Puspawarna (ꦥꦸꦱ꧀ꦥꦮꦂꦤ; Javanese for "kinds of flowers") is a gamelan composition famous in

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

. It is a

ketawang ''Colotomy'' is an Indonesian description of the rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythmic time into such nested cycles. In ...

in slendro

pathet Pathet ( jv, ꦥꦛꦼꦠ꧀, translit=Pathet, also patet) is an organizing concept in central Javanese gamelan music in Indonesia. It is a system of tonal hierarchies in which some notes are emphasized more than others. The word means '"to da ...

manyura. Thus the full title of the piece often given as Ketawang Puspawarna Laras Slendro Pathet Manyura. Manyura, the final pathet in a

wayang , also known as ( jv, ꦮꦪꦁ, translit=wayang), is a traditional form of puppet theatre play originating from the Indonesian island of Java. refers to the entire dramatic show. Sometimes the leather puppet itself is referred to as . Perfor ...

performance, is said to evoke a mood of ripeness or fulfillment. Both text and melody are attributed to Prince Mangkunegara IV of

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...

(reigned 1853-1881). The nine stanzas commemorate his favorite wives and concubines, who are likened to different kinds of flowers, each symbolizing a different rasa: ''

kencur ''Kaempferia galanga'', commonly known as kencur, aromatic ginger, sand ginger, cutcherry, is a monocotyledonous plant in the ginger family, and one of four plants called galangal. It is found primarily in open areas in Indonesia, southern C ...

, blimbing, duren,

aren Aren may refer to: People ; Given name * Andreas Arén (born 1985), Swedish ski jumper * Aren b, also known as Brendan Vintedge, American singer-songwriter * Aren Davoudi (born 1986), Armenian basketball player * Aren Kuri (born 1991), Japanese bas ...

, gedhang, jati, jambé, kapas, ''and'' pandan''. The piece is performed for the entrance of the prince both at the

Mangkunegaran The Duchy of Mangkunegaran ( id, Kadipaten Mangkunegaran) is a small Javanese princely state located within the region of Surakarta in Indonesia. It was established in 1757 by Raden Mas Said, when he submitted his army to Pakubuwono III in Fe ...

and at central Java's other junior court, the

Paku Alaman The Duchy of Pakualaman ( jv, ꦏꦢꦶꦥꦠꦺꦤ꧀ꦦꦏꦸꦮꦭꦩ꧀ꦩꦤ꧀, Kadipatèn Pakualaman; also written Paku Alaman; Dutch-spelling: Pakoe-alaman) is a minor Javanese princely state within the Sultanate of Yogyakarta.} It was ...

. A recording of Puspawarna by the court gamelan of

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, directed by K.R.T. Wasitodipuro (later known as K.P.H. Natoprojo) and recorded by

Robert E. Brown Robert Edward "Bob" Brown (18 April 1927 – 29 November 2005) was an American ethnomusicologist who is credited with coining the term " world music". He was also well known for his recordings of music from Indonesia. Many of these recording ...

was included on the

Voyager Golden Record The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for ...

, which was sent on the

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...

spacecraft as a greeting to whatever extraterrestrials may find it. The recording is also available on the album '' Java: Court Gamelan'' (originally released in 1971). According to the note by Brown in the reissued version of that CD, "Puspawarna" was one of

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

's favorites on the record.

References

External links

Kepatihan notation for the balungan of Puspawarna

Recording of Puspawarna by Gamelan Nyai Saraswati, University of North Carolina

{{Voyager Golden Record Compositions for gamelan Contents of the Voyager Golden Record

References

Further reading

External links