SUSAN PRATT WALTON

Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Music

There are striking similarities and intriguing con- in part, to support, manifest, and express that sys- nections between the tradition of gamelan music tem. The stated aim of music making, the structure in and Javanese mystical traditions. A game- of the music, the leadership styles, and the creation lan is an ensemble of , metalophones, , of melodies have remarkably close parallels in the bowed , , , , and Javanese mystical world.2 singers. of many different types exist in My analysis of the link between Javanese mu- Java, , and Lombok, as well as in . sical and mystical traditions centers on the con- Some include only a few gongs; others have up cept of rasa, which is crucial to both traditions. to fifty instruments. The type of ensemble that I start with the ancient theory of rasa, concerns us is the largest of these ensembles, the then move to the central role of rasa in contempo- gamelan of . Its most important func- rary Java musical groups, followed by an analysis tion is to accompany dance, theater, and ceremo- of ’s “inner melody” theory of Javanese nial occasions, such as weddings, in both ritual and music. Finally, I show that rasa is not merely an commercial settings. abstract construct accessible to an elite cadre of The links between the musical and mystical tra- the most knowledgeable gamelan musicians: it is ditions of Java have not been much noticed or ex- the basis of music making for many musicians, es- amined in the scholarly literature. The focus of pecially those of the older generation. gamelan research has been elsewhere: on the per- Before delving into the links between the mys- formance styles of particular instruments or mu- tical and musical traditions of Java, I need to flesh sical groups, the history of the tradition, including out the concept of rasa. The primary meaning is the effects of Westernization, analysis of mode, feeling. As ‘feeling,’ it refers to the physical senses musical cognition, and Javanese music theory. Ju- of taste and touch and also to emotional feelings. dith Becker, in her fascinating and suggestive Rasa can also mean ‘meaning.’ The example Clif- Gamelan Stories: Tantrism,, and Aesthetics in ford Geertz gives is: “rasa is applied to words in Central Java, does point out that vestiges of ancient a letter, in a poem or even in a speech, to indi- mystical practices can be found in pitch names, the cate the between-the-lines ‘looking north and hit- titles of musical pieces, and in the sacred ting south’ type of allusive suggestion that is so dance.1 These observations are symptoms, it seems important in Javanese communication.”3 As this to me, of more fundamental and more pervasive example illustrates, rasa can mean the essential, links between gamelan music and spirituality in often hidden, significance of something obscure. Java. I contend that gamelan music mirrors and This concept of rasa points back to the first no- manifests a central system of thought, experience, tion of rasa as feeling and taste. For the Javanese, and belief in : mysticism. Though to fathom something obscure, one has to engage waning in recent decades, mysticism has long been all one’s senses, feelings, and intuitions, as if one a focal point in Javanese culture, so it is not surpris- were tasting the essence of the thing. Touse merely ing that Java’s musical system is organized, at least one’s intellectual capacities is not enough. 32 Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics i. RASA in sanskrit aesthetic theory and The rasa magnetizes the viewer, pulling her or in him into the dramatic situation so that the viewer can relish the work in an almost gustatory way, ex- Rasa is an integral part of two Javanese mystical periencing it in mind and body.9 Enthralled by the traditions: Tantric Shaivism and Mahayana Bud- rasa, the viewer is freed from her or his usual men- dhism on the one hand, and mystical Islam (Su- tal chatter, liberated from the ego. Masson and fism) on the other hand. Patwardhan explain: Sanskrit aesthetic theory constitutes a el- ement in Java’s Tantric Shaivism and Mahayana Buddhist mystical traditions. Sanskrit aesthetic for the duration of the aesthetic experience, the normal ... theory was first articulated in the Natyasastra, the waking “I” is suspended all normal emotions are gone ...... main Sanskrit treatise on dramaturgy dating some- we experience sheer undifferentiated bliss for we where between the second century and eighth cen- have come into direct contact with the deepest recesses tury CE, and was further developed in the tenth of our own unconscious where the memory of a primeval century by the Tantric Shaivite philosopher, Ab- unity between man and the universe is still strong. Inad- ... hinavagupta, of Kashmir.4 Java and other parts of vertently we have arrived at the same inner terrain 10 were strongly impacted by Indian as that occupied by the mystic. culture during the first millennium of this era. The products of this influence include Indian religions, Thus for Abhinavagupta, aesthetic enjoyment mythology, and, as Laurie Sears posits, Sanskrit and mystical experience are intimately connected, aesthetic theory.5 for through works of art a person reconnects with A crucial concept in Sanskrit aesthetic theory the fundamental oneness of all things, what some is the notion of rasa. According to this theory, may call the Absolute. But that Absolute resides the hallmark of a good drama is its ability to within oneself. As a person fully experiences an develop a particular rasa, which then dominates aesthetic work, one merges with the object of con- the work.6 The Natyasastra mentions eight pri- templation, identifying completely with it, and ex- mary rasa: the erotic (srngara), the comic (hasya), periences his or her pure self, or “highest Self.” the pathetic (karuna), the furious (raudra), the Masson and Patwardhan explain: “We can thus heroic (vira), the terrible (bhayankara), the odi- see that all of Abhinava’s efforts focus on one ous (bibhatsa), and the marvelous (adbhuta). Ab- important need: to crack the hard shell of the ‘I’ hinavagupta added a ninth rasa: the santa rasa, and allow to flow out the higher Self which auto- or tranquil sentiment associated with mystical ex- matically identifies with everyone and everything perience. The exact production of rasa is not around.”11 