Gamelan performances
Gamelan is surely not a foreign music. Its popularity has penetrated every continent and has created a new blend of jazz-gamelan music, gave birth to the institution as a learning space and the expression of gamelan music, to produce a famous gamelan musicians. Gamelan music can now be enjoyed in many parts of the world, but Yogyakarta is the most appropriate place to enjoy gamelan it since you can enjoy the original version.
Gamelan is growing in Yogyakarta Javanese gamelan, a different form of gamelan Balinese gamelan or Sundanese gamelan. Javanese gamelan has a softer tone and slow, in contrast to the lively Balinese gamelan and Sundanese gamelan highly dominated lilting voice and flute. The difference is reasonable, since Java has a view of life that is expressed in the rhythm of gamelan music.
Javanese philosophy of life expressed in gamelan music is the harmony of physical life and spiritual harmony in talking and acting so as not to create an explosive expression and to realize tolerance. Concrete manifestation in his music is the pull string fiddle that is, balanced blend of sounds kenong, saron drums and xylophone and gong sounds at every closing cadence.
Wayang Kulit performances
Night life in Yogyakarta will feel if you miss it by looking at the shadow puppets. The lively rhythm of the gamelan blends with melodious voice sinden will not let you fall in sleepiness. The story that brought the mastermind will bring you to come in to be dissolved as one of the characters in the story that was delivered. You too will soon realize how great of Javanese culture in the past.
Wayang kulit is performance art that has been aged more than half a millennium. Appearance has its own story, related to the entry of Javanese Islam. One member of the Wali Songo created by adopting Wayang Beber that developed in the heyday of Hindu-Buddhist. The adoption was done because the puppet already attached to the Java so that it becomes an excellent medium for spreading the propaganda of Islam, while Islam forbids visual art form. As a result, created shadow puppets where people can only see shadows.
Leather puppet played by a man who would be called the greatest public entertainer in the world. How not, during the night, the mastermind behind the entire character actor playing shadow puppets which are the puppets made from buffalo leather with decorated motif carving handicraft decoration (carving the skin). He had to change the character of the sound, changing intonation, issued a joke and even sing. To turn the atmosphere, aided by the mastermind musician who played the gamelan and sinden who sing Javanese songs.
Ramayana Ballet
Ramayana Ballet is the performing arts are beautiful, fascinating and difficult to compare. This performance is able to unite various Javanese arts such as dance, drama and music on one stage and one momentum to present the story of Ramayana, Valmiki's legendary epic written in Sanskrit.
The story of Ramayana is sung on the show is similar to that engraved on Prambanan temple. Like the fabled, Ramayana story carved on the most beautiful Hindu temple similar to the story in oral tradition in India. The road is long and thrilling story was summarized in four plays or round, kidnapping Sprott, Anoman mission to Alengka, Kumbakarna or Ravana's death, and reunion of Rama-Shinta.
The whole story is presented in a series of dance movements performed by the beautiful dancers accompanied by gamelan music. You are invited to actually dissolve in the story and observe each movement of the dancers to know the story. There's no spoken dialogue of the dancers, the only speakers are sinden depicting the storyline through the songs in the Java language with a distinctive voice.
