Social qualities of time and space created in performing arts of West Java: The implications for safeguarding living culture

Collective representations of “time” do not passively reflect time, but time and space are mediated by society. By our social practices, such as making music and dancing, we create time. Different cultural groups may experience and perceive time in different ways, and also within one cultural group the quality of time is not always experienced in the same way. Anthropological studies have shown that in each cultural group different perceptions of time co-exist. For instance, time generally tends to be perceived as both a linear flow and as repetitive. We should not confuse metaphysical and sociological arguments about time: time in music and other performing arts operates at the social and not at the metaphysical level. The essay discusses a variety of social qualities of time and space as it becomes manifest in some performing arts of West Java and the implications for their safeguarding.KEYWORDSTime and space, performing arts, West Java, Baduy, angklung, pantun story, safeguarding, UNESCO, intangible cultural heritage

Music of the Baduy People of Western Java

Music of the Baduy People of Western Java: Singing is a Medicine by Wim van Zanten is about music and dance of the indigenous group of the Baduy, consisting of about twelve-thousand people living in western Java. It covers music for rice rituals, for circumcisions and weddings, and music for entertainment. The book includes many photographs and several discussed audio-visual examples that can be found on DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5170520. Baduy are suppposed to live a simple, ascetic life. However, there is a shortage of agricultural land and there are many temptations from the changing world around them. Little has been published on Baduy music and dance. Wim van Zanten’s book seeks to fill this lacuna and is based on short periods of fieldwork from 1976 to 2016. Readership: Ethnomusicologists and anthropologists, especially those interested in ethnic minority groups. It is also meant for scholars, NGOs and administrators of intangible cultural heritage and people of Baduy descent

Jaap KUNST: Indonesian music and dance; traditional music and its interaction with the West

La deuxième partie est subdivisée en deux chapitres (chapitres II et III) où sont rassemblés les propres travaux de Jaap Kunst, chaque chapitre étant précédé d’une brève introduction de Maya Frijn. Le chapitre II, intitulé « Du péril à la sauvegarde : L’intérêt de l’Occident pour les cultures traditionnelles » comporte deux publications : « La musique indigène et la mission chrétienne ; conférence donnée à l’Ecole missionnaire à Oegstgeest, Pays-Bas, 1946 » (1947 ; 31 p.) et « Musicologica ; ..

Malawian pango music from the viewpoint of information theory

Music played on a Malawian pango, a board zither, will be analysed by using concepts of probability theory and information theory. I have tried to make my analysis comprehensible to non-mathematicians. It is, however, impossible to translate all mathematical concepts into a few words which convey the same accuracy. So I had to compromise. The Conclusion of this article gives the main results of my analysis without using mathematical formulae. The music is played at a constant speed of about 6 pulses per second. The data for my analysis consists of the chords and sung melody notes which sound at each pulse

Jaap KUNST: Indonesian music and dance; traditional music and its interaction with the West

La deuxième partie est subdivisée en deux chapitres (chapitres II et III) où sont rassemblés les propres travaux de Jaap Kunst, chaque chapitre étant précédé d’une brève introduction de Maya Frijn. Le chapitre II, intitulé « Du péril à la sauvegarde : L’intérêt de l’Occident pour les cultures traditionnelles » comporte deux publications : « La musique indigène et la mission chrétienne ; conférence donnée à l’Ecole missionnaire à Oegstgeest, Pays-Bas, 1946 » (1947 ; 31 p.) et « Musicologica ; ..