This notion of art as a tool for achiev- fully explained in the Natyasastra and has thus ing oneness explains a seeming anomaly in this been interpreted differently by different Indian theory: the word ‘rasa’ refers both to the feelings philosophers. The Natyasastra states: “The Sen- experienced by the viewers of dramatic works and timent is produced (rasanispattih) from a com- to the most profound mystical awareness. For Ab- bination (samyoga) of Determinants (vibhava), hinavagupta, the two are the same, for one cannot Consequents (anubhava), and Transitory States truly appreciate a work of art without achieving (vyabhicaribhava).”7 Determinants are the causes that mystical experience. of emotion, such as elements in a drama that However, not everyone is capable of experienc- might bring forth old memories and rouse the ing this level of aesthetic and spiritual bliss. Only a emotions. The consequents are the physical effects person who can transcend his or her ego, merging (for example, blushing) arising due to the determi- completely with the work of art, can do so. Such a nants. The vyabhicaribhava are secondary, tran- person is called sahrdaya, “sensitive.”12 sient emotions, such as weeping with joy. As these Crucial to this theory of aesthetics is that the three elements work together, the aesthete expe- essential meaning of a work, its rasa, is never riences one of the eight sthayi bhava, the primary stated directly, but only suggested. This is true emotional states. “The welling up of this emotion for two reasons, according to Abhinavagupta. causes a state of total engrossment, which con- First, a work that makes veiled allusions “car- comitantly leads to the loss of ego ... The to- ries far greater beauty” than one that bluntly tally unhampered experience of the sthayi bhava asserts its truths.13 Second, the very act of un- welling up from within is rasa.”8 earthing the hidden meaning in an aesthetic work Walton Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music 33 has spiritual value, for it “impels us to great de- Both G. W. J. Drewes and Judith Becker stress votion for another truth, beyond the phenome- that Tantric mysticism and Sufi mysticism in Java nal world.”14 The fundamental meaning of an aes- shared so many features that the transition from thetic work is hidden, just as knowledge of ulti- the Indian to the form was probably quite mate reality is believed to lie deep within a person. smooth.20 Several tenets in rasa theory touch on key is- sues of Western aesthetics. Abhinavagupta’s focus on individual experience of intense emotion sug- ii. RASA in contemporary javanese spiritual gests that for him, aesthetic meaning is located in contexts the perceiver, not the aesthetic work. For example, the rasa of pathos (karuna) resides in the aesthete Moving toward my goal of exploring the similari- and is not an inherent element of the work itself. ties between Java’s spiritual and musical traditions, Furthermore, for Abhinavagupta, an individual’s I focus in this section on the central role of rasa response to a work is a product of his or her cul- in Javanese mystical groups. According to Clifford ture, for the determinants of emotion (vibhava) Geertz, rasa is the “connecting link” between the are, in part, culturally determined. Finally, Abhi- three major components of religious life: mystical navagupta articulates a theory about the location practice, art, and etiquette. This is especially true of the fundamental emotions within the individual. for the (the aristocratic elite). The person To access rasa, one must free oneself from one’s who truly understands ultimate reality—rasa - ego, suggesting that the primary emotions reside jati—can express that understanding through ges- in the unconscious or subconscious.15 tures in dance, sounds in music, or words in po- Rasa theory resonates with some elements of etry.21 Such a person is naturally refined (alus)in Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy. For him, life his or her outer behavior. The concept of rasa is im- is characterized by a continuous striving and crav- portant not only to the priyayi but to many other ing. People can escape from that suffering in the Javanese as well. The popularity of mysticism in “quiet contemplation of the natural object actu- Java may be judged by the presence there of sev- ally present, whether a landscape, a tree, a moun- eral hundred mystical groups. tain.”16 In this reflection, one disassociates one- One of the most prominent sects is Sumarah.22 self from “the principle of sufficient reason”; one Established in the mid 1930s, Sumarah includes “loses” oneself to such a degree that the person elements of Tantric Shaivism, Mahayana Bud- and the object “become one,” and the person be- dhism, and Islam with indigenous mystical prac- comes a “pure, will-less, painless, timeless subject tices. The membership, which in 1984 was esti- of knowledge.”17 In later passages, Schopenhauer mated at 10,000, includes individuals of all eth- makes clear that artists have a particular ability nic, social, and religious backgrounds.23 Since the to engage in this kind of contemplation, for he focus in Sumarah is on individually perceived spir- characterizes art as “the way of viewing things in- itual experience (though within a group setting), dependent of the principle of sufficient reason.”18 there is a minimum of dogma. Members meditate Though rasa is originally a Sanskrit word, it is individually and in group meetings, led by a spiri- significant not only in Tantric Shaivite and Bud- tual leader. dhist texts, but also in Sufi mystic contexts, and in According to Sumarah practice, meditation be- the syncretic mystical sects that combine elements gins with relaxing the body and shifting the at- of all three religions. Indeed, all these religions tention from thoughts to physical sensations and share a belief in the ultimate goal of the union with to feelings. The purpose is to free oneself from the Absolute Being (or Allah in Islamic terms). the usual form of consciousness, which is believed According to Mark Woodward: to center on the obsessive replaying of thoughts about the future or the past. The practitioner fo- While this concept [rasa] owes much to the Mahayana cuses on the feelings experienced in the present: Buddhist notion of sunyata (S.; void), it will be argued perhaps a physical sensation or an intense emo- here