Hello, my eighth graders! Today you are going to learn about Islam in the performing arts. Islam is one of the most practiced religion in Indonesia that have influenced the performing arts in all parts of Indonesia. There are some genres of music that are not approved in the Islamic cultural views like the type of music that non-Islamic music. Music that is approved with the Islamic values is religious, Quranic chants. It is also believed that music can help reach union with God. There was a point where Hindu-Buddhist religions were prominent in Indonesia. However, the decline of the Hindu-Javanese empires caused the rise of the northern coastal towns and the Islamic elites. By the 16th century, Islam became the dominant religion in Indonesia. The cultural development and the rise of gamelan music in the northern coastal towns was simultaneous with the rise of Islamic commercialization. The gamelan sekatan have been performed to try to convert people to Islam in front of a mosque and used gamelan music to help appeal to the Javanese people. The gamelan sekaten is used during the week of garebeg to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammed.
Popular Javanese performing arts like wayang theater still remained well-liked, however, as Islam became even more popular the values had some influence on the performing arts. The Javanese wayang puppets further stylized the human depiction in a 3d form. The Islamic values believe that the depiction of the wayang puppets has seductive imagery. This led to the change of the Javanese puppets into 2d form to make it more appropriate and without any seductive imagery. Also, wayang stories were typically about Hindu epics. Since the divide and decline of the former court of Mataram, the court poets wrote stories about the Hindu epics and poems using Islamic literature. Gradually, Islamic literature and ideology were influencing the performing arts. The wayang puppets were then wearing turbans and Persian-styled shoes. The concept of wahyu, religious, and spiritual aspects from Islam, was found in wayang stories. For example, the story of Dewa Ruchi shows the subtle introduction of Islamic elements intertwined in the wayang stories. These stories were inspired by the mystical path from Sufism with an emphasis on one’s soul and mind. The wayang golek puppets are made out of wood and cloth that have stories with the heroic figure of Amir Hamzah, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammed. Javanese Muslims believed that the dhalang, the puppeteer in a wayang performance, and wayang is connected to God.
There is an organization called Muhammadiyah that represents the young faction. They originally wanted to purify the Islamic faith of syncretism of Java and Islam. They wanted to make sure that the art doesn’t cause destruction or drive people away from Allah. However, Muhammadiyah changed its ideology to liberal Islam by supporting the local arts. They also have been more progressive socially and culturally. In contrast, the Nahdlatul Ulama organization represents the old faction, where the presence of gamelan music and wayang have decreased.
Specifically, the city of Banda Aceh’s performing arts changed immensely since the tsunami in 2004. In the 1970s, the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), the Free Aceh Movement, was a movement to help declare Aceh’s independence from the central government. The central government’s military had numerous checkpoints on the roads, raided the villages, and had strict curfews. The tsunami helped to create a treaty between the government and the GAM movement. The Acehnese people believed that the tsunami was a punishment from Allah to the Aceh Muslims for not practicing their Islamic teachings. Out of all the cities in Indonesia, Aceh practices Islam the most. Dance and music used to be performed in villages as a means to support their families. After the arrival of the NGOs, performing arts became much more prominent as people could now compete in music and dance competitions. The performing arts in Aceh have become more of a cultural identity than it was entertainment. Sangaar groups, art communities, had many restrictions and it was impossible for a group to play music and dance together due to the central government’s control. After the conflict with the central government ended, more sanggar groups formed.
The Traditional Arts and Lecture Organization went to villages to offer arts programs to the victims of the tsunami as performing arts was the best way to reach out and educate the young children. The children were taught songs that praise Prophet Muhammed and that represented the Islamic values. The performing arts became more popular as it seemed to be helping the tsunami victims. However, not all villages received the art programs because of the conflict between the Islamic values and the performing arts. The people in the villages did not think it was acceptable for young girls to be dancing and singing. Today, performing arts is now considered acceptable for children to participate in. In public schools, they started educating children on the history of Acehnese and Indonesian arts and music and dance. Ratoe Jaroe is a new genre of Acehnese dance that has become popular with the school girls. The school would teach the movements and songs based on traditional Achenes dances. The songs praised Prophet Muhammed.
After the tsunami, the government enforced the Sharia law. When men were doing their job, women would stay at home and would perform ritual ceremonies and festivals. However, Islamic teachings didn’t allow girls to participate in the performing arts. The married and older women were told by religious leaders to not participate in the performing arts anymore. The young girls can only perform up to a certain age because of the unwanted gazes they may receive. The older generations within the Acehnese society still question the presence of women in the performing arts. The dancers must be wary of their behavior around the opposite sex because then the entire arts community is accountable for that misbehavior. It can be difficult to draw a line between their Islamic faith and the performing arts.
The audience is eighth-graders who are being introduced to the Islamic influence on the performing arts in Indonesia in this academic lesson.
