Kunang-Kunang

Over the past forty years, Pusaka Sunda, under the direction of Burhan Sukarma, has released recordings that highlight Burhan’s own compositions and arrangements for the Sundanese ensemble called degung (a type of gong chime ensemble also known as gamelan degung). In live performances, Pusaka Sunda always mixes these new works with selections from degung’s large, distinctive, and varied standard repertory. This album, “Kunang-Kunang,” is Pusaka Sunda’s recorded tribute—at long last—to degung’s rich past, to the many beautiful pieces that make up the degung klasik (“classical degung”) genre, and to the legacy of generations of gifted and dedicated musicians who forged the degung tradition over the past centuries.

In West Java, music composition has long been a cooperative project—individual composers were responsible for new pieces, but the details of such pieces were typically worked out in group rehearsals. Indeed, some say that it is a mark of accomplishment to have a specific composer’s name become disassociated from a piece—it means that the piece has truly entered collective memory. Any composers of a few of the pieces on this recording (“Palwa” and the eponymous “Kunang-Kunang”) remain completely unknown and are shrouded in the mists of time. There are composers’ names associated with some of the other pieces, but it is likely that decades of evolution through oral transmission have contributed to the pieces’ resilience.

Contemporary understandings of degung are mostly traceable to the popularity of degung radio broadcasts from the Bandung branch of the government-sponsored radio station, Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), in the 1950s and 1960s. RRI’s music director, Entjar Tjarmedi, was a disciple of distinguished musicians from previous generations (e.g., Idi, Oyo, Atma, Ono Sukarna, and Tarya), and thus the perfect bridge between the Dutch colonial period and Indonesian independence. “Lambang Parahiangan” is among his many enduring contributions to the repertory.

“Sangkuratu” is attributed to Abah Idi (dates unknown), who was active in the 1920s and is considered one of degung’s most important pioneers. Tjarmedi et al. suggest that “Sangkuratu” was one of the pieces Idi composed to showcase the recent addition of suling (bamboo flute, played by U. Tarya) to the ensemble (1997, 14). Ono Sukarna, one of Burhan’s important suling mentors is reputed to have composed “Bale Ngambang.”

The composers of “Walangsungsang” (Sulaeman Sutisna) and “Karang Ulun” (Uking Sukri) are also from Entjar’s generation. Both men were long-time faculty members at the Indonesian government-sponsored music school in Bandung and influenced the musical training of succeeding generations.

The music evokes a variety of moods, from the playful and spontaneous interactions between the various instruments and the suling in “Kunang-Kunang” (perhaps evoking the playful image of the title’s fireflies) to the assertive and relentless unison syncopations of “Bale Ngambang” (the title alludes to a remote building surrounded by a lake). “Lambang Parahiangan” takes the listener through several states: its agitated opening leads to a soulful suling solo, which resolves to an achingly slow section whose suling melody gradually but inevitably descends from high to low. (The title, “symbol of Parahiangan [which is one name for the highland regions of West Java], perhaps relates these mood changes to Sundanese history.) In contrast, “Sangkuratu” presents a consistently austere mood as it moves from the low register to the high register, then back again without any dramatic metrical changes (perhaps reflecting the public image of a queen, to which the title alludes).

Burhan Sukarma (who composed “Cupamanik”) considers Ono Sukarna to be one of his most influential suling teachers. And Burhan was a featured suling player at RRI in the 1970s and 1980s (including playing with the degung group under Entjar’s direction). Thus Burhan represents a vital link in this multi-generation pedigree of degung composers and performers. Pusaka Sunda hopes listeners will appreciate this album’s tribute to the long arc of degung history.

Reference

Tjarmedi, Etjar, Deded Suparman, Entis Sutisna, Asep Resmana. 1997. Pedoman Lagu-Lagu Klasik dan Kreasi Gamelan Degung Jawa Barat. Bandung: CV. Satu Nusa.

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Henry Spiller, Professor Emeritus
Department of Music
UC Davis