{"id":63,"date":"2016-10-17T16:08:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2018-02-19T21:33:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T21:33:00","slug":"k-k-midharsih","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/kraton-yogyakarta-gamelans\/k-k-midharsih\/","title":{"rendered":"K.K. Medharsih"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acquired:<\/strong> during the Reign of Sultan Hamengku Buwana VII
\nType of Gamelan:<\/strong> common practice–modernized
\nTuning:<\/strong> sl\u00e9ndro<\/em><\/p>\n

\"medharsih\"<\/a>
One of the three gend\u00e8r barung<\/em> of the gamelan pair K.K. Medharsih and K.K. Mikatsih as they currently appear. New, matched casings were made for these gamelans in the early 1980s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

K.K. Medharsih[1]<\/abbr> (“scattering love”), according to palace sources,\u00a0entered palace circles during the\u00a0reign of\u00a0the Seventh Sultan (reign 1877-1921), though it is believed he procured this gamelan sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> while still the Crown Prince (therefore prior to 1877, during the reign of the Sixth Sultan).[2]<\/abbr> It is not known\u00a0if this gamelan was newly commissioned or already of some age at the time, but due to some features of its instruments it would appear K.K. Medharsih originated in the cultural sphere of the Surakarta Kingdom rather than in Yogyakarta (more on this in the next paragraph). One of the garwa padmi<\/em>\u00a0(primary wives) of the Sixth Sultan, G.K.R. Kencono, was a daughter of the Eighth King of Surakarta (Susuhunan<\/em> Paku Buwana VIII),[3]<\/abbr> so perhaps K.K. Medharsih\u00a0came to the Yogyakarta court with her and was assigned for use at Kadipat\u00e8n, the residence of the Crown Prince. Kadipat\u00e8n, at that time, was located outside of the palace proper (just to the west), and it is probably there that it remained, used for the ceremonial\u00a0and entertainment needs of successive\u00a0Crown Princes, until sometime in the 20th century. But since the Crown Prince with whom this gamelan was first associated would later become the Seventh Sultan, it is with this sultan that\u00a0K.K.\u00a0Medharsih is most strongly associated. It is not clear to me when K.K. Medharsih was physically relocated from Kadipat\u00e8n to the palace proper, but I first saw it and its associated gamelan p\u00e9log<\/em> K.K. Mikatsih undergoing their modernization process in late 1982. In early 1983 they began being used on a regular basis inside the palace for uyon-uyon<\/em> Hadiluhung preparation and broadcasts, for the accompaniment of dance and dance drama performances celebrating important dates in the palace calendar, and for performances directed toward the general pubic and to tourists visiting the palace.<\/p>\n

When I first encountered this gamelan the finishing touches to its modernization were being made. I did not see it prior to this transformation, but according to a palace inventory dating from the 1940s[4]<\/abbr> it had at that time a pre-modern common practice gamelan sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> instrumentation:\u00a0one gend\u00e8r barung<\/em>, one gambang gangsa<\/em>, one gambang kayu<\/em>, one each of all three sizes of bonang<\/em>, a “double” saron<\/em> section with four saron demung<\/em> and eight saron ricik<\/em>, one slentho<\/em>, one kethuk<\/em>, one\u00a0kenong jale<\/em>r, one kenong japan<\/em>, one kempul<\/em>, two gong ageng<\/em>, one kendhang ageng<\/em>, and one kendhang ketipung<\/em>. The modernization of this set during the reign of the Ninth\u00a0Sultan reduced the saron<\/em> section to two saron demung<\/em> and four saron ricik<\/em>, and added the following: one saron peking<\/em>, one clempung<\/em>, one gend\u00e8r panembung<\/em>, one gend\u00e8r penerus<\/em>, four\u00a0kenong jaler<\/em>, four\u00a0kempul<\/em>, three gong siyem<\/em>, and a kemong<\/em>.[5]<\/abbr> At the time these instrumentation changes were being effected, the two sets also underwent significant re-tunings in order to make them more musically functional as a paired set. Perhaps because these two sets have been used as a unified sl\u00e9ndro-p\u00e9log<\/em> pair since their updating, only two of their combined four gong ageng<\/em><\/a> are needed when they are now used. At least one of the original two gong ageng<\/em> of K.K. Medharsih has been reallocated to the gamelan sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> K.K. Pusparana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, certain features of this set strongly suggest that it originated from the Surakarta region rather than Yogyakarta. Yogyanese saron sl\u00e9ndro<\/em>\u00a0typically have six keys (wilahan<\/em>) with the lowest key tuned to pitch 1 of the sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> scale. The saron demung<\/em> and saron ricik<\/em> of K.K. Medharsih have seven keys the lowest one\u00a0tuned to pitch 6 of the sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> scale, a characteristic of saron<\/em> instruments from the Surakarta tradition. Yogyanese bonang sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> typically have ten gongs arranged in two parallel rows of five gongs each; Solonese bonang sl\u00e9ndro<\/em>, and those of K.K. Medharsih, have twelve gongs in two parallel rows of six gongs each<\/a>. Finally, the relative size of the individual gongs of the bonang barung<\/em> and bonang penerus<\/em> of K.K. Medharsih is\u00a0noticeably smaller than those of\u00a0all other palace gamelans with the exception of K.K. Marikangen<\/a>. This relative size difference of bonang<\/em> kettles is another, albeit very general, distinction that is\u00a0made between Solonese (from Surakarta) and Yogyanese gamelans. \u00a0No other Kraton Yogyakarta common practice gamelan sl\u00e9ndro<\/em> shares all these above features with K.K. Medharsih, which suggests to me\u00a0that this set may have entered the kraton<\/em> as a royal gift from Surakarta.<\/p>\n