that this and other legacies of the Hindu-Javanese tion that floats to the surface of the consciousness, past are interpreted in terms of Islamic assumptions a feeling that is normally hidden by the barrage of about the mystical path and the unity (A., tawhid)of constant thoughts. As stillness and concentration Allah.19 deepen, one is more able to ignore the thoughts 34 Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics constantly rushing through one’s head, while fo- was threatening to the walis’ attempts to consoli- cusing awareness on a deeper, stiller, nonverbal date their political authority. The “secret” was the part of oneself. Gradually, it is thought, the prac- knowledge of the means for attaining spiritual em- titioner becomes aware of another level of being, powerment, sunyata jatimurti. How does one at- termed rasa sejati, which Stange defines as “the tain spiritual empowerment? By grasping the es- absolute or true feeling [or] ... mystical aware- sential oneness of all things. That understanding, ness of the fundamental vibration or energy within called rasa in the text, is the ultimate reality, the all life.”24 Most people in Sumarah use the term absolute truth. One who has attained that knowl- ‘Allah’ to refer to rasa sejati, though some pre- edge “has grasped the ultimate of rasa/Rasa that fer to avoid the term as too specific. The word is Reality.”28 Such a person has understood that ‘sumarah’ means surrender, and refers to the pro- things normally seen as opposites are in fact iden- cess of transcending normal consciousness and be- tical: lahir and batin, spirit and matter, divine and coming aware of rasa sejati. profane, Being and Nonbeing.29 As one frees oneself from a normal form of Group meditation is central to Sumarah be- consciousness, according to Sumarah theory, one cause of the focus on unity. Absolute truth can be becomes aware that one’s perception is distorted perceived by individuals, but can be “confirmed” by one’s own experiences and beliefs. Stange de- only by the group, which comes to a consensus scribes this process as follows. “Beyond the senses through a process of communal meditation. Dur- and thought perception there lies a cleaning of in- ing periods of group division, members enter deep ternalized subconscious blockages, so that gradu- meditation together. Each person “attunes” him- ally perception is less filtered through subjective self or herself to the rasa of the group. As each structures.”25 When this occurs, according to the one becomes intuitively aware of the feelings of members of Sumarah, one is able to perceive a the group, consensus is reached. The group is cen- fundamental truth: that all people, even all things, tral in making manifest the underlying truth. The are essentially one. assumption is that the “correct decision ...is im- Since in the phenomenal world, there appear plicit in the situation.”30 The absolute truth al- to be distinctions between the material and spiri- ready exists but has to be discovered by humans. tual, the Javanese identify two aspects of reality: Likewise, in musical terms, as we shall see later, lahir and batin. Lahir (from Arabic zahir), liter- the appropriate choice of a musical pattern is said ally, “outer reality,” consists of habits, behaviors, to be “implicit” in the immediate musical context, the material world, and surface phenomena. Batin and it is the job of the musician to discover that (from Arabic batin), or “inner reality,” is the in- pattern. ner spiritual life of an individual. Batin is accorded more value, for whereas surface forms reveal only iii. RASA and gamelan music the appearance of reality, batin is the essence.26 The two are related, for features apparent in the Having established the importance of rasa and phenomenal world are regarded as manifestations mysticism in Java today, I now turn to the heart of the inner reality. of the argument: the remarkable linkages between Because of the fundamental unity of all things, Javanese spiritual and musical traditions. I will ar- lahir and batin are not really opposite, but merely gue that for many Javanese, music has a strong different expressions of reality. They are ulti- spiritual dimension. In both traditions, rasa is cen- mately identical. According to Javanese thought, a tral. Furthermore, absolute truth resides beneath physically beautiful person is necessarily faultless surface manifestations. The very structure of the in her or his inner spiritual being, for the exterior music reflects this belief. Since truth is hidden, is a manifestation of the interior. the job of the practitioner—whether a mystic or These notions of the fundamental identity of a musician—is to make manifest that spiritual or lahir and batin are central to the story of Seh Siti musical truth. Finally, group collaborative work Jenar, a Sufi master of mysticism, as told in the is key in uncovering those truths in both tradi- nineteenth-century Babad Jaka Tingkir.27 Siti Je- tions. nar was executed for disseminating a secret that Rasa is fundamental not only to Javanese mys- the wali (Islamic saints) felt should not be made tical practice but to Javanese notions of aesthet- public. Dissemination of that sacred knowledge ics as well. According to historian Laurie Sears, Walton Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music 35 rasa strongly influenced the development of Java’s melodies played by the other musicians and the most important art form: kulit (shadow wider performance context. puppet theater), which encompasses drama, clas- One of the basic notions of rasa, common to sical , epic stories, and gamelan music.31 Sas- both Sanskrit and Javanese uses of the term, is that trapustaka, a highly respected Javanese musician the absolute truth resides at a fundamental level. who was trained in the courts in the 1920s, paints Just as rasa sejati is sequestered deep in the batin gamelan music in terms reminiscent of Sanskrit beneath the surface manifestations of the lahir, the theory. He says, “the art [of gamelan]—which is essence of a piece is thought by some theorists to thought to be only for entertainment—is actu- be hidden beneath surface phenomena. Sumarsam ally important for the physical (lahir) and spiri- calls this essence the lagu batin” or inner melody.39 tual (batin) education of all who study it in depth. This melody is inner not only because it represents Also, art is ...a