The equidistant heptatonic scale of the Asena in Malawi

The musical scale of the Sena people of Southern Malawi can be characterised as an equidistant heptatonic tone system. Kubik (1968) reports: The equi-heptatonic tuning with its standard interval of 171 cents gives an unmistakable sound to the Asena bangwe. The same scale is used for the tuning of the large ulimba xylophones. The bangwe (a board zither) and the ulimba, belong, next to drums and rattles, to the most common instruments of the Asena in the Lower Shire Valley of Malawi

L’esthétique musicale de Sunda (Java-Ouest)

Dans la pensée de Sunda, les sons ne représentent que la forme externe de la pratique musicale. La pratique de la musique, voire des arts en général est une forme « d’ascèse dans le royaume » (tapa di nagara), c’est-à-dire une réflexion sur soi-même et le monde environnant. Pour assurer le bien-être de la société et de ses membres, il faut que la musique, la danse, le théâtre et la poésie soient pratiqués convenablement. L’esthétique de Sunda conçoit une hiérarchie des hauteurs du son: aux notes graves revient un statut plus élevé qu’aux notes aiguës. Le chant raffiné du tembang Sunda confère beaucoup de prestige, et sa hauteur du son est inférieure à celle de genres plus « simple » comme kacapian et degung kawih. Les notes graves évoquent la stabilité et le confort, tandis que les notes plus aiguës et davantage chargées d’émotion expriment un sentiment de tristesse. Rarement la musique de Sunda est purement instrumentale. Au contraire, la musique implique généralement du chant. Une tentative est faite pour démontrer que le chant est plus valorisé que la musique instrumental, car il est plus intériorisé et associé aux pouvoirs qui dominent la vie. La musique transmet ce qui est « ineffable » dans la vie quotidienne, à savoir le domaine contrôlé par les êtres humains. L’article explore l’hypothèse que les arts représentent les aspects féminins de la communication humaine. Toute la musique de Sunda est dominée par des notions d’ordre et de désordre. Par exemple, un instrument de musique mal accordée peut servir de métaphore de l’ordre social troublé.In Sundanese thinking musical sounds are only the outer form of music-making. Practising music – and generally the arts – is a kind of « ascetism in the kingdom » (tapa di nagara), that is, a reflection on oneself and the world. The proper performance of music, dance, theatre and poetry is needed for the well-being of society and its members. In Sundanese aesthetics, there is a hierarchy among pitches: low notes have greater status than high notes. The refined singing of tembang Sunda has much prestige, and its pitch level is lower than the more « simple » genres like kacapian and degung kawih. Low notes are associated with stability and comfort, whereas the emotional, higher notes evoke feelings of sadness. There is not much purely instrumental Sundanese music. Most music involves singing. An attempt is made to explain that singing seems to be more highly valued than instrumental music because it is more internalised, and associated with the powers which control life. Music communicates matters « ineffable » in daily life, which is the domain controlled by men. It is argued that the arts represent the female aspects of human communication. Notions of order and disorder pervade all of Sundanese music. For instance, a musical instrument which is out of tune may be used as a metaphor for the social order being upset

Identification of the Arabidopsis REDUCED DORMANCY 2 Gene Uncovers a Role for the Polymerase Associated Factor 1 Complex in Seed Dormancy

The life of a plant is characterized by major phase transitions. This includes the agriculturally important transitions from seed to seedling (germination) and from vegetative to generative growth (flowering induction). In many plant species, including Arabidopsis thaliana, freshly harvested seeds are dormant and incapable of germinating. Germination can occur after the release of dormancy and the occurrence of favourable environmental conditions. Although the hormonal control of seed dormancy is well studied, the molecular mechanisms underlying the induction and release of dormancy are not yet understood

Statistika Untuk Ilmu-ilmu

xxiv, 513 hal.; ill.; 21c

Music of the Baduy People of Western Java

Music of the Baduy People of Western Java: Singing is a Medicine by Wim van Zanten is about music and dance of the indigenous group of the Baduy, consisting of about twelve-thousand people living in western Java. It covers music for rice rituals, for circumcisions and weddings, and music for entertainment. The book includes many photographs and several discussed audio-visual examples that can be found on DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5170520. Baduy are suppposed to live a simple, ascetic life. However, there is a shortage of agricultural land and there are many temptations from the changing world around them. Little has been published on Baduy music and dance. Wim van Zanten’s book seeks to fill this lacuna and is based on short periods of fieldwork from 1976 to 2016. Readership: Ethnomusicologists and anthropologists, especially those interested in ethnic minority groups. It is also meant for scholars, NGOs and administrators of intangible cultural heritage and people of Baduy descent