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Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia , by David D. Harnish

Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia , by David D. Harnish David D. Harnish, Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia. Leiden/Boston: Brill. xx + 337 pp. ISBN: 9789004472600, price: EUR 215.00 (hardback); 9789004498242, EUR 179.00 (e-book).It is not every day that a book on Lombok is published, and certainly not one that looks at its subject from so many different angles and over such a long period of time. Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia deals with change and identity in the music cultures of Lombok, but this title understates the book’s scope. In fact, it looks at much more and shows that an intimate knowledge of a wide range of subjects is needed to meaningfully cover the topic—an expertise rarely found in one individual. Without a sound appreciation of the ways historical forces, religion, politics, and many other subjects interplay, the changing music cultures of Lombok remain incomplete and obscure. The author is to be applauded for stating at the outset that his book is “merely a snapshot over time” and elaborates that “[b]ecause there are many villages and musicians that I have never seen and so many stories that I simply don’t know, it is best to consider the book a collection of my interactions over 35 years with people, musics and arts, and narratives, and my efforts to articulate sense and meaning from these interactions.” (p. 1) This is basically what we all try to do, but which is rarely stated so honestly and concisely. However, this modesty does not mean that the book merely looks like a snapshot and indeed it does not. The aim of the book is also stated on the first page. “It contributes to the field by mapping musics of Lombok intersecting with social, political, and historical forces at play during those years [of Harnish’s fieldwork] and postulating how and why music culture changed.”David Harnish went to Lombok for the first time in 1983 and the book covers his experiences and the knowledge he gained from that year up to 2017. During his periods of fieldwork he talked to musicians, other artists, power brokers, religious officials, politicians, technological and global enterprises, and many people not only from the Sasak communities in Lombok but also the Balinese and people from other ethnic backgrounds on the island. In the book, the role of religion in all this is highlighted time and again for two reasons. First, it is impossible to escape religion on Lombok, and second, because of Harnish’s interest in the subject (p. 4). With lucidity and clarity he explores history, music, religion, anthropology, politics, modernity, social media, and the influx of international and national influences on virtually every aspect of life over the decades. This is what makes the book so fascinating, as Harnish shows without a shred of doubt that each and every aspect should be taken in consideration in combination when looking at music and identity.The chapter titles clearly show its wide scope: Introduction: Setting the Scene; 1. Change, Religion, and Identity in Music Cultures; 2. ‘Traditional’ Musics: Functions, Contestations, Interpretations; 3. The Phenomenon of Gendang Beleq; 4. Wayang Sasak: Shadowplay, Practices, Elements, and Narratives; 5. Music, Islam, and Islamization; 6. Popular Music an ‘Music Rakyat’; 7. Minority Musics of Lombok; 8. Nexus of Sasak/Balinese Interaction: The Lingsar Festival; 9. Performing Arts Education and Issues of Sustainability; 10. Conclusion: Making Sense of All of This. The book ends with an extensive bibliography and index. The book also includes many pictures taken by the author. Some are more clear than others and some indeed seem to illustrate the “snapshots” the author talks about in his introduction.For me, the book’s main merit is that it shows that Lombok may be more interesting for the study of the subject than Bali, which has been studied time and again by a host of scholars. Because of the multiple and diffuse encounters of peoples from different generations and genders, and different ethnic, religious, and artistic backgrounds who meet on this relatively small island in a plethora of different circumstances, the island is like a laboratory for the study not only of this subject but also for other subjects that still need to be explored.In sum, the book shows that what is happening in Lombok reflects what is happening in many other places in Indonesia. People navigate between tradition and modernity depending on their own personal needs and those of society at large in a context of changing national and local political configurations. This book is a must-read for those who wish to understand Lombok but also to understand Indonesian national phenomena seen from the relatively micro-environment of Lombok. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Bijdragen tot de Land-, Taal- en Volkenkunde Brill

Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia , by David D. Harnish

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0006-2294
eISSN
2213-4379
DOI
10.1163/22134379-17901003
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

