to try playing the instruments! We barely made it in time because all the kids wanted to play.
The embassy gave me enough CDs on Indonesia to distribute to the kids, and the teacher just loved the CD! He thought every country should have a CD like that to distribute to people so that they would understand other people's cultures better.
In short, gamelan was fun, and it taught me a lot about love (for my own cultures) thatt I thought I did not feel so strongly before I came here.
And hope you gals would be happy because I will start learning Balinese dances, too, this Friday! Okay, body may be "langsung" instead of "langsing," but hopefully this body would still be willing to do some "lenggak-lenggok".... bwahahahaha.....