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‘Indisch’ music steps out of shadows
A Yogyakarta exhibition sheds light on Indisch, a musical genre that was born of the Dutch colonial era.
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Retracing history: Henk Mak van Dijk, a Dutch pianist and anthropologist, presented his research on indisch music at the Out of the Shadow exhibition in Yogyakarta on April 8. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
T
he tune of “Ketjoeboeng” as played on the piano filled the concert hall of the Indonesian Arts Institute Yogyakarta (ISI Jogja) on April 8.
The piano man is 63-year-old Dutch pianist and anthropologist Henk Mak van Dijk.
“Ketjoeboeng is a beautiful flower but it’s a dangerous, mystical bloom,” Van Dijk explained about the charming, yet poisonous, devil’s trumpet (Datura metel).
“In this composition, the music seems to soar and [then] disappears suddenly,” he said.
“Ketjoeboeng” falls into the Indisch genre, a blend of Western music and Indonesian cultural elements – including Malay and Javanese quatrains – that developed during the Dutch colonial era in the Indonesian archipelago (then known as the Dutch East Indies).
Van Dijk also played several other Indisch compositions featuring vocalist Ika Sri Wahyuni during the afternoon mini concert, which marked the opening of “Out of the Shadow” Indisch music exhibition that runs from April 8 to May 12.