David D. Harnish, Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia. Leiden/Boston: Brill. xx + 337 pp. ISBN: 9789004472600, price: EUR 215.00 (hardback); 9789004498242, EUR 179.00 (e-book).It is not every day that a book on Lombok is published, and certainly not one that looks at its subject from so many different angles and over such a long period of time. Change and Identity in the Music Cultures of Lombok, Indonesia deals with change and identity in the music cultures of Lombok, but this title understates the book’s scope. In fact, it looks at much more and shows that an intimate knowledge of a wide range of subjects is needed to meaningfully cover the topic—an expertise rarely found in one individual. Without a sound appreciation of the ways historical forces, religion, politics, and many other subjects interplay, the changing music cultures of Lombok remain incomplete and obscure. The author is to be applauded for stating at the outset that his book is “merely a snapshot over time” and elaborates that “[b]ecause there are many villages and musicians that I have never seen and so many stories that I simply don’t know, it is best to consider the book a collection of my interactions over 35 years with people, musics and arts, and narratives, and my efforts to articulate sense and meaning from these interactions.” (p. 1) This is basically what we all try to do, but which is rarely stated so honestly and concisely. However, this modesty does not mean that the book merely looks like a snapshot and indeed it does not. The aim of the book is also stated on the first page. “It contributes to the field by mapping musics of Lombok intersecting with social, political, and historical forces at play during those years [of Harnish’s fieldwork] and postulating how and why music culture changed.”David Harnish went to Lombok for the first time in 1983 and the book covers his experiences and the knowledge he gained from that year up to 2017. During his periods of fieldwork he talked to musicians, other artists, power brokers, religious officials, politicians, technological and global enterprises, and many people not only from the Sasak communities in Lombok but also the Balinese and people from other ethnic backgrounds on the island. In the book, the role of religion in all this is highlighted time and again for two reasons. First, it is impossible to escape religion on Lombok, and second, because of Harnish’s interest in the subject (p. 4). With lucidity and clarity he explores history, music, religion, anthropology, politics, modernity, social media, and the influx of international and national influences on virtually every aspect of life over the decades. This is what makes the book so fascinating, as Harnish shows without a shred of doubt that each and every aspect should be taken in consideration in combination when looking at music and identity.The chapter titles clearly show its wide scope: Introduction: Setting the Scene; 1. Change, Religion, and Identity in Music Cultures; 2. ‘Traditional’ Musics: Functions, Contestations, Interpretations; 3. The Phenomenon of Gendang Beleq; 4. Wayang Sasak: Shadowplay, Practices, Elements, and Narratives; 5. Music, Islam, and Islamization; 6. Popular Music an ‘Music Rakyat’; 7. Minority Musics of Lombok; 8. Nexus of Sasak/Balinese Interaction: The Lingsar Festival; 9. Performing Arts Education and Issues of Sustainability; 10. Conclusion: Making Sense of All of This. The book ends with an extensive bibliography and index. The book also includes many pictures taken by the author. Some are more clear than others and some indeed seem to illustrate the “snapshots” the author talks about in his introduction.For me, the book’s main merit is that it shows that Lombok may be more interesting for the study of the subject than Bali, which has been studied time and again by a host of scholars. Because of the multiple and diffuse encounters of peoples from different generations and genders, and different ethnic, religious, and artistic backgrounds who meet on this relatively small island in a plethora of different circumstances, the island is like a laboratory for the study not only of this subject but also for other subjects that still need to be explored.In sum, the book shows that what is happening in Lombok reflects what is happening in many other places in Indonesia. People navigate between tradition and modernity depending on their own personal needs and those of society at large in a context of changing national and local political configurations. This book is a must-read for those who wish to understand Lombok but also to understand Indonesian national phenomena seen from the relatively micro-environment of Lombok.

Journal

Bijdragen tot de Land-, Taal- en VolkenkundeBrill

Published: Mar 21, 2023

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