Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

72 INTERMINGLING OF CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITYperformance technique, electronic technology andinnovation—in the manufacture of instruments, amongothers.Kreasi baruThe concept of composition as an individual creativeact is considered to have been sown in Indonesia in the1950s, with special reference to the contributions of PakJokro, who composed many gendhing (compositions) 8with lyrics on contemporary issues, and institutionalizedthe formal teaching of traditional repertories in thevillages (modernesasi desa).Today, the repertoire called kreasi baru (new creations)has become a standard nomenclature in the Indonesianart world. According to Sumaryono, 9 this new repertoiremay even be subdivided into three sub-categories,especially applicable to the modern dance tradition (tari):1) revitalization or restoration of old forms generallyreferred to as kreasi baru (in music, new compositionsin the old forms could also be considered under thiscategory); 2) seni moderen, referring to the productionof pieces applying the creative freedom developed inthe West (e.g., pieces by Martha Graham, 20 th centuryprinciples in Western music); and 3) kontemporer,meaning new experiments and avant-gardism based ontraditional arts. The latter refers to the “avant-garde”works produced by karawitan artists who modernize thetraditional performance practice by reconfiguring thegamelan ensemble, integrating instruments from othercultures, including the West, and adopting and fusingelements from such major traditional styles as those fromBali, Yogyakarta, or Sunda, as well as Western music.This movement has also evolved a new compositionalprocess, a semi-oral, collective procedure, in whichperformers of an ensemble, whether purely musical orwith other artistic media, develop the final form of apiece through continuous “rehearsals.” The dichotomybetween composers trained in the West, writing scoresand pieces of music that adopt ideas and elements fromtraditional repertoires, and the “karawitan composers”who adopt the oral process as their point of trajectory, 10has fomented ideological tension, in spite of the factthat both “camps” are in reality partly the result of thelarger influence of Western theory and practice.Preserving indigenous pedagogy in moderneducationCognizant of the dialectic, if not dialogic, differencebetween traditional pedagogy and modern education,institutions and their faculties have been exploring areasby which a compromise could be achieved between thetwo learning ideologies. Some of the principal strategiesare:• The employment of master artists in classrooms.Whether they do actual teaching or simply lendtheir iconic presence, master artists visibly affectthe attitudes and behavior of students. 11• Reviving orality through literate strategies.Although repertoires are introduced in writtennotation, students are required to commit them tomemory.• Team teaching as a replication of communallearning. The concepts of communal learningand team teaching have been adopted as a classstrategy, ideally consisting of five teachers to a classof 10 to 15 students, allowing semi-individualizedmonitoring, although not all schools are able tobear the cost implication. 12• Sourcing the villages. In schools that do notprovide for hiring master artists in the regularprogram, individual professors include field workin their course requirements, sometimes leadingto a state of discipleship with the masters on thestudents’ own time. To preserve the aesthetic linkbetween modern institutions and traditional villagecommunities, the Indonesian Institute of the Arts(ISI) Solo requires each graduating student topresent his/her terminal project, the graduationexamination-recital, in his/her home village wherethe jury consists of both faculty from the homeinstitution and masters from the student’s ownvillage.Threats, new initiatives and institutional safeguardsCommodification of culture; performance as professionAs commonly perceived, the impact of outsideinfluences (e.g., entertainment, economy, religion,technology) is viewed as the principal threat thatundermines the essentialities and the aesthetic,theoretical, and pedagogical integrity of the expressivetraditions of a particular country or society. With thepressures of globalization, Thailand and Indonesia,branded as “developing” together with other SoutheastAsian nation-states, have consciously measuredtheir development as members of the internationalcommunity in economic terms. The commercializationof traditional music and the arts has become a partof the modernizing landscape all over Southeast Asia.Hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and other publicvenues in Indonesia, including temples and palaces, arenow providing venues for traditional performing arts asa commodity to foreign visitors just like the symphonyAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows