Indonesian caves ring with rare rock music
PACITAN, Indonesia (Reuters Life!) - Deep within an Indonesian mountain, the Stone Age lives on, aurally.
For two days a week, the Tabuhan cave in the town of Pacitan, in East Java province, rings with music created using stalagmites and stalactites for instruments in an age-old, and now endangered, tradition.
Tabuhan musicians do not follow musical pieces — the rock music they create comes straight from the heart.
“Our music is different from other Javanese music that is made from iron and bronze, because this is stone music and it does not have musical notes,” explained Swunarto, who learned cave music from his father and is now one of a few Indonesians who still practise the art.
“We play it with feeling,” the 50-year-old explained.
Swunarto, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, said he was trying to interest young people in the music so that it did not die with him.
He has persuaded his two daughters to join his weekly performances, for which tourists pay about $5.
The local government was also working to keep the cave music alive, with the hope of increasing tourism to Pacitan, which is known as the “town of a thousand caves”.
“We are expanding Tabuhan music all the time and are joining with the local community to conserve the Tabuhan cave. I hope the musicians will be ready to perform whenever the tourists come,” said Bambang Widodo, the head of the Pacitan tourism agency.
Source : Reuters.co.in 2007
Add comment May 8th, 2007