Islam’s Influence on Performing Arts in Indonesia: An NPR Special
1000-words essay #4You’re listening to NPR. I’m your visiting host, Bex Kachman. Welcome to our show, Culture Shock. Today, we’ll be talking about a really interesting topic: Islam’s influence on Indonesian performing arts.
As a brief introduction, let’s zoom out for a second to talk about how Islam intersects with performing arts worldwide. There is an extremely common misconception that the arts, especially performing arts, are prohibited in Islamic countries and cultures. In spite of this misconception, Islam has influenced the performing arts of many cultures, both implicitly and explicitly. If I listed every single performing art that Islam either influenced or founded, this brief radio show would span weeks. Instead, I’m going to focus on a specific example of a country influenced by Islam: the Republic of Indonesia.
Until the 16th century, Indonesia was a predominantly Hinduism-, Buddhism-, and animism-influenced country. Each of these religious systems influenced politics, social life, religious practices, and performing arts. For example, the Indian Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, vastly influenced Javanese performing arts, and were performed through music and dance for centuries. Upon the arrival of Islam to the Southeast Asian country, the religious teachings of the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad were spread not solely through the words of religious leaders, but also through performing arts. I will be looking at three specific examples from three different islands of Indonesia: Firstly, we’ll look at Islamic influence on wayang kulit, or shadow puppet plays, in Java. Next, we’ll look at the influence of Islam on gamelan music in Lombok. Lastly, we’ll examine the impact of Islam on performing arts in Aceh; specifically, Acehnese sitting dance. Let’s begin by taking a look at Islam-influenced shadow puppet plays on the island of Java.
Let’s begin by explaining what wayang kulit is. A form of shadow puppet play native to Indonesia, wayang kulit involves two dimensional puppets moving behind a screen to show dramatic scenes. Like each of the performing arts I’ll discuss, wayang kulit predates the arrival of Islam to Indonesia by centuries. Wayang puppets developed in parallel to Javanese art depicting the human form, and was stylized accordingly. With the Islamization of Indonesia, however, wayang theater visibly changed, both in content and in form. Let’s focus on the puppets themselves. Today’s wayang kulit puppets, while still visibly modeled on the human form, are heavily stylized and nonproportional. According to David Harnish and Anne Rasmussen, a wayang kulit puppet today is “made as a complete two-dimensional figure, [with] long arms and stylized eyes (only one eye is usually depicted), stylized nose, mouth, hair, and ornately stylized attire” (Harnish and Rasmussen, 7). This change from relatively proportional, albeit still stylized, puppets from pre-Islamized Java, is a direct result of the Islamic belief system that diffused into Java in the 16th century. Specifically, according to Sharia, the Islamic system of morals/ethics/religious beliefs derived from the Qur’an, “seductive arts [such as music and figural imagery] can constitute idolatry, as the weakminded may be tempted by figural imagery and music” (Harnish and Rasmussen, 7). The key phrase here is “figural imagery”. The relatively realistic proportions of pre-Islamic wayang puppets were seen as an example of seductive imagery, resulting in an extreme stylization to reduce temptation.
Let’s look at the next example of impact of Islam on performing arts in Java: gamelan rebana in Lombok. In today’s Lombok, Islam is practiced among 95% of the island’s population. From it’s introduction in Lombok, Islam has stimulated artistic activity and shaped the local art forms (Harnish 87). One performing art it has influenced is gamelan music. Gamelan is a musical ensemble made up primarily of percussion instruments that has been in use throughout Indonesia for centuries. Some of the earliest gamelan in Lombok date back as far as the 14th century (Harnish, 86); however, conflict over the art form came when two schools of Islam in Lombok argued over which art forms were in keeping with Islamic teachings. These two schools were Waktu Telu and Waktu Lima. Waktu Telu religious leaders prized and encouraged the performing arts, especially in ritual contexts. In contrast, Waktu Lima religious leaders scrutinized musical performance as a deviation from true Islamic teachings (Harnish, 87). In the late 19th century, Waktu Lima gained prominence, partially because Waktu Telu teachings became associated with animism and pre-Islamic religious beliefs (Harnish, 88-89). As a result, beginning in the 20th century, “traditional music”, or music linked with the Waktu Telu teachings, was generally prohibited. Now, you may be asking yourself: how does this connect with my claim that Islam generally promoted performing arts? Well, one of Lombok’s key musical forms, and a form of “traditional music” that is still allowed on the island, is gamelan rebana. When the use of bronze instruments was initially prohibited due to its connection to Waktu Telu ancestor worship (Harnish, 92), numerous musical ensembles were formed in response: performing arts that sprung inherently from Islamic teachings and were allowed by Lombok’s religious leaders and government. One such ensemble was gamelan rebana: a collection of goatskin-framed drums that mimicked the tuning of bronze gamelan instruments. Not only did this eliminate the issue with the prohibition of bronze, rebana-drums have been used in Islamic music for years before their fusion with the gamelan, definitively exemplifying the Islamic influence on Indonesian performing arts.
The last example I will discuss is the influence of Islam on Acehnese dance. A smaller island of Indonesia, Aceh’s modern cultural identity is defined in large part by the tsunami that struck the land in 2004. When the natural disaster occured, many Acehnese people saw it as a sign that Allah was punishing them for not adhering properly to Sharia (Ishiguro, 100). This resulted in drastic changes to Acehnese life, including the performing arts. I will use two examples. Firstly, costumes in Acehnese dance always incorporate head scarves, or hijabs. This results in innovation in costuming, such as decorating the hijab with jeweled bands and colors. Another example of Islamic influence on Acehnese dance is the music used. The melodies of many songs used in Acehnese dance come directly from shalawatan: Islamic songs in praise of the Prophet Muhammad (Ishiguro, 97). The songs are used to convey Islamic values, which is especially relevant when you consider that the vast majority of Acehnese dancers today are under 25, with many in their teens (Ishiguro, 101).
This has been Culture Shock for NPR. Today, we have discussed how Islam has influenced performing arts in Indonesia, as a microcosm of how Islam has influenced performing arts worldwide. You’ve listened how Islam changed the puppets of wayang kulit in Java. You’ve heard how gamelan rebana arose due to conflict over Islamic teachings. Lastly, you’re learned how Islam has influenced the music and costumes used in Acehnese dance. We now return to NPR’s regularly scheduled programming. Tune in next for three hours of classical music that sounds exactly the same, regardless of what instrument is playing it.
For my audience, I chose the non-academic listeners of public radio, specifically NPR. I tried to use a speech/lecture-style in my writing, using streamlined prose while still maintaining elegance (without being too academic). When I’ve listened to NPR specifically, I’ve always been astonished by how much information the host is able to pack into a five-ten minute segment. If an informative special airs on NPR, the radio host isn’t trying to make whoever is listening an expert or to inundate them with statistics and confusing language. Instead, they’re trying to give the listener a broad overview of an area, to whet their interest. In addition, I tried to use stock phrases from NPR (specifically openers and closers), and to lightly poke fun at NPR’s… classical music-heavy programming at the end.
