Malay gamelan

The Malay Gamelan (Malay/Indonesian: gamelan Melayu; Jawi: ݢاميلن ملايو‎) is a style of music originated from Indonesia, performed in ethnic Malay-populated regions of Indonesia (particularly in North Sumatra, Riau and Riau Islands) and Malaysia (particularly in Pahang, Terengganu and Johor) as well.
The word of Gamelan derived from the term in Javanese: ꦒꦩꦼꦭ꧀, romanized: gamel, which means "hitting" or "striking" refer to playing of percussion instruments or the act of striking with a mallet, + an (noun-forming suffix). While the word of Melayu refer to the Malays which had its correlation to Melayu Kingdom.
Malay Gamelan developed in conjunction with Malay Joget Gamelan. In the mid-18th century, a team of court dancers and musicians was sent from central Java to the island of Penyengat, the royal island capital of the Riau-Lingga empire (present-day Indonesia). Javanese style court dance and music were, therefore, introduced at the Istana Kuning (the Yellow Palace), the Penyengat palace, the music being that of the gamelan and the dances consisting mainly of the Serimpi and Bedaya, the main classical dances of the central Javanese courts.
The 19th-century Riau-Lingga empire was vast. It included the peninsula states of Johor, Pahang and Terengganu, the Riau Archipelago and the Karimon islands. It was through this association of Pahang with the Riau-Lingga empire that Javanese court dance and music found their way into the Pahang court.
The first occasion for such a phenomenon was the 1811 royal wedding in Pekan, Pahang, of Tengku Husain, the eldest son of Sultan Abdul Rahman of Riau-Lingga and Wan Esah, the sister of Bendahara Wan Ali of Pahang when the wedding celebrations were enlivened by elaborate court dances, to the accompaniment of an orchestra of gongs and xylophones, which were found only at the Malay courts of Pahang and Lingga. While it is not known when this particular form of dance and music began in the Pahang court, it is evident, however, that by 1811 the tradition was known and practiced in the Pekan palace.
Bendahara Wan Ahmad, later Sultan Ahmad (1863-1914), inherited the gamelan set as well as the court troupe of dancers and musicians from his father, Bendahara Wan Ali. The form, now called Joget Pahang, was firmly established at the Pekan palace under the royal patronage of Bendahara Wan Ahmad. His interest in the form was keen. He obtained three separate sets of gamelan instruments and established three groups of four dancers each. Of his five wives, three maintained a group each: one group was under his royal wife, Tengku Ampuan Fatimah, another under Che Besar and the third under Che Zubedah. Sultan Ahmad and his third wife, Che Zubedah, were particularly interested in Joget Pahang. Che Zubedah was a Chinese, and it is believed that she greatly influenced the development of Joget Pahang, spending much time and effort particularly in perfecting the dances.
One can clearly identify many 'Chinese' characteristics in Joget Gamelan. For example, elements of the costume like the manner in which the sarong is tied, and the particularities of the unusual headdress are a clear deviation from other Malay classical dance costume styles and from Serimpi and Bedaya. Also, the music of the dance Timang Burung, one of the most popular from the Joget Gamelan repertoire is, in fact, an old and familiar Chinese folk song.
During the reign of Sultan Ahmad of Pahang, Joget Pahang was introduced into the state of Terengganu. In 1885, a marriage took place between Sultan Zainal Abidin (1881-1918) of Terengganu and Tengku Long, daughter of Sultan Ahmad of Pahang. At this wedding, Sultan Zainal Abidin witnessed Joget Pahang for the first time and was impressed. Eventually, he borrowed a set of instruments and musicians from Sultan Ahmad and began the playing of gamelan music in his own palace.
In 1914, Sultan Ahmad died and there was no heir to the throne who was interested in maintaining the Pahang Joget tradition. Che Zubedah, Sultan Ahmad's wife also left for Terengganu with her gamelan set to live with her son, Tengku Ampuan Mariam. Tengku Ampuan Mariam was highly trained in the art of the Pahang dance. Armed with the support of Tengku Sulaiman who was also interested in gamelan, Tengku Ampuan Mariam continued this art in Terengganu.
Malay gamelan was first introduced to the public when Tan Sri Mubin Sheppard, a Malay architectural scholar, found a gamelan set at the Pool Terengganu Palace and then asked Tengku Ampuan Mariam's permission to turn on this gamelan in 1966. The first appearance of the Gamelan Orchestra in Raja Terengganu was in 1969 at the Asian Music and Drama Festival at Universiti Malaya (UM) Kuala Lumpur followed in 1970 in conjunction with Temasha Seni Melayu which also presented a new generation of dancers. Since then, it has become a part of the Malaysian arts and cultural heritage. Gamelan is commonly played during formal occasions like weddings and traditional ceremonies.
In the past, about 80 traditional gamelan music were performed but this has now been reduced to 50, with 12 songs being the common ones, some of them include Timang Burung, Ayak-Ayak and Seri Rama Balik.
Based on the gamelan set discovered in 1966 at Istana Kolam, Terengganu, a set of Terengganu Malay gamelan consists of seven basic instruments:
Malay gamelan had more than seven musical instruments during its heyday at Istana Kolam, such as the gedemung (slentho in Javanese tradition) and gender, but only seven instruments remained and were kept after the Second World War.
According to Tengku Mariam, this dance repository originally consisted of 77 types of gamelan. But today there are only 33 types left as a result of the absence of dance instructors. Among the 33 types of dances that remain are such as Timang Burung, Ayak-ayak, Lambang Sari, Ketam Renjung, Geliung, Lantai Lima, Kending Gajah, Togok Rompin, Kundang-Kundang Mabuk, Galuk Merajuk, Silatin, Lolo and Monab.
Many of the stories of the Joget Gamelan dances were taken from the Javanese Panji cycle, others were based upon activities in and around the palace. The following are some examples:
Ayak-Ayak was the opening dance. It tells of court maidens and servants at work, slaughtering chickens, goats and cows in preparation for the marriage of Raden Galoh Cendra Kirana to Raden Inu Kertapati. The movements in the dance depict the preparations.
The dance Togok tells the story of Raden Galoh going in search of her husband who had disappeared. She meets another princess. In the ensuing fight, Raden Galoh is hurt by an arrow. However, all ends well, with both princesses hunting together. Raden Galoh is eventually reunited with her husband.
Timang Burung tells of how Raden Galoh, after being locked in her room by her father for some time, is released. Going into the garden with her handmaidens, she sees the Burung Kepudang or golden swallow. Enraptured by the movements of the bird, she requests her handmaidens to imitate them. Timang Burung is the ensuing dance of the maidens imitating the birds with fan movements depicting the fluttering wings and tails.
Taman Sari, an exquisite dance, tells of Raden Galoh and her handmaidens making merry in the beautiful garden called Taman Sari. There they play, eat, bathe, fish, beautify themselves, gather flowers, and dance.
A dance on the theme of war, called Perang, was also important. It is said that this dance was the last item in every formal performance and the dancers went into a trance.
Joget Gamelan performed exclusively by female dancers can be staged internally or openly.