Acquired: during the Reign of Sultan Hamengku Buwana I
Type of Gamelan: archaic–low-pitch common practice
Tuning: pélog
K.K. Guntursari (“thunder essence”) is a pusaka gamelan that members of the palace community feel encapsulates the martial character of the court of Sultan Mangkubumi (Hamengku Buwana I, r. 1755-1792 CE). Although its instrumentation is that of a pre-modern common practice gamelan, its very low tuning (not conducive to including singers) and its restricted ceremonial use help define it as an archaic form of gamelan. Prior to the reign of the Ninth Sultan (before 1940) it had a few well-defined contexts of performance, one being to accompany the male warrior dance called Lawung Ageng or Beksan Trunajaya. This dance is attributed to the First Sultan and is said to have been inspired by the military exercises (a kind of jousting called watangan) of his troops.[1] The movement stylization used for this dance is very bold (gagah) and the choreography includes many duels using long poles (lawung) as weapons. Lawung Ageng would typically be performed as entertainment following the marriage of a royal family member. These entertainments took place not in the palace but at Kapatihan, the residence of the sultan’s prime minister, located about a kilometer north of the palace just off jalan Malioboro, the main commercial street of Yogyakarta. On wedding days the palace entourage, accompanied by the palace guard unit called prajurit Wirabraja and the gamelan K.K. Guntursari, would proceed up jalan Malioboro with the Lawung Ageng dancers riding horses. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, palace musicians would perform gamelan pieces called gendhing mares (“marches”) on K.K. Guntursari, the instruments of which were carried on litters by coolies. The full (up to five hours in duration) Lawung Ageng would then be performed in the Prime Minister’s elegant pavilion to the accompaniment of K.K. Guntursari. Since at least the beginning of the reign of the Ninth Sultan (r. 1940-1988), this extravagant celebration has died away. While several royal weddings have taken place since 1940, when they have included performances of Lawung Ageng they have typically presented only a section of the full choreography, have not always been performed at Kapatihan, and usually have not been accompanied by K.K. Guntursari.
In the past, since at least the late 19th century, K.K. Guntursari was also used for the yearly Grebeg Mulud procession that celebrated the birth of Muhammed. Palace musicians would perform gendhing mares as the instruments were being carried on litters behind the prajurit Langenastra, who marched in a highly stylized fashion from the palace to the Mesjid Ageng (“Great Mosque”).[2] Also in the late 19th century K.K. Guntursari would be set up in Bangsal Magangan and played for the weddings, circumcisions, and clitoris-piercing ceremonies of the sultan’s children by his first wife (garwa padmi). K.K. Guntursari has not been used in these capacities since the 1930s.[3]
Today, about the only regular use of this gamelan of which I am aware is for the musical preparation for Sekatèn. Starting a few weeks before the opening of Sekatèn each year, the palace musicians set aside one day a week to rehearse the four core gendhing used every day during Sekatèn–gendhing Rambu, gendhing Rangkung, gendhing Lung Gadhung Pél, and gendhing Andhong-Andhong. K.K. Guntursari is the best non-sekati type palace gamelan for this purpose for its tuning is quite close to that of one of the two gamelan sekati (K.K. Nagawilaga), its four saron demung and eight saron barung allow several musicians at a time to practice following the bonang player through these challenging pieces, and, like the gamelan sekati, it includes a bedhug, a kempyang and a pair of bendhé. (View Video 1 for an example of K.K. Guntursari being used in this capacity.) Beyond its use for preparing for Sekatèn, K.K. Guntursari is occasionally played for recording and film projects commissioned by groups or individuals from outside the palace community. One such instance of this, captured on tape by ethnomusicologist Jacques Brunet in 1970 and released on commercial recordings, can be heard on the Audio 1 clip.