device for raising the grandeur of the heart of the piece but also because it exists, in a people’s spirit.”32 For Sastrapustaka, music is a complete form, only in the minds of the musicians. guide for spiritual development. In Sanskrit the- It can never be played by just one instrument, but ory, drama also has this function, as aesthetic ex- only by the combination of instruments working perience shades imperceptibly into mystical bliss. together. The inner melody that musicians hear Sastrapustaka continues: “Indeed it is very clear inside their heads, then, is a composite—bits of that this art can only give rise to a radiance or melodies of a variety of instruments. That inner light which is pure, if it resides within a person melody represents the essence of the piece, the whose temperament is noble and refined.”33 This batin, while the melodies actually played on dif- statement hints at the Sanskrit notion of the sahr- ferent instruments are akin to the lahir, or surface daya, the sensitive aesthete, for only highly spiritu- manifestations. ally developed individuals can appreciate art, ac- I am making the analogy between the spiritual cording to Sastrapustaka.34 Furthermore, his ex- concept of batin and the musical concept of inner egesis of the meaning of gamelan pitch names melody to point out the shared discourse in the is suggestive of Hindu/Buddhist chakra, centers aesthetic and spiritual traditions in Java. The way of spiritual energy in the human body, as Judith that many Javanese talk about music and mysti- Becker has argued. The chakra were focal points cal experiences suggests that for them, the experi- in body-based spiritual techniques of medieval ences of listening to gamelan music and achieving Java.35 contact with the absolute truth may be akin. In Sastrapustaka’s comments hint at the connec- describing both musical and mystical experiences, tions between the musical and mystical traditions; the Javanese focus on the inner meaning. For ex- the shared terminology provides tangible proof. ample, Sumarsam says: In both cases, rasa is a crucial concept. For some gamelan musicians, it is “the key to aesthetic un- In a gamelan rehearsal or performance, each musician derstanding.”36 Rasa has a wide range of meanings relates the part he plays to the melodies played on the in gamelan music. “Feeling” and “inner meaning” other instruments. This practice is often employed dur- are two common translations. A standard means ing the learning period. At the same time, it also allows of categorizing gamelan compositions is by rasa, the musicians to gradually absorb the underlying feeling so that there are sad pieces, exuberant pieces, flir- of gendhing (composition) as inspired by the melody of tatious pieces, and so forth. This notion of rasa,as the whole ensemble. This underlying feeling of gendhing the primary mood or sentiment of a work, echoes is the essence of Javanese gamelan melody—the inner the ancient Sanskrit idea that a poem or drama melody as felt by the musicians.40 must convey one primary rasa.37 Rasa can also re- fer to “the ability to express or perceive feeling This statement is resonant with Clifford or inner meaning” or “intuition.”38 This notion of Geertz’s informant who stated that the essence rasa is important for musicians who play the game- of a person resides in the center of four concen- lan instruments that utilize improvisation. These tric circles—representing (from outer to inner) musicians express the “inner meaning” or rasa the body, the five senses, the conscious will, and of a piece by altering standardized melodic pat- the unconscious origin of desires. In the center terns or even creating new melodies to fit both the is the essence, which is “fixed and unchanging, 36 Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics it is always good, and it is that which judges and melody is analogous to the search that Sumarah directs our will, or ought to.”41 The progression members undertake in their attempt to find rasa from outer manifestation to inner absolute real- sejati. For them, solving a problem is not a mat- ity that the initiate traverses during meditation is ter of creating a solution but of discovering the described in Sumarah terminology as follows. truth, which is thought to be implicit in the sit- uation. Similarly, the gamelan musician chooses “Feeling” in its turn may in the first instance mean aware- melodic formulas, called , to fit the par- ness of physical sensation within the body, but that gross- ticular musical situation. Some of those formulas level rasa becomes progressively more subtle—it shades are standard ones, heard in many pieces, but many through inner physical sensation into awareness of the are contrived for the situation, as variations of the emotions and ultimately into rasa sejati, the absolute or standard ones. Whereas a Western musicologist true feeling which is itself mystical awareness of the fun- might regard this task as creating, the Javanese damental vibration or energy within all life.42 characterize it as golek, or searching. R. Ander- son Sutton points out that searching differs from Common to both the inner melody and the ab- innovative creation in that searching implies that solute truth is an element of concealment. The in- the object sought already exists.48 ner melody is never fully sounded by any one in- Collaboration is a key element in uncovering strument. In Sanskrit aesthetic theory, the rasa or both the absolute truth and the inner melody. Just true meaning of a work cannot be directly stated, as in Sumarah where uncovering the absolute truth but only suggested. J. Gonda, scholar of Javanese is the responsibility of the group, unveiling the in- literature, points out that in old Javanese texts, the ner melody requires the energies of everyone in word rasa “often served to translate the Arabic sirr the ensemble. Although it is theoretically possible ‘secret, mystery,’ which refers to the most ...hid- for one musician to play his interpretation of the den ...elements in the human heart in which God inner melody on a single instrument, no one instru- is said to reside.”43 ment can play it without breaking rules of style This element of concealment pervades other as- and range. Furthermore, other musicians would pects of both gamelan music and Javanese liter- not agree with his conception in every detail. The ature.44 Clara Brakel notes