Yogyakarta, 30 November 2019—The Pancasila field in front of UGM’s Grha Sabha Pramana was full of visitors from 6.30 pm. The drizzle that showered that night didn’t prevent the crowd attending this concert, which was one of UGM’s largest.
This concert was entitled “Rhapsody of the Archipelago Gamelan 4.0” and was the main event of Fisipol’s 64th anniversary and UGM’s 14th lustrum. This concert featured a colossal gamelan show. Several important figures, such as Ganjar Pranowo (the Governor of Central Java) and Pratikno (the State Secretary of Indonesia) attended this concert. At 7 pm, the gamelan was played, which meant that the concert was going to be started soon.
Olga Lidya, Alit Jabang Bayi and Gundhi were the hosts of this concert. This concert was opened by singing the national anthem of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada March, opening dances and opening speeches from Pratikno, Erwan Agus Purwanto (the Dean of Fisipol) and Wening Udasmoro (the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences). Afterwards, Mantra Vutura performed. Gamelan was fused with electronic dance music, which gave a modern and magical ambience at the same time.
In addition to Mantra Vuturea, other artists such as Tashoora, Letto and FSTVLST also enlivened this concert. Meanwhile, the dangdut group Om New Palapa ft. Brodin gave a closing performance. This concert was already planned by Fisipol for two years. Erwan was the one that came up with the idea of a colossal gamelan concert. He felt that UGM’s reputation as a cultural university wasn’t strong enough.
“Gamelan shouldn’t be a thing that is considered as “too sacred.” Because of that, the youth never dared to play it. Hence, we combined modern music and gamelan in this concert to attract the audience, which are mostly consisted of the youth. I hope that after this concert, the youth can love, preserve and develop traditional Indonesian music, especially gamelan,” he explained.
In this concert, Fisipol collaborated with the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, as this faculty has the necessary expertise on gamelan. Fisipol also has a gamelan community: Sospolaras, which also performed in this concert.
In addition to Sospolaras, other gamelan groups also performed. This included Canda Nada, Gayam 16, Prawiratama Indonesia and Gamasutra. This concert was also enlivened by traditional Indonesian dances, performed by Pulung Dance Studio.