Angklung: Rumbling Bamboo in the Land of Parahyangan

Talking about the peculiarities of a country, certainly  related with the language, food, customs and traditional music. On the ground Parahyangan or West Java, there is a musical instrument made of bamboo, its name angklung, and in Bandung there are several galleries of angklung, one of which located close to my place is: Saung Angklung Udjo (SAU), and AWI (Angklung Web Institute) in Braga.

How to Get to Saung Angklung Udjo

It's my third time I go here. If you're from somewhere else, this place is easy to find and pretty well known. It's in East Bandung, the area called "Padasuka". Just reach Bandung first, then ask people where SAU is. When you're arrived at Padasuka, there's a huge SAU board sign, it means you're near, just take a walk for 5 minutes, and you're there. The address:

Jl. Padasuka No.118, Pasirlayung, Cibeunying Kidul, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40192

Phone: +62 22 727 1714

Saung Angklung Udjo

In Sunda language, saung means hut usually from bamboo, angklung is the music instrument, and Udjo is the founding father of this place. Initially, this place was only soil with huge hut from bamboo. Thanks to the pioneer (Mr. Udjo) and his big family, this place has been developing from year to year. Now, the place is hugely nice, truly a space for learning about Sunda culture, buy souvenirs, and no worries about the parking lot. They have wide one. Tourist buses are there almost everyday. The place is not only hut now, they have added beautiful gardens, some venues for event (wedding, seminars, workshop), and cozy-traditional cafe too. See the parking lot here.

garden

  
First walked in, you'd be seeing information about the founding father, Mang Udjo Ngalagena (or literally means Uncle Udjo Ngalagena), who introduced angklung internationally, together with his big family and relatives in SAU. Angklung has been used to accompany Sundanese ceremonial, then enlarged in their function as modern traditional music instruments, which means it could be used together with another modern music instruments like acoustic combo or band. The reason angklung used in Sundanese ceremonial was it has different music interval, like most of other world music instrument. We know diatonic major scale, while angklung used Sunda pentatonic scale solely. Even there are various kinds of pentatonic, but musicians found a hard way to merge pentatonic and diatonic.
These various kind of angklung were found in different places of Parahyangan (land of Sundanese or West Java), and still exist, not only the angklung itself, but also the original function is maintained, still.

  

This "alley of information" about SAU and Mang Udjo is leading us to receptionists and souvenir booth. I thought they would sell stuff from West Java only, but you know what? I feel like I'm in mini-Indonesia souvenir shop. You can find any souvenir from any area in Indonesia. Tifa (Papua & Maluku percussion), shadow puppet (puppet made from buffalo skin) from Java tribe, tees, pangsi (traditional male outfit), iket (male bandana with batik motive), wayang golek (wooden puppet), tribe mask, bamboo flute, clogs, purses, game instruments, all are traditional from Indonesia with tribe motives. I bought bamboo flute first time I visited SAU, and directly put my name on it. 

Iket

Wayang golek

Bamboo Flute

Angklung Petang

This is a very highly recommend colossal performance which is worth to wait, and a must seen one! And surprisingly, today, Wednesday November 16th, 2016, is a very special day for SAU. Six years ago, UNESCO declared angklung as World Intangible Heritage from Indonesia. So today angklung petang also celebrate this occasion. They have special performance, and always colossal. This 2 hours performance ticket price is IDR 100,000 in weekdays, and IDR 110,000 in weekends.

  

They'll give you necklace with angklung pendant, and synopsis of the show. Don't worry for having trouble understanding the show. The host is able to speak in I don't know how many languages. She speaks in English now and Germany in the next minute, continued with Japan and Dutch. Sometimes Korea if she knows there's Koreans also watching the show.

Even I'm purely Indonesian, but cultural things always amazes me. The show starts with wayang golek or wooden puppet, and this red puppet with big eyes and teeth is always exist: Astrajingga or known as Cepot. 

"Gunungan" is raised up to begin the wayang show

After wayang is finished, SAU continues with Helaran and Tari Topeng (mask dance). This is a procession for harvest crop, or also circumcision of little boy as a symbol of gratefulness to God.

   

In 1938, the Father of Angklung: Mr. Daeng Soetigna, adopted diatonic major scale and applied it to angklung. Not only adapted it, he also developed the form into xylophone-like (arumba). The purpose is simple: so angklung can be played internationally, and able to mix with other modern music instrument.