that the texts of the inner melody can be realized only by all the in- sacred and bedhaya dances “are usually struments of the ensemble playing the piece to- wrapped in mystery and symbolizing—indicating gether, for the inner melody is a compilation of the ‘magical loadedness’ of the situations in which interpretations of all the musicians present. Al- they serve: well-known word-forms are either al- though Supanggah’s view of the melodic essence tered intentionally or replaced by strange, archaic, of a piece differs in crucial ways from Sumarsam’s, and foreign sounds.”45 Certain Javanese pieces Supanggah, like Sumarsam, emphasizes the com- and Balinese musical instruments are never per- binational and holistic aspects of the implicit, un- formed in public. In describing the spiritual power played melody. He states: “It is the sound pro- of four unusual gendhing, the famous court musi- duced by ... the entire ensemble that is called cian Warsadiningrat states, “our forefathers kept the gendhing or piece. The gendhing exists only the knowledge of these gendhing strictly to them- in the moment of performance.”49 Because of this selves, for use in secret. Only a few people had focus on group rather than individual musical pro- the good fortune to be chosen to receive this duction, there is no tradition of virtuoso solo per- knowledge.”46 Sastrapustaka titled his article on formers. Gitosaprodjo comments: “The playing of gamelan music “Wedha Pradangga Kawedhar” a gamelan group must be smooth and harmonious. (“Knowledge of Gamelan Revealed”). The first The situation must be avoided in which one person section is called “The Cryptic Literature (Sastra tries to show off his expertise to the disadvantage Sinandi) Concealed in the Tones of the Game- of others ...It must be remembered that gamelan lan.”47 playing is a collective activity.”50 Likewise, in - Because the underlying truth and the inner vanese mystical practice, absolute truth (rasa sejati melody are hidden, it is the task of the practitioner or hakiki) is manifested only through group ex- to uncover that truth or to make manifest the in- perience. According to Stange, “it is understood ner melody. The process of articulating the inner that Hakiki is only confirmed when it ‘meshes’ Walton Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music 37 with collected experience during the attunement speak of “the unprecedented mental and emo- and achieved through group meditation.”51 Peo- tional calm” achieved in meditation.56 James L. ple are not encouraged to meditate on their Peacock describes the mystical experience as own.52 follows. The form that musical leadership takes in game- lan music is reminiscent of the leadership style Discovery of the rasa is rewarded by an ecstasy compa- in the mystical groups. Members of Sumarah rable to orgasm ... Afterward, one feels at peace and stress that the pamong, or guide, is not a teacher. in balance ...By unifying his inner being, he automati- Through meditation, the pamong becomes intu- cally harmonizes his social relations as well. The initiate itively aware of the inner states of the individuals is now prepared to cope calmly with the struggles of life, in the group and makes suggestions about their and like , to carry out his duties with detachment. practice based on that knowledge. However, the In fact some of the sects believe that through meditation pamong frequently reminds people not to use his ...all the Indonesian groups—the entire world—will be or her suggestions without testing them internally brought into harmony.57 for their applicability.53 If members of the group feel that the pamong is not making intuitive con- tact with them, they replace him or her. Likewise, Certainly not all gamelan pieces are uniformly in gamelan music, leadership is shared and diffuse. calm. Nonetheless, it is striking how much of the There is no conductor. In playing a piece, mu- music does seem to strive for balance and seren- sicians both follow their own conceptions of the ity. Musical climaxes are frequently muted. Sut- inner melody and listen to the suggestions from ton notes that some melodic patterns suggest the other instruments that express it. Sometimes they final pitch of a melody several beats before the even ignore it. According to Sutton, unbending other instruments arrive at the point of coinci- fidelity to the inner melody (which he calls lagu dence, “thereby diminishing any jarring sense of following his teacher Suhardi) is not aesthetically surprise, and hence any threat to the equilibrium appropriate. Instead, he says, “instruments should of the players and listeners.”58 Because of the exhibit some aspects of the lagu and some pleas- deeply calming and integrating effect of game- ing deviations from it.”54 Like Sumarah, the game- lan music, Javanese occasionally play on a single lan group has its guide: the , a two-stringed gamelan instrument at night as a form of medi- bowed lute. Called the pamurba jatmaka or “that tation.59 which controls the soul,” the rebab is thought to I have shown how gamelan music and mysticism express the main emotion, or rasa, of a piece.55 in Java share many elements of discourse and ex- However, the absence of the rebab is not criti- perience. The Sanskrit scholar says that a work of cal: other instruments can take over its role as art can cause transcendent states; some Javanese guide. musicians feel that gamelan music can be spiritu- All of this suggests a dynamic relationship be- ally uplifting. The Sanskrit scholar says that only tween individuality and consensus in both the the sensitive aesthete can appreciate a work of art; Sumarah group and in the gamelan. Although in- some Javanese musicians claim that only the spir- dividual meditators are encouraged to test the va- itually pure can truly understand gamelan music. lidity of suggestions from the pamong within them- For Javanese meditators, “ultimate reality” is not selves, members of a group nonetheless meditate overt; in gamelan music, the inner melody is never together in order to reach a consensus. The in- stated, only suggested. Members of Sumarah be- struments in the gamelan are highly individual in lieve that solving a problem involves discovering , range, rhythmic density, and style, and the the truth, which is implicit in the situation; game- aim in ensemble playing is not a fusion of sounds, lan musicians state that all melodic formulas, even but the capacity for each instrument to retain its ones newly created for the situation, are inherently individuality in a group. Yet, the instruments of a part of the music. The Sumarah leader does not the gamelan sound the same pitches at important control the members of his or her group, but in- structural points. stead guides them; similarly, the gamelan has no Calmness, harmoniousness, and balance are conductor in the Western sense. The Javanese mys- important features of both Javanese mysticism tic emphasizes calmness, balance, and communal and gamelan music. Masson and Patwardhan experience; so does the Javanese musician. 