Discerning the Rhythm of Life

at Omah Cangkem Mataraman

The sound of ‘gamelan’ melodiously welcomed the arrival of the 9th grade students of Tirtamarta Junior High School - BPK Penabur, Pondok Indah Jakarta at Omah Cangkem Mataraman studio in Bangunjiwo, Sewon, Bantul. Fifteen participants consisting of twelve students, two teachers and one companion from Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta were fascinated by the welcome greeting of Pardiman Djoyonegoro, a practitioner of education, art and culture as well as the studio owner, with his several activists wearing traditional Javanese clothes. A variety of traditional snacks, shaded studio area, breeze and panoramic views of the valley with rice fields and brown rice completed the morning atmosphere of the studio. Why did they visit Omah Cangkem Mataraman?

Pardiman explained the meaning of the name, Omah is ‘Rumah’ (house), Cangkem is Mulut (mouth) and Mataraman is a cultural area of Mataram (Mataram traditional area). So, Omah Cangkem Mataraman means home or place to produce sounds, not just sounds but voices of truth, harmony and expressions of love for culture, especially Javanese culture. It is beautiful, isn't it?

"This studio builds communication between young generation and ancestral cultural heritages, some of them are gamelan (javanese traditional music instruments), playing janur (coconut leaves), children's play, kentongan (music instrument), dance, nembang (singing), unggah-ungguh (polite attitudes), etc. We already knew that this nation is rich with its traditional arts, one of them is gamelan, which is so famous at the international level, but ironically gamelan itself has not been beloved in the chest of the nation’s youth. This is very sad because the sustainability of a nation depends on the next generation and cultures. Whereas history has recorded that this nation is so famous in the world because of its cultural heritages. So, it needs a kind of continuous efforts so that the young generation becomes ‘literate’ to culture and understand the potency of art and culture of their homeland" said Pardiman.

In this studio, the participants began to learn the rhythm of life by feeling the heartbeat. Participants sit in cross-legged position and clapped their hands according to rhythm orderly. In a certain time, each participant uttered one syllable freely. Apparently, not every participant expressed smoothly one syllable spontaneously. Next, each participant introduced him/herself in melodic words freely with the 'beats' previously studied. It turned out that the same thing happened; participants seemed hesitant to speak out. Pardiman encouraged students by explaining that it was a learning process of balancing left and right brain and students need to be eager to feel the rhythm and to express words spontaneously. The learning process continued with recognizing one traditional Javanese gamelan istruments. Some students played saron, demung, bonang and gong. They played instruments enthusiastically that they had never met before directly. Participants also practiced ‘kentongan’ of various sizes and hit them with a certain rhythm in harmony until it became an instrumental composition. It required serious efforts, because participants had to hit kentongan in constant rhythm while listening to the voices of other participants in order to produce a balance sounds.

It is true that humans should live their lives, not only for him/herself but also considering others. The learning process at Omah Cangkem Mataraman which is a serie of social studies was short, but participants found the spirit to get used to balancing left and right brain, feeling every heartbeat as part of the rhythm of life. (TRU).