Nationalism and National Culture in Indonesian Art Music and Performances (1900-2018): Reflections from Postcolonial Perspectives

Abstract

Partha Chatterjee (1997) affirms that the attitude to modernity in formerly-colonized societies is always deeply ambiguous, because the modernity that the colonizers used as justification for colonialism also taught the colonized societies of its values. Indonesia is not an exception; having been colonized for centuries by a European nation, Indonesian nationalism arose from the desire for freedom from the colonizer. However, this nationalism, and the subsequent attempts for the creation of national culture has have always been replete with ambivalencies—with negotiations between the need to create a distinct national identity and the values of European cultures as imposed in the colonial time. This thesis looks at the discourses of nationalism, national culture, and national music in Indonesia since the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day, and examine its manifestations in the field of Indonesian art music and its performances by Indonesian symphony orchestras. I argue that these discourses and actions have always been embedded with a legacy of colonialism in the form of xenocentrism in its broad sense: the tendency among Indonesians to continue to concern about the Western others as they try to define their own identity and culture. Moreover, through case studies such as the compositions Varia Ibukota by Mochtar Embut and Suvenir dari Minangkabau by Arya Pugala Kitti, and the practices of contemporary symphony orchestras Gita Bahana Nusantara and Jakarta City Philharmonic, I employ postcolonial theories to view those works as reflections of the entanglement between colonial history and Indonesia-specific visions, as well as as endeavours to decolonize the knowledge of European classical music and performance form.