Dinamika Alunan Jawa

As a kid, I was surrounded by a musically talented family. We’re the type of family who would always vibe to any old school genre and would always play any 90’s classic in family events like “silaturahmi.” I also grew up with an uncle who was a band member, and he would always teach me how to play the guitar. I was always bombarded with the genres from rock to jazz to blues, etc.

Considering that I’m a generation Z teenager, listening to rock, blues, and jazz feels old. I felt like I had to be the game-changer in my family in order to switch up the musical taste. Hip-hop and rap are the most influential musical genres to me. The first-ever rap music that was introduced to me was Denzel Curry who trended in the 2010-2015. The song that made me interested in rap was “Ultimate”, the one song that helped me gravitate more towards hip-hop.

I personally acknowledge that I cannot rap so I put my devotion into producing rap instrumentals. Essentially, producing beats interests me because this could be my future career. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but if I have the opportunity to be a successful producer, I will not waste it because a hobby becoming a job is an achievement. The motivation that aspires me in my future is to be the most successful producer from Indonesia and to make my nation proud.

Western culture in music like in hip-hop and rap has always been a benchmark for Indonesian teenagers, and anyone who follows such genres is considered cool or “cultured”. Often it comes at the expense of forgetting or leaving behind Indonesia’s own musical traditions like the songs created with angklung and gamelan. If this continues, our local cultural musical traditions will disappear because they are considered uncool due to the overwhelming influence of Western music.

In my view, we can combine Western culture with Indonesian local wisdom, and that is why my PP’s goal this year is to research about different instruments from Javanese musical traditions and combining them with Western-style urban contemporary genres to create an instrumental Limited Play.

For this project, the approach is highly challenging for me. I know that my background in hip-hop music production will come across as too comfortable, so I have decided to incorporate that expertise with traditional Javanese music. Essentially, the reason why this is very challenging for me is that I’ve never encountered Javanese music, and mixing it with more urban contemporary style is no easy feat. For the most part, I’ve only created normal and simple beats with a fast-paced melody and drums. I believe that in this part of the project, the most difficult component is making the tempo of the traditional instruments like the gamelan and the drums of a normal rap beat to be the same, and I find this very challenging because I’ve never tried doing this or even bothered doing this before. Hence, this is a very new experience for me.

Global Context

The global context for my project is personal cultural expression. In creating an urban contemporary LP that contains Indonesian traditional music, I will be developing my artistry and craft. Because musical expressions are often unstructured and open-ended, I will be using my own personal taste and judgment in conveying emotions, feelings, and vision into each instrumental song in my LP. Since I will be using my music production skills, I plan to improve on my digital craft with a technique that requires meshing urban genres with musical tones from Javanese traditional instruments. Lastly, in producing the LP, I will personally express my appreciation for my Javanese heritage and my love for urban contemporary music, which shows the relevant use of this global context.

Product

Dinamika Alunan Jawa ​is the title of my LP. This translates to “The Dynamics of Javanese Rhythms”. From the title of the album itself, I want to convey that Javanese music from traditional instruments like gamelan and angklung can be mixed with Western contemporary urban genres. My final product fulfills my goal of combining and blending two distinct musical traditions while highlighting the instrumental nature of the songs created. The rhythms that I created celebrate both my love for urban contemporary music and my new-found appreciation for my heritage’s traditional musical instruments.

The LP also fulfills my expectations for the global context of personal and cultural expression because I developed my artistry and craft in producing the instrumentals. Of my album’s four instrumental songs, I am very satisfied with the fourth one titled “Santuy'' because I enjoyed the challenge of combining the RnB and neo-soul with the angklung melody. This enhances my craft in expressing and elevating my heritage’s musical traditions through contemporary genres incorporation.

Finally, the LP also responds well to my set rubric. After finishing the songs, I surveyed a select group of people to listen to the songs and review them. The results indicate that indeed my product has competently achieved every criterion I’ve set from (1) traditional instruments’ integration to (2) musical compositions’ quality down to (3) musical styles’ combination. The survey’s consensus shows that under my Criterion C, the Javenese instrumentals’ melody mixes with the more urban beats in the songs.

Listen to my music below!

Reflection

When doing this project, I have plenty of realizations. Firstly, when thinking back on my topic, I realized that Javanese music is actually cool with all the traditional instruments from gamelan to angklung, and I see myself appreciating the sound these instruments generate. The Javanese musical patterns are surprisingly complex, and I thought it was just a simple do-re-mi, but they weren’t. I also found out that combining two genres isn’t as easy as I thought. I constantly found myself frowning at the cringy mix of sounds before landing on the perfect tune. It also saddens me that finding the digital versions of the traditional instruments and the tools wasn’t easy, and that might mean that these traditions might be fading. Lastly, I realize that when creating music, inspiration comes in stages, not as a whole.

When looking back at the global context I explored, personal and cultural expression, I also reflected on many things. One of it is the lack of cultural appreciation for our traditional musical instruments. As Indonesians, we have to express our appreciation of our own culture more. I really felt a connection to my heritage in doing this project. “Bridge”, the first song in my LP celebrates the connection between traditional instruments and urban contemporary music. Additionally, I also realized that the art of combining two contrasting musical traditions is a unique artistic experience. Most importantly, I realize how hard it is to be an artist. You must have a good mindset about your inspiration and the output that you’re creating.

IB Learner Reflection

In creating my LP, I have developed several profiles as an IB learner. A crucial part of the curriculum, this set of profiles was helpful in doing my PP. Though all ten profiles are applicable in creating the songs for my album, I find three traits significant: knowledgeable, risk-taker, and open-minded.

Firstly, in doing my project, I have to be well-informed from knowing how the FL functions work in digitally creating my songs to knowing the relevance of the traditional instruments’ history. I became more knowledgeable of my abilities in using FL because I spotted the different effects in combining melodies and how that leads to a cool vibe in the songs I created.

Seondly, I had to take risks in my craft and artistry in creating music. Throughout the project, I developed being a risk-taker by testing unconventional methods of combining two or three musical influences. Whether it sounded good or bad, I went for it, trusting my instincts in musical taste. Who would have thought that the past-faced beat of the UK drill would go so well with the traditional sound of rebab?

Lastly, I had to be welcoming of many new ideas for my album. I think that the PP made me more open-minded when it comes to the endless possibilities for combining musical genres. I let other people critique my work, and I accepted their comments and applied them in my edits to make sure that my work is just not based on what I think is presentable and good music.