38 Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics iv. secrecy in mystical and musical The “secrets” of mysticism lie within rather than being traditions in java held by other people. Normal consciousness systemati- cally blocks individual awareness; the secret is something I suggest that the mystical underpinnings of the which, in mystical terms, we keep from ourselves. In fact gamelan tradition have not been discussed in de- most traditions hold that the gnosis sought by mystics tail by scholars of Javanese music because of the is readily available to anyone whose internal receptiv- element of concealment associated with mysti- ity allows it, to anyone who genuinely “wants” it and cal traditions. As Warsadiningrat’s and Sastrapus- regardless of whether they relate to a “mystical” move- taka’s statements imply, playing certain gendhing ment.62 (musical pieces) and discussing the “cryptic” asso- ciations and meanings of gamelan music were lim- Stange’s last sentence clarifies what may seem ited to a select few in times past. Except for giving like a paradox to some. On the one hand, gamelan a few tantalizing allusions to the hidden spiritual music is not considered esoteric, abstruse, or in meaning of gamelan music, Warsadiningrat con- any way inaccessible to the ordinary person and sciously avoided direct discussion of the subject yet, on the other hand, the music is associated with in his massive work. He explained his reasons as traditions of mysticism. But this is not a paradox, follows. for in the Sumarah view, each individual has access to “ultimate reality,” though access to it is hidden Writings on the history or story of gamelan included in by his own limitations. Likewise, in terms of music, this book only describe krawitan [the art of gamelan mu- each person can establish for himself the “meaning sic]; they do not explain the meanings or purposes of or purposes” of gamelan music, as Warsadiningrat gamelan or gendhing. Those things this book does not has said. explain because the person who truly understands the meanings and purposes of gamelan and gendhing must supply his own interpretation.60 v. rasa in the music of solo female singers

His last sentence refers to a reason why the spir- Lest the reader conclude that the concept of rasa itual purposes are not discussed—because coming and the spiritual dimension of gamelan music are to an understanding of the inner meaning of game- limited to an elite circle of Javanese gamelan the- lan music is an individual matter, just as gaining oreticians whose venerable status allows them ac- access to one’s inner being is an individual mat- cess to secret mystical knowledge, I end with a ter. In either case, the individual must embark on discussion of the central position of rasa among Ja- an intense inner journey, partly if not wholly spir- vanese gamelan performers. I will use pesindhen, itual in nature.61 This is not to say that individuals solo female singers who perform with the game- achieve these understandings by working entirely lan, as an example. alone; in fact, in both the mystical and musical set- Nyi Gitotenoyo (born 1919; died around 1995) tings, these understandings are best achieved in was one of the most influential pesindhen of her a group context. The doctrines of Sumarah stress generation. She was a pivotal figure in the his- these points about secrecy and individuality: that tory of solo female singing in the central Javanese mystical traditions are secret not because mystics city of Solo, for she popularized the style asso- want to exclude others but because the task of ciated with the main palace, the , the style uncovering the truth is the responsibility of the that prevails even today.63 Several younger singers individual. told me that they modeled their singing after Nyi Gitotenoyo’s. From the external vantage point it is often assumed that In a personal communication in 1992, Gito- mystics employ code languages laden with secret mean- tenoyo stressed to me the central role of rasa in ings designed to exclude outsiders. Even when this is the her music making. “I must say that I, well, pesind- case it has little to do with the basis of the esoteric as hen in the past, did not understand writing and gnosis is seen by mystics. In terms of mystical principles did not go to school. So, we could only practice gnosis is fundamentally dependent on an internal jour- ... rasa. With rasa, wherever the music went, I through meditation or other “opening” procedures. could enter in. I could sing just by listening to the Walton Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music 39 sound of the gamelan.” The understanding of rasa stated musical goals are strikingly resonant with among pesindhen in Nyi Gitotenoyo’s generation Javanese spiritual practices. Those goals are dis- allowed them to sing pieces they had never even covering the hidden inner truth (rasa) and working heard before, though they could not read no- collaboratively with others to create harmonious- tation. ness and tranquility.65 Nyi Gitotenoyo explained that pesindhen of her My main point in this paper has been to show time were trained to discover what they should the striking similarities and remarkable connec- sing by listening to the melodies played on the tions between the musical and mystical traditions softer sounding instruments, particularly the re- of Java. Perhaps for some Javanese, especially the bab, the bowed instrument. In her words, pesin- older generation, the aesthetic and spiritual ex- dhen “sang by using rasa”; for they felt or sensed periences are inseparable, as they seem to have where the melody was going before it went there. been for the early twentieth-century nationalist, Embedded in the rebab melody are clues about the