I was fortunate to attend an event in the palace on 7 March 2019 for which K.K. Guntursari was performed to accompany the Lawung Ageng dance (with forty-two dancers). This performance marked the 30th Anniversary of the coronation of Hamengku Buwana X (according to the Gregorian calendar) and the opening of a special exhibit of palace manuscripts. The exhibit, as well as the performance, took place at the Pagelaran with the Sultan present. Video 2 presents a few moments from this event; although K.K. Guntursari is not seen in this clip it can be heard, along with a small band of mostly brass instruments doubling the balungan (core melody) played on the gamelan.
The sound quality of K.K. Guntursari has been described as “anteb mengalun” (“like a steadfast wave”),[4] in large part because of its huge saron section (four saron demung, eight saron ricik, one saron peking) and its low tuning relative to modern common practice gamelans. Additionally, this set includes a few other loud-sounding archaic instruments–a slentho, a gambang gangsa, a pair of bendhé, and a rojéh. With all this thunder, the inclusion of soft-sounding instruments–two gendèr barung, a gambang kayu, and a rebab–typically used in soft-style playing on common practice gamelans seems out of character for this set. After all, the repertoire of gendhing performed on K.K. Guntursari consists only of loud-style (soran) pieces such as those used to accompany the Lawung Ageng and marches (gendhing mares/sabrangan/gati), all of which can have western field drums (tambur) and brass instruments included when performed. The answer to this conundrum lies in the performance practice of the Lawung Ageng. There are moments in the course of performing this dance when the dancers themselves or their assistants deliver dialog. At these moments a signal, called sirep (lit. “calm”), is given to the gamelan musicians telling them to immediately reduce the high dynamic level of their playing to a dramatically lower one. It is in these islands of relative calm that the gendèr barung, gambang kayu, and rebab players join in, only to drop out again when another signal is given (called “gesang”, lit. “to came to life”) instructing the musicians to return to the higher dynamic level of playing.
The casings of K.K. Guntursari have as their base color a light brown (sawo mateng), their carving highlighted in gold that on some instruments has a rich red background. Two very distinct figural motifs are found on its instruments. One is the mythological garuda bird embedded in lush vegetation (this figure appears on the instruments of the gendèr, bonang and kenong types), the other is a bright red mammal–perhaps a jackal (a creature that appears on Javanese temples from the Buddhist period, often wearing a collar)–framed by golden mirong (this figure is found on the saron-type instruments).
Though K.K. Guntursari was clearly an active and effective agent in the ceremonial life of the Kraton Yogyakarta from its creation in the late 18th century until well into the 20th century, it has been in semi-retirement these past seventy-five years. This is largely due to changes–mostly simplifications as well as some discontinuations–in the ceremonial practices of the palace itself. Changing times have forced the nobility to recalibrate the grandiosity of their ceremonial undertakings, and no longer mounting five-hour long dances or incorporating huge and heavy gamelans in processions were expedient ways to accomplish this. The thunderous sound of this pusaka gamelan is as impressive today as it was when it was built, but the conditions are not right at this time for that thunder to be conjured.
Inventory:
gong ageng (2)
kempul (1)
kenong jaler (1)
kenong japan (1)
kethuk (1)
kempyang (1)
bonang penembung (1)
bonang barung (1)
bonang penerus (1)
saron demung (4)
saron ricik/barung (8)
saron peking (1) [added in 2019]
slentho (1)
gendèr barung (2)
gambang gongsa/gangsa (1)
gambang kayu (1)
kendhang paneteg ageng (1)
kendhang paneteg alit (1)
bendhé (2)
bedhug (1)
rebab (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
kemanak (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
kecer (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
keprak (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
tambur (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
Audio and Video Clips:
Audio 1 [Excerpt of ladrang Roningtawang, from Java: Palais Royal de Yogyakarta–Volume 1: Les dances de cour. One CD. Ocora C 560067. Track 2. cp 1994.]
Video 1 [The archaic gamelan pélog K.K. Guntursari being used for Sekaten preparation in Bangsal Kasatriyan on March 21, 2007; gendhing Andhong-Andhong is being rehearsed.]
Video 2 [The archaic gamelan pélog K.K. Guntursari accompanying the Lawung Ageng at Pagelaran on March 7, 2019; ladrang Roning Tawang and Gangsaran are being performed.]
