Appendix 6 - International Music Council

and values in music. Some people in communities, however, think superficially the
process of composition such as combining elements of music without considering that
the elements should blend into a totality of musical expression. Thus, they want to put
elements together without thinking compositional concepts behind the works. This
is
just like putting “salad and candy together” and blend them to get new taste of food.
This happens in Central
Java recently due to the misunderstanding about the concept
of composition among musicians in local areas. The genre is called “Campursari”
(literally, “mixed of everything”) which now widely performed among people who do
not think of values of music. This situation occurs because the musicians, who do not
have good understanding of what really music is, want to participate in global
changes. They think that global culture is the one that combines what they think to be
modern (that is, the western elements) and the local ones, without necessarily think
about the composition more seriously. There are criticisms from experts on this genre
due to the superficial understanding of the musicians on the concept of music.
• Cite examples
of the expression of personal or community identity through music,
and especially through musical diversity.
Personal and community identity arise when there is music festival where group of
music come together in a specific events to show their skills and musical creations. In
this event musicians have freedom to express musical ideas, thus diversity of music is
maintained. Because musical composition of one group is challenged by other groups to
win the festival, the composition should be unique and strong. This uniqueness
represents the personal or community identity in the process of creation and composition
of music.
Traditional settings of gamelan also provide space for musicians to express identity in
expressing personal interpretation of the “main melodic line” provided in the
performances. Musicians are aware of their duty to play different interpretation so that
his identity, and the group identity, arises in the performance. This method of playing
and interpreting the music are perceived as “natural” and musicians are supposed to get
involved in the “healthy competition.”
In another words, personal or communal
interpretation is required to represent the identity of a group of music.
A nother example is when music is used for strengthening the group of people or to raise
the identity of local governments. Until the last five years local regency governments
were
supposed to compete one another especially to get an “award” from national
government
in keeping the area clean, in holding neat administration, and in keeping
local
identity. To achieve this goal each local government creates new musical
composition
based on the local motto that they want to promote. There are music that
express
prosperity, solidarity, friendships, etc. Some examples of the music are: “Solo
Berseri”
(The Beauty of Solo City), “Karanganyar Tenteram” (The Peacefulness of
Karanganyar;
it also an acronym for “Quiet, Shaded, Neat, and Safe). Music is thus
explicitly
used to express identity of the group of people and government to achieve
their
goal.
7.
The obstacles or challenges to be overcome in order to ensure better protection
and promotion of musical diversity
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