Since the angklung ability has grown, and so does the performance. In this Angklung Petang, we can listen to a band with arumba and cajon, and sing together, a very well known song which had been adapted into many languages in all countries. The host started it with Sunda language, then continued with bahasa Indonesia, then she invited tourist from Germany, Dutch, and Japan. 

The show was still going on, continued with few minutes of traditional dances from several ethnics in Indonesia, performed by children, the band-angklung fusion continue play according to the dances and tribes.

SAU really never let me catch my breath. My mind was still soaring high, suddenly some kids gave each one of us an angklung. Me and another traveler from Makassar (she sat on my left), we had angklung with "Papua" word on it, and hand fist pic (not sure yet what the sticker is for). One thing I know is there's a "1" on it, it means I'm holding a "do" note. Meanwhile the Japanese traveler on my right, she had angklung with "Nusa Tenggara" word and U form hand sticker, and a "7" so it means she's holding a "si" or "ti" note. Then Mr. Daeng Udjo and his son started to teach and conduct us play angklung. Only in 10-15 minutes, we already played song from The Beatles - All My Loving and I Have a Dream.

Mr. Daeng Udjo and his son conducting us

After we had fun by playing angklung (it was so simple, really. You should try it!), it's SMPN 1 Cibanteng (junior high school) time to perform, continued with the real angklung orchestra. Yep, this one is pretty seriously the real one. We usually play one angklung. These guys, they play like 10-20 angklung per person. Repertoire was pretty challenging too: Brahms - Hungarian Dance no. 5 (classical), and soundtrack theme of Mission Impossible.

And finally they closed the show in festive way. All children invite us (literally one by one) to go down and dance together. Not that kinda club dance, hahah... The traditional dance which natives use to do, and it's pretty simple. All songs are from Indonesia tribes, along with traditional games. I was carried away and forgot to take this moment in pictures. SAU succesfully made a beautiful memory in everyone's heart.

Pano pic of SAU

Food, snacks, and meals are definitely available there, in many ranges and places. In booths, stalls, across the street, or you just want to chillin in cafe. If you have more time, try to have day stroll on SAU alleys. You could see some people are making angklung, tune them in, most of them are working for SAU. It's what they do everyday.

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Tangkuban Perahu

We went to Southern Bandung last week, now it's time to visit another mountain at 30 km Northern Bandung, Tangkuban Perahu. It took about 2 hours by motorcycle to get there. If you a newbie in hiking (like me), this place is for us. They design the place with several stairs with variations of slope. 

Folklore

Long long time ago, there was a beautiful princess named Dayang Sumbi. Since she was amazingly pretty, lot of kings fought each other to get her heart. Felt that her beauty was the cause of many wars, she decided to left her parents in the kingdom, and stayed in a jungle. 

One day, Dayang Sumbi was spinning yarn and suddenly the yarn fell off. She was lazy to pick it up and swore, "Anyone who could get me that yarn, I'd take him as my husband." Shockingly, a dog named Tumang came by and gave her the yarn. This dog was descendant of gods. Giving her promise, then they got married and had a son named Sangkuriang.

http://forum.liputan6.com/t/legenda-dibalik-gunung-tangkuban-perahu/25582

Growing up, Tumang always accompanied Sangkuriang and he knew Tumang as his dog, instead of his father. One day, Sangkuriang went hunting with Tumang, promised to his mother to get her a deer liver. Stressed out he couldn't find it, Sangkuriang then killed Tumang and gave his liver to Dayang Sumbi. But she found out and Sangkuriang was beaten and expelled from his house. 

https://asep4212.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/asal-usul-gunung-tangkuban-perahu/

Years after years gone by, Sangkuriang went back to his village but he didn't recognize his home. He met Dayang Sumbi again but he totally forgot his mother look like. She also forgot her son look like. They fell in love, then before they get married, Dayang Sumbi found a scar on Sangkuriang's head. The same scar she ever did many years ago. Dayang Sumbi then tried to mess up the marriage by asking Sangkuriang to made her a huge dam and huge boat,... in one night (this become Indonesian term when people ask you to do something in a very short period of time: Sangkuriang project). 

http://www.sinar8.com/2016/03/legenda-sangkuriang-asal-usula-gunung.html

With his magical power, Sangkuriang was working on it while Dayang Sumbi kept praying so God would fail it. And yes, God did listen to Dayang Sumbi. Suddenly sun is rising, while Sangkuring and his ogres are still making the boat. He was very pissed and kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban Perahu (Upturned Boat) from the hull of the boat. 

