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Kyai Rengga Manis Everist Gamelan April 26, 2003 |
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A third selamatan or slametan (see First Performance in 2000 and Arrival in Vermillion 2000) for the Museum's gamelan was held at the NMM on April 26, 2003, immediately following the gamelan's naming ceremony. Members of The Schubert Club gamelan ensemble (St. Paul, Minnesota) performed on the gamelan following the ritualistic blessing and naming ceremony held in the Arne B. Larson Concert Hall. The ceremony concluded with the serving of the slametan, a Javanese ritual meal designed to mark many special occasions. This marking of events in the passage of the life of the gamelan may be likened to the naming ceremony for a child or any other ceremony that recognizes an important point in a person's life. |
The naming ceremony, led by Richard A. Cutler of Sioux Falls, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, was held to reveal the official name, which had to be given by a master from within the Javanese gamelan community. This "naming" is not an intellectual process or even a decision; rather, it is a process of putting out a request for a name that reflects the spirit of the instruments and then receiving the name and revealing it. In this instance, that responsibility was assigned by the Museum months ago to Joko Sutrisno (right), a native of Java and a master gamelan player who has been teaching for several years in Minnesota. |
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The gamelan's name, a closely guarded secret until its announcement at the ceremony, was officially proclaimed to be Kyai Rengga Manis Everist. The word, Kyai, refers in Javanese culture to an object deserving great respect and honor and reflects the gamelan's placement in a great museum, where it will be enjoyed for many generations. Rengga means to create or to exhibit, Manis means sweetness and beauty, and Everist honors Margaret Ann Everist (1917-2003), whose generosity and appreciation of beauty are an important legacy of this, the most complete and beautiful set of gamelan instruments outside of the palaces of Java. Mrs. Everist, formerly a Trustee at the Museum, provided the funds with which to commission the building of the ensemble. |
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Members of The Schubert Club gamelan ensemble played a traditional Javanese composition, Slamet, followed by a mask dance, Gunung Sari, performed by Tri Sutrisno, a traditional dancer born and trained in Java. |
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Following the traditional Ujub—a statement of intent and blessing read both in high Javanese and in Arabic—the ceremony concluded with the serving of the slametan, a Javanese ritual meal, identical to the one served when the gamelan first arrived in Vermillion on July 15, 2000. Tri Sutrisno and other members of The Schubert Club gamelan ensemble in St. Paul served the Javanese feast to members of the NMM Board of Trustees and others. The traditional yellow rice mountain can be seen in the foreground. Trustees (left to right) include Boyd Hopkins, Susan Haig, and Wayne Knutson. |
What does the NMM's gamelan sound like? Listen to musical excerpts from the CD, Sayuk: Together in Harmony, recorded at the NMM in 2007 by The Sumunar Gamelan Ensemble of the Indonesian Performing Arts Association of Minnesota.