Raden Ajeng Kartini, who described her feelings identity of the goal tone for the next phrase. The listening to gamelan music: “And my soul soars pesindhen should sing a cengkok, or melodic for- with the murmuring pure silver tones on high, on mula, whose last pitch matches the pitch of the goal high, to the isles of blue light, to the fleecy clouds, tone. As soon as the rebab melody hints what the and to the shining stars—deep low tones are ris- next goal tone is, the pesindhen chooses a cengkok. ing now and the music leads me through dark Nyi Gitotenoyo told me that to deepen her en- dales, down steep ravines, through somber woods gagement with the music, she closed her eyes when on into dense wildernesses, and my soul shivers she sang. Her voluntary sightlessness did not sepa- and trembles within me with anguish and pain and rate her from her fellow musicians, but intensified sorrow.”66 her awareness of their veiled musical suggestions. The strong link between musical and mystical The image of Nyi Gitotenoyo immersing herself traditions in Java that I have suggested through- in musical sounds and interweaving her cengkok out this paper is shifting, especially among young with them is strikingly akin to the subtle harmoniz- pesindhen. They no longer talk about rasa as cru- ing of individual feelings to the rasa of the group cial to their music. However, instrumental musi- in Sumarah meditations. In both cases, practition- cians still do regard rasa as the centerpiece of their ers direct their inner reception to the rasa of the musical experience. True, the explicit spiritual as- group so that their contributions could be attuned sociations of rasa have receded, to be replaced by to that communal rasa or to that collective musical more worldly interpretation of the word as feel- expression. ing, as Marc Benamou has noted.67 I speculate The spiritual dimension in Nyi Gitotenoyo’s that the spiritual links are still there, just below singing is also evident in her stated focus on start- the surface, and those links are part of the deep ing her melodic patterns approximately when the attraction many Javanese musicians feel for their instruments begin theirs. This allowed her to sing music. The Javanese term, ‘lango,’ which is fre- her patterns slowly, stretching them out before quently associated with gamelan music, captures finally resting on the goal tone. Most pesindhen best the Javanese sense of the “spiritual.” Echoing nowadays start their cengkok so late that have to Abhinavagupta, Zoetmulder says of lango: “It is a rush through them to end at the appropriate time. kind of swooning sensation, in which the subject is She told me proudly that another musician had completely absorbed by and becomes lost in its ob- said of her singing: “Singing like that can make a ject, the appeal of which is so overwhelming that person feel calm.” According to her most promi- everything else sinks into nothingness and obliv- nent student, her deliberately slow style creates ion.” It seems to me that emotions of this kind— a feeling of sumeleh. “Sumeleh is a good feeling, which we can term rasa—are a prominent feature like surrendering all problems to God, a feeling of of the passion for gamelan music of many people in tranquility.”64 Again, it is noteworthy that the lan- Java. Many musicians play gamelan music all night guage of spirituality has been invoked to describe several times a week, even when there is no audi- a musical phenomenon. ence and no remuneration. Entranced by beauti- I am not suggesting that Nyi Gitotneoyo was ful pesindhen and copious alcohol, these musicians consciously using her singing to communicate spir- seem to be surrendering themselves completely itual feelings (though she may have), but that her to the scene, totally immersed in lango, a luscious 40 Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics feast of sensuality, pleasure, and mystical/musical 17. Ibid. bliss. 18. Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea, p. 239. 19. Mark R. Woodward, Islam in Java: Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of (The University of Arizona Press, 1989), p. 68. SUSAN PRATT WALTON 20. G. W. J. Drewes, “: Mysticism and Ac- University of Michigan tivism,” in Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization, ed. Gus- Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA tave E. von Grunebaum (University of Chicago Press, 1967), p. 287; Becker, Gamelan Stories,p.3.Asrasa moved from internet: [email protected] ancient to Java, it changed. Javanese aesthetic theory conflates rasa and the various forms of bhava, referring to both as rasa. 1. Judith Becker, Gamelan Stories: Tantrism, Islam, and 21. Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (University of Aesthetics in Central Java (Arizona State University, 1993). Chicago Press, 1976, first printed 1960), pp. 238–239. 2. Mangkunegara VII explores the mystical meaning 22. Paul Denison Stange, The Sumarah Movement in Ja- of the (shadow puppet theater) and touches vanese Mysticism (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wiscon- briefly on the link between gamelan music and mysti- sin at Madison, 1980); David Howe, Sumarah: A Study of cism. See “On the Wayang Kulit (Purwa) and Its Sym- the Art of Living (Ph.D. dissertation, University of North bolic and Mystical Elements,” in Data Paper Cornell Uni- Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1980). versity Southeast Asia Program No. 27, trans. Claire Holt 23. Paul Denison Stange, “The Logic of Rasa in Java,” (Southeast Asia Program, Dept. of Far Eastern Stud- Indonesia 38 (1984): 116–121, quote is from p. 116. ies, Cornell University, 1957), original text published in 24. Stange “The Logic of Rasa,” p. 119. Djawa xiii (1933). See also Benedictus , Dance 25. Stange, “The Logic of Rasa,” p. 121. Power: The Concept of Mataya in Yogyakarta Dance (Ban- 26. Howe, “Sumarah,” p. 116. dung: Sastrataya, Masyarakat Seni Pertunjukan Indonesia, 27. See the translation by Nancy K. Florida, Writing the 1998). Past, Inscribing the Future: History as Prophecy in Colonial 3. Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (University of Java (Duke University Press, 1995), p. 78. Chicago Press, 1976, first printed 1960), p. 238. 28. Florida, Writing the Past, p. 190. 4. Bharata Muni, The Natyasastra: A Treatise on Hindu 29. Florida, Writing the Past, p. 361. Dramaturgy and Histrionics Ascribed to Bharata Muni, trans. 