Our Way To Tangkuban Perahu

This time, I try to ride my own scooter, while hubby riding his motorbike. Plus, we're not alone. Endras and his girlfriend Rere will join us. Our rendezvous point was UPI (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) at Jl. Setiabudhi. We arrived at 7 am, but sun already burns. Apparently, UPI was not only our rendezvous point. We met another several motor clubs there, waiting for their members, all were preparing for SunMoRi (Sunday Morning Ride). 
About an hour later, Endras and Rere finally showed up, and we directly continue our journey. Despite the road was a little curvy, and you know, I've mentioned about weekend hustle several times, but this time, climate was very friendly. So perfect for riding. 

http://tempatwisatadibandung.info/wisata-hutan-pinus-cikole-lembang-pal-16/

Few kilos before Tangkuban Perahu, you'll find beautiful pine forest called Cikole. Since I was riding my scooter, I couldn't take any picture of them. But I attach some from another websites here hehehe...

http://www.king-adventure.com/grafika-cikole-lembang-2

Tangkuban Perahu

I went here about 10 or 11 years ago. As far as I remember, this place was colder than Bandung. But now, it's pretty hot. Well I brought scarf and jacket for nothing :-( 

Anyway, once we arrived, the first thing you should do is yea, buy a ticket. The ticket booth is located few kilos before Tangkuban perahu. For me, the price was pretty expensive. IDR 30,000/person. And IDR 17,000/motorcycle. So total for me was IDR 47,000. They don't provide shuttle car. So after we paid the ticket and parking, we continue riding. The road was more curvy with unpredictable elevation. So please be careful.

 

Finally we arrived, and directly heading to parking place. The souvenir booths along the street lead you to the parking place. It has nice view too, but still, the road is dangerous if you don't put full attention.

Again, if you newbie in hiking, this place is perfect. There a re several stairs built, all are paved. So you don't have to worry if it's slippery. All booths are organized in several spots, the entrance and all access also paved. Now, the distance between crater and mountain side is more far. Maybe they make it that way because this mountain had eruption few times. The advantage is, no worries of getting exposed by sulfur.

After exploring this side, we continued to go to higher altitude, and there was a cozy forest there, with FnB traditional booths too!! Ahh.. maybe it's time to get some rest and have our brunch.

Sun is getting hotter, my knees feel like jell-o, my shirt is smelly, almost midday, visitors are getting crowded. I think it's our time to go home, back to Bandung, through the traffic jam route. The road was much more crowded than earlier.

 

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White Crater (Kawah Putih)

Still trying to decide where to go when you want to travel a short distance? Well last weekend we decided to go to Kawah Putih (White Crater). For locals, this place is well known. It is located on Southern Bandung. You can reach Kawah Putih in about 2-2,5 hours from Bandung. Kawah Putih has been considered as being a dormant volcano since the 1600s. The view is surreal-beautiful, with cyan color of water which forms a lake in the middle of the mountain. This unique color is yielded from high level of PH-acidity. No wonder many visual art projects use this as their background, ideas, and inspirations.

To Kawah Putih

Today, we're going to explore the road and the venue with my best friend since teenage, Endras. Riding a motorcycle, we left Endras' place about 4.45 am in the morning. Hopefully we could see a sunrise on the road. But nah.. nada... In fact, it was "Sunday morning rain is falling..."

Due to that condition, we had easy motor-riding. Plus, we had several stops to make. So it was a pretty relaxing tour.

About 30 minutes before we reach Kawah Putih, the climate starts to change. Sunshine is combing the valley next to the curvy street we're on, and I pulled over to watch the beautiful mountain way far North. The mountain is so blue, leans on the light blue sky, behind trees and valleys.

Done with that, we continued our journey, and arrived 15 minutes before the hours of operation.. Yup, we arrived at 6.45 am. For us equatorial creatures, the temperature is freeeeezing cold. We barely could move our fingers. Our body was stiff. To warm us up while waiting for it to be open, I think it's a good idea to have a cup of bandrek (hot traditional Sundanese beverage made from ginger, brown sugar, and milk), bread, ok maybe with rice, instant noodle and omelettes. And crisps... And I haven't mention all FnB there. So don't worry about where you could get some food. Lots of FnB traditional booths there, with reasonable prices.

If you're riding a motorcycle like us, once you enter Kawah Putih zone, people there will direct you where to park your motorcycle. They'll charge you some fee. Before you pay, make sure you ASK them, what the fee is for. Is it for your helmet, or park, or mask? My suggestion is, bring your own mask if you have one. Doesn't have to be like radioactive mask, but the light one. You can also use a bandana or scarf as your mask. And please do wear the mask. Strong winds there bring sulfur vapor toward you.  

