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[ J], “a beggar’s monkey, looking at himself in a mirror,” was used in the old days to refer derisively to someone who played from notation [Mloyowidodo, May 2, 1992].) Sudarsono clearly equates the ability to make distinctions in performance with having rasa, and, conversely, unthinking imitation with the lack of it: It used to be that the musical accompaniment for palace scenes in wayang would be different according to the personalities of the characters in the scene. But now very few people can garap [interpret] those gendhings. At most it’s just the same old Asmåråndånå, Ayun-Ayun, some composition or other of Nartosabdho’s, and the like, and we’re just latah10 in going along with that. We just do it out of expediency. But if the pieces are chosen with rasa, the results are very different. (Sudarsono, December 11, 1991)
Another example is when, in our three-way conversation, Wignyosaputro asked Suhartå about the singers from the village of Ngadirejo (some twenty miles to the southeast of Solo), who were being taught in the extension program run by STSI. His question was whether they had reached the level of rasa yet (sampai rasa, belum? [ JI]). Suhartå’s answer was, “they’ve only gotten to the memorizing stage” (nembé taraf ngapalaken [K]). There is, however, a puzzling anomaly—a case in which rasa does not seem to be linked with interpretive creativity. I noted at the beginning of chapter 4 how, where rasa is concerned, “heavy” and “deep” are correlated. And yet the “heavy” pieces tend to be more set, with less improvisatory freedom, less leeway for trying out different céngkoks: Usually gendhings that are prenès [lighthearted] are actually harder to make céngkoks for. (Sudarsono, November 22, 1991) It’s actually harder to nyindhèni [sing sindhèn to] a simple piece like Gambir Sawit than it is a big heavy piece with a specific garapan [interpretation, set of standard variants]. In the latter case it’s all laid out for you—you just have to learn what the garapan is; whereas in the first case it calls for real invention. (Sudarsono, October 23, 1991)
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If a piece is prenès [coquettish] because it’s easy to garap [work out] in different ways, does that mean that regu [stately] pieces are harder? gendhing SUPANGGAH: Not really. Prenès pieces give more leeway. Regu pieces sudah minta begitu prenès III:4; [call for a certain way]. For example, if the balungan is low, the sindhén part does not have a gendhing lot of possibilities. (Supanggah, October 24, 1993) MLB:
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regu I:1 10. Latah is a mental disorder in which a person repeats uncontrollably, as if in a state of trance, what the people around her (or, less often, him) say. It is “a psychological disorder prevalent among adult Indonesian and Malaysians (mostly women). It can be caused by a sudden noise, shock or command. In the state of latah, the victim appears to lose awareness of him/herself and his/her surroundings and can only imitate, often accompanied by vulgar language, what he/she hears or sees. Anyone who attracts his [sic] attention can make him do any action by pretending to do that action. This condition can last for hours or until the victim drops in exhaustion; recovery to a normal state of consciousness then takes place” (Stevens and Schmidgall-Tellings 2004, s.v. “latah”).