Meghan Hynson's blog

Longing for the Past: The 78 rpm Era in Southeast Asia, Edited by David Murray with Essays and Annotations by Jason Gibbs, David Harnish, Terry E. Miller, David Murray, Sooi Beng Tan, and Kit Young. Atlanta: Dust-To-Digital, 2013. [272 pp. ISBN-13: 9781938922572, Hardcover: $57.50].

Reviewed by Meghan Hynson / Duquesne University

Below is a transcription of the Kayu Mas Gender Wayang style of Angkat Angkatan. 

Pak Wayan Suweca and his son, I Nyoman Gede Hariana, are playing the piece in the accompanying Youtube video. 

Dongkang Menek Biu means "The Frog Climbs the Banana Tree." 

Below is the gender wayang transcription of Dongkang Menek Biu from the Kayu Mas style of Gender Wayang. I learned this piece with Pak Wayan Suweca. Pak Suweca and his son, I Nyoman Gede Hariana, can be found playing in the accompanying Youtube video. 

     Please have a listen to the Mas gender wayang piece "Patra Wijaya." The ten keys of the instrument have been transcribed using the following Western notation.

Meghan Hynson holds an MA in ethnomusicology from UCLA and is currently studying at ISI Denpasar (the Balinese Arts University) under a fellowship from the Indonesian Ministry of Education. In this video, she participates in a ceremony playing the Balinese Gender Wayang.

West Javanese (Sundanese Angklung), is often played using three different scales Sulendro, Madenda, and Degung. Please watch the video to hear Pak Sam Udjo from Saung Angklung Udjo demonstrate these scales.

Today I interviewed my friend Ida Bagus Oka Geni Jaya about Balinese folk songs. According to Oka, these songs are like a short poem, full of philosophy. There are many types of folk songs, for example, songs for children that impart life lessons. Oka says “They want you to be a kid when you are a kid… they want you to have total freedom, so they give you little lessons through songs.

One of the most unique ceremonies in Bali’s history took place on November 16, 2011, fulfilling a promise made by King Pandji Sakti hundreds of years ago. Nawur Saud, roughly translated as “fulfilling one’s promise,” refers to a tradition in Bali where people promise to do something if the gods answer their prayers.

Saturday October 29, 2011 was a very special holiday in Bali called Tumpek Wayang.  During this holiday, all puppeteers and those who own puppets or gender wayang (the instruments that accompany the shadow puppet theater) will perform a special ceremony.

Thanks to a Fulbright/COTIM (Consortium for the Teaching of Indonesian and Malay) grant, I spent 8 weeks of my summer in Java, Indonesia following an advanced Indonesian language course. I really thought that this program was fantastic because they gave us many opportunities to go out amongst the people to develop our skills rather than just sitting in a classroom.