30. Stange, “The Logic of Rasa,” p. 123. Manomohan Ghosh (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 1950); 31. Sears, Text and Performance,pp.19–35. Laurie Jo Sears, Text and Performance in Javanese Shadow 32. Sastrapustaka, “Wedha Pradangga Kawedhar” : Changing Authorities in an Oral Tradition (Ph.D. (“Knowledge of Gamelan Revealed”), in Karawitan: dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1986), p. Source Readings in Javanese Gamelan and Vocal Music, 25. ed. Judith Becker and Alan Feinstein; trans. R. Anderson 5. Sears, Text and Performance,pp.24–25. Sutton (Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast Asian 6. Sears, Text and Performance,p.35. Studies, 1984), Vol. 1, p. 310. 7. Manomohan Ghosh, The Natyasastra of Bharata 33. Sastrapustaka, “Wedha Pradangga Kawedhar,” Muni (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 1950), p. 105, as quoted p. 310. in Sears, Text and Performance,pp.35–36. 34. Why would gamelan be necessary as an aid to spiri- 8. Stephen Slawek, “Engrossed Minds, Embodied tual development if people were already noble and refined? Moods and Liberated Spirits in Two Musical Traditions of In Javanese thought, gamelan can enhance spiritual devel- India,” 13 (1996): 31–35, quote is from p. 35. opment, but only for people who already have the seed of 9. I use feminine pronouns to indicate that women were nobility and refinement in them. probably not excluded from aesthetic experience in Abhi- 35. Becker, Gamelan Stories. navagupta’s time. Stephen Slawek points out (in personal 36. Marc Benamou, Rasa in Javanese Musical Aesthetics communication) that the word for an individual who expe- (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1998), p. 63. riences rasa, ‘rasik,’ is gender neutral and that numerous 37. This is generally true, but some pieces do mix rasa sculptures from pre-Islamic times and paintings from the either sequentially or simultaneously. See Benamou, Rasa Mughal period depict women playing musical instruments. in Javanese Musical Aesthetics, p. 141. He concludes, “it would appear that women were viewed as 38. Benamou, Rasa in Javanese Musical Aesthetics, p. 63. capable of creating an aesthetic experience.” 39. Sumarsam, “Inner Melody in Javanese Music,” in 10. J. L. Masson and M. V. Patwardhan, Santarasa and Karawitan: Source Readings in Javanese Gamelan and Vocal Abhinavagupta’s Philosophy of Aesthetics (Poona: Bhan- Music, ed. Judith Becker and Alan Feinstein (Ann Arbor: darkar Oriental Research Institute, 1969), pp. vii–viii. Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1984), Vol. 11. Masson and Patwardhan, Santarasa,p.89. 1. Two other Javanese theorists, Supanggah and Suhardi, 12. Masson and Patwardhan, Santarasa,pp.49–50. have articulated slightly different conceptions of this phe- 13. Masson and Patwardhan, Santarasa, p. 108. nomenon. Calling these melodies “implicit” or “unplayed” 14. Masson and Patwardhan, Santarasa, p. 107. melodies, Marc Perlman discusses all three theories in Un- 15. Slawek, “Engrossed Minds,” pp. 33–35. played Melodies: Javanese Gamelan and the Genesis of Mu- 16. Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea sic Theory (University of California Press, 2004). See also (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), trans. R. B. Haldane Perlman “The Social Meanings of Modal Practices: Status, and J. Kemp (London: Routledge and Kegan Hall Broadway Gender, History and in Central Javanese Music,” Eth- House, 1964), Vol. I, p. 231. nomusicology 42 (1998): 45–80. Walton Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music 41

40. Sumarsam, “Inner Melody,” p. 303. Alan Feinstein; trans. Judith Becker (Ann Arbor: Center for 41. Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 315. South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1984), Vol. 1, p. 384. 42. Stange, “The Logic of Rasa, p. 119. 51. Stange, “The Logic of Rasa,” p. 123. 43. J. Gonda, Sanskrit in Indonesia, 2nd ed. (New Delhi: 52. Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 309. International Academy of Indian Culture, 1973), p. 256, as 53. Stange, “The Logic of Rasa,” pp. 117–118. quoted in Stange, “The Logic of Rasa,” p. 127. 54. Sutton, The Javanese and Its Music (un- 44. The Javanese even have a word for this kind of de- published masters thesis, University of Hawaii, 1975) p. 207. liberate concealment: semu. See Florida, Writing the Past, 55. Sastrapustaka, “Wedha Pradangga Kawedhar,” p. p. 275. She defines it as “the merely glimpsed perceptible 315. dimension of the concealed.” 56. Masson and Patwardhan, Santarasa, p. vii. 45. Clara Brakel, “Traditional and the 57. James L. Peacock, Indonesia: An Anthropological Problem of Interpretation,” Indonesia Circle 26 (1981): 13- Perspective (Pacific Palisades, : Goodyear Publishing Co., 24, quote from p. 21. 1973), p. 149. 46. R. T. Warsadiningrat (R. Ng. Prjapangrawit), 58. Sutton, Variation in Javanese Gamelan Music, p. 120. “Wedha Pradangga,” in Karawitan: Source Readings in Ja- 59. Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 289. vanese Music, ed. Judith Becker; trans. Susan Pratt Walton 60. Warsadiningrat, “Wedha Pradangga,” p. 31. (Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 61. In contrast, most Western theorists do not hold that 1987), Vol. 2, p. 65. appreciating art involves a spiritual journey. 47. Sastrapustaka, “Wedha Pradangga Kawedhar,” pp. 62. Stange, “The Sumarah Movement,” p. 10. 305–309. 63. The crucial position that Nyi Gitotenoyo holds in the 48. Sutton, Variation in Javanese Gamelan Music: Dy- history of classical Javanese singing was first pointed out to namics of a Steady State, Monograph Series on Southeast me by Alexander Dea (personal communication). Asia, Special Report No. 28 (Center for Southeast Asian 64. Supadmi, personal communication, 1992. Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1998), p. 199. 65. This is not to deny that occasionally agonistic ele- 49. See Rahayu Supanggah, “,” Balungan 3 ments enter into gamelan playing. (1988): 4 (trans. Marc Perlman). 66. Raden Adjeng Kartini, Letters of a Javanese Princess 50. Sulaiman Gitosaprodjo, “Ichtisar TeoriGamelan dan (New York: W. W. Norton, 1964), p. 50. Teknik Menabuh Gamelan,” in Karawitan: Source Readings 67. Benamou, Rasa in Javanese Musical Aesthetics,pp. in Javanese Gamelan and Vocal Music, ed. Judith Becker and 78–79.