The Gamelan in the Catholic Liturgy in Yogyakarta

Luca Pietrosanti

doi:10.24821/ijcas.v6i1.3272

Abstract

This paper is a brief overview of the use of the gamelan together with the polyphonic choir in the Roman rite of Holy Mass. Through the examination ofrepertoires, interviews and active participation in rehearsals and Masses, thiswork illustrates the types of compositions of liturgical music for gamelan aswell as the way these compositions are used. Particular attention is addressedto some key-concepts of traditional gamelan music, such as gending, benthuk,laras, pathet, garap. It will be apparent that these concepts are adapted, firstlyto integrate the gamelan with a vocal element, the choir (which is based on awestern tradition) and secondly, to meet the needs of the rite of Holy Mass.Although indirectly, this paper also represents a paradigm of “Inculturation”,which describes a process distinct from “Enculturation”. The term“Inculturation” must be intended as “the incarnation of the Gospel in nativecultures and also the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church”,so defined by the Pope John Paul II in the encyclical Slavorum Apostoli, 2ndJune 1985, VI-21. Instead, with the term “Enculturation” we intend the processby which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture andassimilates its practices and values. Thus, the two words represent twodifferent processes of assimilation of culture.

Highlights

The history of the liturgical songs in Yogyakarta can be traced back to the first attempts of C
The work of the committee consisted of the creation of a liturgical repertoire that would integrate as much as possible the different musical cultures of Indonesia: from Java and Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sumba (NTT – Nusa Tenggara Timur), Flores, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua; an extensive work culminated in the publication in 1980 of the first book of liturgical songs in Indonesian language, the Madah Bakti
In order to understand the phenomenon of the liturgical songs from a strictly musical point of view, the first step that needs to be discussed concerns the scales of the gamelan music

Summary

Introduction

The history of the liturgical songs in Yogyakarta can be traced back to the first attempts of C. In the mid-1950s, the various experiments of introducing traditional Javanese music into the liturgy became an early inculturation program, thanks to the Archbishop of Semarang A. Regarding the traditional music of Central Java, the work of the committee ended with the publication in 1984 of the Kidung Adi – Buku Umat (book for assembly), a book of liturgical songs in Javanese, in which the main melodies are written in cipher notation, and it is intended to be sung by the assembly

Methods

Results

Conclusion