Prior to\u00a0their modernization, the primary color of the casings of K.K. Medharsih was\u00a0dark red (abrit sepuh<\/em>)\u00a0and that of the gamelan p\u00e9log<\/em>\u00a0with which it\u00a0was being paired, K.K. Mikatsih, was light red (abrit nem<\/em>).[6]<\/abbr> They were given\u00a0the same shade of dark red<\/a> (abrit sepuh<\/em>) in 1982. I do not know anything about the pre-modernization carving motifs on these gamelans, but both sets were given new casings with a unified vocabulary of ornamentation (vegetation with facing crows each holding a seed in their beak) that appears to have been derived from the gamelan p\u00e9log<\/em>\u00a0K.K. Kancilbelik minus its\u00a0deer, water and the Eighth Sultan\u2019s royal emblem components<\/a>. The\u00a0gend\u00e8r<\/em>-type instruments of the Medharsih-Mikatsih pairing, as part of the modernization process, were given mataraman-<\/em>style casings that were probably not present in their pre-modernization state, although, again, I did not see these gamelans in that state.\u00a0The choice of mataraman<\/em>-style gend\u00e8r<\/em> casings seems to be a stylistic detail, probably modeled on the gend\u00e8r casings of the archaic gamelan K.K. Guntursari<\/a>, present in all the gamelans, starting with the Medharsih-Mikatsih pairing, that have been modernized or purchased under the watchful eye of G.B.P.H. Yudhaningrat since the early 1980s.[7]<\/abbr> The gong racks (gayor<\/em>) of the newly updated Medharsih-Mikatsih pairing were capped with a mask figure (kedhok<\/em>)<\/a>; once again, I do not know if this decorative motif was original\u00a0to either of the sets prior to their modernization. By 1999\u00a0these gamelans had been repainted to roughly their current colors: dark green (ijo sepuh<\/em>) on smooth\u00a0surfaces with a light red field behind any surface carving, all of which is highlighted in gold<\/a> (see image at the top of this page). By\u00a02016 all the gong stands had new tops, now with an entirely vegetation (lunglungan<\/em>) motif and no kedhok<\/em><\/a>. Also, while\u00a0the base and background colors remained\u00a0the same, the gold highlight had been redone with a more vibrant shade of gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the thirty-five years that I have had contact with K.K. Medharsih and its\u00a0gamelan<\/em>\u00a0p\u00e9log<\/em> counterpart K.K. Mikatsih, they have been subjected\u00a0to several stages of physical, visual, and tuning transformations. These changes have\u00a0further transformed these gamelans\u00a0from relatively obscure objects within the cultural geography of the Kraton Yogyakarta into\u00a0known and familiar entities utilized on significant palace occasions during\u00a0which they symbolically resonate the ways in which members of the palace community understand themselves and the institution of which they are a part.<\/p>\n

Inventory:<\/strong>
\ngong ageng<\/em><\/a> (2)
\ngong siyem\/suwukan<\/em><\/a> (3)
\nkempul<\/em> (5)
\nkenong jaler<\/em> (5)
\nkenong japan<\/em> (1)
\nkethuk<\/em> (1)
\nkemong<\/em><\/a> (1)
\nbonang penembung <\/em>(1)
\nbonang barung<\/em><\/a> (1)
\nbonang penerus<\/em> (1)
\nsaron demung<\/em><\/a> (2)
\nsaron ricik\/barung<\/em><\/a> (4)
\nsaron peking<\/em><\/a> (1)
\ngend\u00e8r penembung\/slenthem<\/em> (1)
\ngend\u00e8r barung<\/em><\/a> (1)
\ngend\u00e8r penerus<\/em> (1)
\ngambang kayu<\/em> (1)
\nclempung\/celempung<\/em><\/a> (1)
\nkendhang ageng\/gendhing<\/em> (1)
\nkendhang ketipung<\/em> (1)
\nkendhang alit\/batangan<\/em> (1)
\nsuling<\/em> (1)
\nbendh\u00e9<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
\nbedhug<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
\nrebab<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
\nsiter<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
\nkec\u00e8r<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)
\nkeprak<\/em> (general use instrument shared with other gamelans)<\/p>\n

Audio and Video Clips:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Audio 1<\/a> [G<\/em>endhing<\/em>\u00a0Mawur (excerpt), laras sl\u00e9ndro pathet sanga,<\/em>\u00a0performed on K.K. Medharsih, May 20, 1983. Performed in loud style (soran<\/em>).]<\/p>\n

Audio 2<\/a>\u00a0[L<\/em>adrang<\/em> Prabutama, laras sl\u00e9ndro pathet manyura<\/em>, performed on K.K. Medharsih, May 20, 1983. Performed in soft\u00a0style (lirehan<\/em>).]<\/p>\n

Video 1<\/a>\u00a0[Playon S<\/em>l\u00e9ndro Sanga, performed on K.K. Medharsih while being used to accompany a wayang kulit<\/em> performance, March 17, 2007.]<\/p>\n

K.K. Medharsih and K.K. Mikatsih being performed on by a non-palace group at Pagelaran during Pameran Karaton, December 4, 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acquired: during the Reign of Sultan Hamengku Buwana VII Type of Gamelan: common practice–modernized Tuning: sl\u00e9ndro K.K. Medharsih (“scattering love”), according to palace sources,\u00a0entered palace circles during the\u00a0reign of\u00a0the Seventh Sultan (reign 1877-1921), though it is believed he procured this gamelan sl\u00e9ndro while still the Crown Prince (therefore prior to 1877, during the reign of … Continue reading “K.K. Medharsih”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":24,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-63","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2221,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/2221"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/gamelan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}