After a huge breakfast, we saw the ticket counter is open, so we bought our tickets. IDR 35,000 including shuttle car. We have to ride it because people are not allowed to ride a motorcycle directly to Kawah Putih. Lots of accidents happened. The road is pretty narrow, curvy, bumpy, and slippery since it's rainy season. So they provide a shuttle car for us.

Shuttle car

If you go by car, you don't have to rent shuttle car. Just ride your car until Kawah Putih and park it there. It's easier. The annoying thing is, Bandung can be quite a hell, especially in weekend, in an area you can't get away from... it's called: Soreang. If you're cool with traffic jam, car suits you :D 

Finally we arrived at Kawah Putih, welcomed by a unique smell of septic tank. Don't get confused. That's what sulfur smells like. The sunshine, blue sky, they're so perfect! Then we go inside, through a stair, then we find a little garden, saung kecapi (kecapi/traditional Sundanese music instr. booth) and another stair, and some people selling souvenirs and sulfur.

Little garden

Saung Kecapi (Kecapi Booth)

Stair to Kawah Putih 

If you're bringing the elderly people with you, they can enjoy the view from the shelter spot designed especially for them instead of going down to the crater. The shelter is comfortable and has a nice view.

 

Spot for elders

View from shelter for elders

Since the center area is pretty full with visitors, so we walk to the left side. It's pretty unique area indeed. The sand texture is like beach sand, lush trees at the edges, but trunk and branches near the crater. Beyond those trees, you could see high cliff, tree-lined like soldiers guarding the mountain.

Once we walked a few kilos to left side, we finally found a more unique and surreal place. There is a "historical site look-a-like". I call it that way because the ruins are from bricks, form circle inside circle, and some stones form a path next to it. Pretty quiet and no visitors here, nice place to catch my breath, straighten our legs, eat a snack we brought, and let our Star Wars - Lord of the Ring - Batman - Xena imagination take over :D

Line of trees, looks like legion to me

Circle inside circle

Cloud is peeking you

It's still about 9 am in the morning and sunshine is soooo bright. Maybe too bright. We'd better get back to the center zone and leave before rain hits us. These end of the year months (which is our wet/rainy season), the climate is unpredictable. Just never trust the initial climate first time in the morning when you just wake up. It can be deceeeiiiving. And just like what I wrote, when we reached the center zone, sky suddenly cloudy. So we're hurrying to find the shuttle car and get back to our motorcycles, and rain is welcoming us there. Whale whale whale... a cup of coffee, grilled sausage, and toasted bread would be great.

While we're enjoying our meals, an old man in pangsi suit (traditional outfit of Sundanese male) approached us. He starts to play violin beautifully. Not like any other street musician, this man then pulls a chair, sits down, and opens a warm welcoming conversation with us. Then he says, "I made it (violin) myself. It took several weeks to finish it. I use kecapi strings, and kite string for the bow. I know, it's not a real one, but at least I can play it and share it with people here". He continues, "I'm old and nothing to do everyday, and just looking for something I can do daily. If people give me money from what I play, I'd be thankful. But if not, it's okay. I'm just killing my time."

Not only unique in his way of making violin, but also the sound and scales. He plays some Sunda chants. For people who grew up with modern major diatonic scale, it is hard to digest the music interval he plays. But that's what makes all world music in all cultures beautiful. You don't have to think about it, just enjoy it!

On our way home

We're full already, enjoyed Sundanese music, and raining still, but not as heavy as before. So we make another stop to Bandrek Abah. Endras bought it for his friend... aww sweet :D

Our way home is much more slowerrrr. We had our clothes wet-dry several times. And Bandung + rain = flood + traffic jam. It was pretty stressful and annoying, but at least we arrived home safely and have a Kawah Putih beautiful memory inside us.

Things to do before you go:

1. Prepare your own mask to reduce the risk of your respiration system exposed from sulfur vapor. Bandana or scarf would be sufficient.
2. If you're not used into cold places like me (supposed you're from 4 seasons country), and go there with motorcycle, please do bring thick sweater or jacket.
3. Best time to visit Kawah Putih is:
   a. Weekdays: not much visitors
   b. Dry/summer season (April-September): sky would look clearer, and little island in the middle of the lake would appear due to water level recedes
   c. Seven am in the morning, yes, when the ticket booth just open.
4. Costs:
   a. Motorcycle park: IDR 5,000
   b. Shuttle car and ticket: IDR 35,000
   c. Mask (if you don't bring any): IDR 5,000

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Editor: Mark DeFazio