By Yasmin Yahya
It was indeed a success for Citra Open Day which was held for two days from 24 to 25 February at the Cultural Activity Centre (CAC). Organised by the Centre for International Islamic Culture or CiTRA it had not only attracted a good number of the crowd to the event but also managed to convince those who attended the event to join the clubs under CiTRA.
One of the clubs established under CiTRA was Gamelan Gema Gangsa.
Others being Andeka Caklempong, Angklung Club, Theater Club, Acoustic Band, Zapin Nafastari, Surta Pawana Dikir Barat, Percussion Club, Poetry Club, Nasyid Club and Creative Production Club.
The President of Gamelan Gema Gangsa Club, Muhammad Farhan Azman, 23, who is currently a final year student from the Kuliyyah of Engineering said: “This is the oldest cultural based club which has been established in IIUM.”
In brief, Gamelan Gema Gangsa was established in 1993 and known as Gamelan Group before it was officially changed to Gamelan Gema Gangsa after winning first place in Pertandingan Gamelan Melayu at national level which was held at Terengganu in 2013. For two years in a row, Gamelan Gema Gangsa also won first prize at the same competition the following year.
The objectives of the establishment of Gamelan Gema Ganga were to spread the knowledge on the traditional music in Malaysia and to make it as part of co-curriculum activities for IIUM students.
“The purpose of this club is to promote Malay traditional culture to the people out there,” said Muhammad Farhan.
In the beginning, Gamelan music originated from Indonesia and was brought to Malaysia following the migration of the Javanese in the 19th century during the early sultanates of Pahang and Terengganu.
Later, the Gamelan music was changed and several modifications were made so as to be compatible with Malay culture.
There are three types of Gamelan in this world which was from Java, Bali, and Malaysia. All of them have different instruments, functions, sound or noise, and songs.
Usually, Malay Gamelan is played as central role in ceremonial and everyday activities at the Royal Palace while Java and Bali Gamelan are often played during their ritual and religious ceremonies. Therefore, Gamelan Gema Gangsa aims to create awareness among IIUM students about the beauty of Gamelan music as well as to build a new perception among IIUM students about Gamelan, which is one of the Islamic arts that portray Malay culture and identity.
In order to promote Gamelan music to the world, they have been invited to attend major Gamelan events such as the Ensemble of Gamelan held at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Festival Gamelan Malaysia at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and World Gamelan Festival which is held once every two tears in Terengganu, the home of Gamelan Melayu.
It is an opportunity to express and expose Malay Gamelan’s identity and also Malay culture towards the society. In addition, they have also been invited to play the Gamelan as background music for Pidato Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu held in 2014 and 2105.
“It is an event where the foreigners give speeches in Bahasa Melayu organised by Majlis Kebudayaan Universiti-Universiti Malaysia (MAKUM) and we play the Gamelan music as background music during the event,” Muhammad Farhan added.
When it comes to the attraction of this club, Muhammad Farhan said, “Gamelan Gema Gangsa is an active club which has many involvements with big events outside IIUM.”
One of the major accomplishments achieved by Gamelan Gema Gangsa back then was joining the Festival of Gamelan held in UKM together with teams from others local universities.
In 2014, IIUM Gamelan Gema Gangsa was shortlisted among the three finalists of the Anugerah Ikon Varsiti Berita Harian in cultural category and nominated the first place award of Ikon Kebudayaan of Ikon Varsiti Berita Harian 2014.
Last semester, they were invited to attend one of the big events under CiTRA which was Budi Award and won the Budi Award for Culture as well as became the overall winner in Budi Award. Gamelan Gema Gangsa was nominated as the Golden Award in the event.
“Every club has to face challenges, the same thing with Gamelan Gema Gangsa, but this club only faced problem when it came to training matter. It took about a year for students to master playing the Gamelan instrument if a student did not have any basic skill in Gamelan,” said Muhammad Farhan.
Students who registered for this club will learn how to play Malay songs and any creative songs. Students will be taught on how to play the Malay songs as it is a basic song which everyone who plays Gamelan should know. For the creative songs, it needed high skills in playing Gamelan as the songs are composed by their advisor, Ku Zahir Ku Ahmad. The training is usually held once a week and everyday within two weeks before the event.
Therefore, students should know how to manage their time in between academic and training. “Time management is very important in order to have a balance schedule between club activities and academic,” he added.
As President of the club, Muhammad Farhan is responsible in organising the club, its training and performance. Thus, he has suggested that one way of managing his time efficiently is by doing his assignment or homework in the morning after Subh prayer and having club training at evening or night.
In terms of financing, Muhammad Farhan said that their club did not have to depend on any sponsorship from outside. They gained income when they got invited to play at wedding ceremonies and other events.
Usually, the payment they received during any wedding ceremony is around RM2,500 that included transportation, but still negotiable, depending on the location and who the customers are. The money they received were used to buy their costumes and for maintenance of the instruments.
“Sadly, people usually don’t know the differences between Gamelan and Caklempong. They look the same but they have significant differences,” Muhammad Farhan added.
Gamelan consists of many components such as Keremong, Saron, Gambang, Kenong, Gong and Gendang (click here to see the whole set of Gamelan) while Caklempong does not have all these components and the size is slightly smaller than Gamelan instruments (click here to see picture of Caklempong). These instruments are made from composition of bronze and lead.
Muhammad Farhan said: “Gamelan Gema Gangsa plans to continue to promote the traditional music to the international community in future by showing the elements of East culture in collaboration with CiTRA, and to work hard to put this club on a higher pedigree in the world.”
Gamelan Gema Gangsa will be having an audition session on 7 March to recruit new members of the club. It would be held from 8p.m until 10.45p.m at Training Room, CAC.***
Below are components or instruments that being used in Gamelan Gema Gangsa:
Below are some of the achievements Gamelan Gema Gangsa:
