Sound of music: Two men play their kenthulitan instrument in Kemiren, Banyuwangi, East Java.

Across the country, there are a myriad of cultural artifacts that include musical instruments and traditions.

“Not just anybody is allowed to bang on a gong in Kampar [Riau] in central Sumatra — the melodic gong chimes called calempong and the larger oguong gongs that accompany them are considered sacred. The intruments were in the past only played for important occasions, and the instruments are regarded with an intense reverence […]”

The quote came from Palmer Keen’s posts on Kampar, entitled “Earth Gong: Musical Ingenuity Lives on in Kampar, Central Sumatra”, posted back in March on his website called Aural Archipelago.

Keen is a 27-year-old American who has been documenting various musical traditions in several parts of Indonesia.

Through his website, Keen walks plenty of kilometers to write about local musical instruments and the contexts surrounding them — Are they played during ceremonies, processions and weddings? Are they ritualistic? — along with their histories in a thoughtful and eloquent manner.

Having worked as an English teacher in Bandung, West Java for four years, Aural Archipelago started off and remains a hobby.

His affinity for Indonesian music goes back to high school, when he became intrigued by Indonesia’s musical roots, like gamelan music.

Fresh from getting his degree in the University of California, Santa Cruz (he has a degree in modern literature and not, as many would have expected, in ethnomusicology), he decided to teach English in Bandung and realized one important thing about this alien country where he found himself: That there was more to Indonesian music than just the gamelan.

And so he went. Explore his site and you’ll see not only where he’s been, but also what he’s found there.

From the strings of tarawangsa in Sumedang to street buskers in Bandung, Keen’s travelogue isn’t exactly steeped in ethnomusicology; Aural Archipelago might as well be someone’s personal blog. Why?

“I don’t really like academia,” he said.

The writing accompanying the field recordings came later and the idea to do that materialized during a tour stretching from Bali to Nusa Tenggara Timur, although the trip didn’t always go smoothly: In Sumbawa, as he was trying to record a ceremonial dance, one of the dancers stepped on the recorder, corrupting all of his recordings.

These experiences have touched on the many stories of local Indonesians and he’s self-aware of his outsider perspective, his status as a foreigner.

“People respect that I can speak Indonesian and that I’m interested in the culture, but they’ve never said, ‘You’re an Indonesian now.’ So I always have that outsider aspect, but as far as exoticizing things, that’s something that I don’t want to do.”

But it’s easy to cynically assume otherwise. When asked about the readership of Aural Archipelago – Is there a fair split between Indonesians and foreigners reading the blog? – he conceded the ones commenting on it (on Facebook, on Reddit) are predominantly the latter.

“My ambition from the beginning was that I wanted Indonesians to hear this. I’m not doing this for foreigners,” he said and from reading the blog, it’s not hard to take his word for it.

Have the locals ever minded his presence? Nope, he said, only this one time when he “was putting someone in an awkward situation or something they didn’t want to do”.

It was somewhere in Kalimantan, as he was deep into his search for sape, a Dayak string arrangement. Long story short: Keen had to wait for the musician before he eventually came home from work, already tired to the point when asking him to play the instrument became an uncomfortable, imposing thing.

Aural Archipelago is also rooted in Keen’s concern for how Indonesia treats its musical traditions. Citing restaurants and hotels where they have a group of people play angklung, how traditional instruments are marketed can be “really, really artificial. [They’re] marketed toward foreigners in a way that totally misrepresents what the music is actually like. Which is not really cool.”

That’s a genuine concern, one that can be shared by Indonesians, too. Our curriculum isn’t really big on the traditions — at least not unless you count recorders as a traditional instrument.

So what’s next for Aural Archipelago? Inspired by the project of his brother, Dennis, who also runs a blog in which he goes on walking tours in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, Keen’s planning on doing a similar thing: This time with musical tours.

“There’s a lot of people who would tell me, ‘Oh, I wish I could be doing what you’re doing. That’s so great! I wish I could see that for myself.’ The people are there and no one’s really done this,” Keen says.

It’s awesome to think that what started off as a hobby can double as a musical education, even when it doesn’t necessarily stick to its format.

Aural Archipelago is a labor of love that will remind you of what it means to collect, to focus on a hobby even if it can wear a guy out and, most importantly, what it means to share.

— Photo Courtesy of Palmer Keen

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President