T

he gentle sounds of Javanese gamelan have charmed listeners for thousands of years. In August, Yogyakarta court gamelan orchestra Kridha Mardhawa will present those sounds to the world at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The world’s largest cultural festival, which this year will run from Aug. 12 to Sept. 4 in Scotland’s capital, will celebrate Asia’s vibrant and diverse cultures with the finest artists from the region.

The artists from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam will join others from around the world to present opera, music, theater, dance and visual arts for a three-week-long treat for the eyes and ears.

“It’s a great honor for us to perform at the festival where we have the opportunity to present the classical Javanese gamelan music of the Yogyakarta Royal Palace to the European public and the world,” the orchestra’s leader GBPH Yudhaningrat told The Jakarta Post.

He said the upcoming performance would not be their first performance abroad but would be special considering the festival’s longstanding reputation.

The Kridha Mardhawa orchestra was set up in 1908 during the rule of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII following the establishment of the palace’s arts and culture department, the Kawedanan Hageng Punowakan Kridha Mardhawa, the same year.

Since it was first established, the orchestra plays and performs only classical Javanese gamelan music — or gending as it is known locally – in the style of the Yogyakarta court.

“The group is supposed to preserve quality and elegant gamelan music of the royal style,” said Yudhaningrat, who is also the younger brother of Yogyakarta’s present ruler, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

At times, the group also plays modern compositions like “Kutut Manggung”, but only after they are rearranged to fit the Yogyakarta court’s gamelan style.

He said the palace’s orchestra and other groups have differences in nature, tune, rhythm and arrangement.

“We have our own ‘cooking’ style that only those who really know about gamelan can recognize.”

The present Sultan does not forbid Kridha Mardhawa from playing modern compositions, or even popular ones like dangdut and campursari (Javanese songs accompanied by modern instruments) when the group performs at the palace as long as it is appropriate, he said.

“But we decided to stick to the classic royal ones,” said Yudhaningrat, who has just been appointed head of the Yogya-karta cultural center, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta.

Ethnomusicologist Sumarsam once said that gamelan in the form of a large ensemble, as is commonly seen now, was not introduced until the heyday of an Islamic kingdom in Demak between the late 16th century and early 17th century.

Until the emergence of the Islamic kingdom in Java, a popular musical instrument was something like a gong. Other instruments like rebab (a violin-like instrument), kendang (small drum), gambang (a musical instrument made up of wooden pieces) and others were still unknown, he added.

Sumarsam, who published his research in a book titled Gamelan and Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java — originally his dissertation for his doctorate at Cornell University, said that gamelan developed and became a large ensemble when kingdoms like the Surakarta and Yogyakarta palaces combined several sets of gamelan and played them together in traditional rites.

At the Kridha Mardhawa, all players in the group are the palace’s royal servants. Experts and experienced players such as professors and lecturers at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta are welcome to join the 70-member group that rehearses alternately every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

For a complete performance in the palace, the group usually features 37 members comprising 25 gamelan players, five lead singers or sinden, five accompanying singers, a hand-clapping player and a male singer or kandha.

Seven performances, each lasting for about an hour, have been prepared for Edinburgh. Six will be at the festival and the other in London.

For the upcoming festival, the group will take 20 players along with dancers. The entourage will be led by Yogyakarta Cultural Agency head Djoko Dwiyanto.

“We came up with the idea to bring in the additional dancers. We think it will be good if the gending performances are accompanied by dances,” Djoko said as the group rehearsed for visiting Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan Mills in Yogyakarta.

Mills said the visit was important in order to find the right shape of the orchestra’s performance considering that the performance will be in a very different atmosphere before an audience who has a very different level of understanding and exposure to gamelan music.

“We have to adapt a little bit. Not change the music, but make sure that the duration and performance is right, as it is performed in the context of a very, very busy festival.”