Aesthetic and Spiritual Correlations in Javanese Gamelan Music

There are striking similarities and intriguing connections between the tradition of gamelan music in Java and Javanese mystical traditions. A game-lan is an ensemble of gongs, metalophones, drums, bowed lute, xylophone, zither, bamboo flute, and singers. Gamelans of many different types exist in Java, Bali, and Lombok, as well as in Malaysia. Some include only a few gongs; others have up to fifty instruments. The type of ensemble that concerns us is the largest of these ensembles, the gamelan of Central Java. Its most important function is to accompany dance, theater, and ceremonial occasions, such as weddings, in both ritual and commercial settings. The links between the musical and mystical traditions of Java have not been much noticed or examined in the scholarly literature. The focus of gamelan research has been elsewhere: on the performance styles of particular instruments or musical groups, the history of the tradition, including the effects of Westernization, analysis of mode, musical cognition, and Javanese music theory. Ju-dith Becker, in her fascinating and suggestive Gamelan Stories: Tantrism, Islam, and Aesthetics in Central Java, does point out that vestiges of ancient mystical practices can be found in pitch names, the titles of musical pieces, and in the sacred bedhaya dance. 1 These observations are symptoms, it seems to me, of more fundamental and more pervasive links between gamelan music and spirituality in Java. I contend that gamelan music mirrors and manifests a central system of thought, experience, and belief in Javanese culture: mysticism. Though waning in recent decades, mysticism has long been a focal point in Javanese culture, so it is not surprising that Java's musical system is organized, at least in part, to support, manifest, and express that system. The stated aim of music making, the structure of the music, the leadership styles, and the creation of melodies have remarkably close parallels in the Javanese mystical world. 2 My analysis of the link between Javanese musical and mystical traditions centers on the concept of rasa, which is crucial to both traditions. I start with the ancient Sanskrit theory of rasa, then move to the central role of rasa in contemporary Java musical groups, followed by an analysis of Sumarsam's " inner melody " theory of Javanese music. Finally, I show that rasa is not merely an abstract construct accessible to an elite cadre of the most knowledgeable gamelan musicians: it is the basis of music making …