Allan Thomas teaching gamelan at the Indonesian Embassy in Fitzherbert Tce
Photo: Evening Post, 23 June 1975
Gamelan arrived in New Zealand in late 1974, when ethnomusicologist Allan Thomas imported an antique Gamelan from Cirebon on the north coast of West Java, assisted by Jack Body. As they later wrote: "About 25 years ago we set out on bicycles into the countryside with the price for the instruments and wayang puppets (the equivalent cost of a certain number of bags of rice)." After a brief time in Auckland, Allan brought this gamelan down to Wellington where it was played initially at the Wellington Teachers' Training College (a University Extension class was offered in June 1975 for 6 evening meetings for a fee of $4) and then as part of Victoria University's musicology programme. Allan also taught gamelan to staff and others at the Indonesian embassy in 1975.
Around 1976, Professor Jenny McLeod of Victoria University of Wellington requested the Indonesian Embassy's help to obtain a set of Javanese gamelan and also a qualified teacher. This resulted in the gifting to the embassy in 1977 of a Javanese gamelan, one of twelve gamelan commissioned by the then First Lady Ibu Tien Suharto. These gamelan were presented to various institutions throughout the world, the Wellington Indonesian Embassy being one. This also marked the visit of New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk to Indonesia and the establishment of the first diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Ambassador at the time, Mr Soekamto Sayidiman, agreed that the Victoria University School of Music should have the pelog section of the gamelan on permanent loan. Later, the NZ School of Music commissioned slendro instruments to be made to match the pelog half so that the university had a complete gamelan with which to study.
The cirebon gamelan continued to be played for a number of years at appeared at the South Pacific Arts Festival in Rotorua in 1976.
Viv Thompson, Paul Barrett, and Mark Dashper playing the cirebon gamelan at the South Pacific Arts Festival (1976).
Photo: Rotorua Press.
In 1983 the Embassy engaged the first teacher of gamelan, Midiyanto, a dalang (puppeteer) selected from the best new graduates of the performing arts institute (STSI) in Solo. Midiyanto was employed full-time as local staff in the information section of the embassy, specifically to establish gamelan in Wellington, working half-time at both the Embassy and at the School of Music training interested people, including students and staff. Midiyanto left in 1986 to take up teaching positions in the US and is currently at UC Berkeley. The position of gamelan expert at the Indonesian Embassy was next filled by Joko Sutrisno, who was here from 1988 until 1995. University credit courses in gamelan performance were introduced for the first time in 1993.
During Joko Sutrisno's tenure, the name of Padhang Moncar was given to the group, a Javanese name which can be interpreted in several ways.
The gamelan has become an integral part of what is now the New Zealand School of Music, with a core group of regular players comprising current and former students, alongside interested members from the wider community. A number of the members have studied in Java on the Indonesian Government Scholarship programme (Dharmasiswa).
Early gamelan activities included:
This chronology is based on Allan Thomas' article "Gamelan in New Zealand: a chronology" (Balungan, II:3, December 1986, pp 41-42) and documents held at the Alexander Turnbull Library (MS-Papers-9892-08 and MS-Papers-9892-15)