A woman in a nude-colored kebaya and bright red sampur enters the stage and the room falls silent. In her hand, she holds a big story book that says ‘Door duisteris tot licht.’ She smiles as she looks around the room and says,

“Could I kindly ask everyone to silence their cell phones as we travel back in time to the 1900s. My name is Ibu Dewi. Today, I will be telling the story of Kartini and this is the way the story goes…”

Meaning and Intention

The intention behind this composition is to introduce Kartini to the audience in a third-person point of view. There are books worth of history about the Indonesian Dutch colonization and how it shapes the story of Kartini but I wanted people to come in with context from the playbill already. This piece summarizes and highlights the important events in Kartini’s life that directly affects her story, with the subcontext of the historical context.

The feeling I wanted the audience to get is as if they were sitting around a campfire in Java and Ibu Dewi is the village performer who is about to tell a cautionary tale— intimate and personal.

Compositional Choices

One of the most important instruments on this track is the percussion and the piano loop. The percussion that I chose for this were bongos, a sample I took from Splice. I played around with the warp settings— making it much slower, pitching it down and preserving the beat to 1/8. Then, I chopped up the sample to give it some space to breathe in between. The piano loops just two minor chords that is slightly eerie and ominous. The reason for repetition is because of the way the dialogue and singing in this composition sounds conversational and almost improvisational. The percussion and piano follows the speaker, the text leads the music.

Retrospective Assessment

• I would imagine the bongos to be replaced with a kendhang and be played live with the piano and a looper.

• I wonder how much the audience and performer relationship would change when staged in a real theater— would the sense of intimacy be gone?

LYRICS

IBU DEWI (NARRATOR) 

Once upon a time, 

Far, far away…

1891

In the Dutch East Indies 

Lived the Javanese 

Colonized by the Dutch…

They couldn’t do much

The Javanese 

Had rich culture

Of royalty and monarchy 

(she sings.)

AND MEN RULED ALL THE LANDS…

THAT’S THE WAY THE STORY GOES,

EVERYBODY KNOWS 

TRADITION THAT RUNS DEEP…

WHILE THE REST OF JAVA IS ASLEEP…

In the small town of Jepara 

There lived a little Javanese girl 

(she sings.)

HER HEART WAS REBELLIOUS

FULL OF DESIRES

DESIRES TO BE FREE,

FROM THE SHACKLES OF TRADITION 

  AND THE HARSH REALITY 

Her father was the Regent 

Of her small hometown

She had many brothers and sisters, 

But not everyone was always around

At 12 years old,

She asked her father:

“What will I be when I grow up?”

Father didn’t give an answer

 He just pinched her cheek and chuckled

But that wasn’t enough for the little girl 

She kept demanding for an answer. 

Her oldest brother, Slamet overheard and said

‘There’s only one answer,

Raden Ayu’ 

A married noble woman

(she sings.)

THAT’S THE WAY THE STORY GOES,

EVERYBODY KNOWS 

TRADITION THAT RUNS DEEP…

WHILE THE REST OF JAVA IS ASLEEP…

(Rukmini and Kardinah walk onto stage)

NARRATOR, RUKMINI & KARDINAH

(they sing.)

SOON TO BE RADEN AYU… 

SOON TO BE RADEN AYU… 

YOUR FUTURE LIES AHEAD OF YOU…

RUKMINI

The little girl begged her father 

to let her go to Higher Civic school 

in Semarang with her brothers. 

She promised to study diligently.

Her hands clenched tightly on her knees 

as she knelt down before them 

She looked up at her Father 

With eyes burning with desire

She awaited for an answer 

It felt so long that her breath felt heavy

Her father caressed her small head, 

fixing her disheveled hair. 

His gesture was warm and comforting, 

yet, still, alas he says no

NARRATOR, RUKMINI, KARDINAH

(they sing.)

NO!

NO!

KARDINAH 

The little girl jolted. 

She ran to her room and crawled under her bed to hide. 

Her despair turned into relentless sobbing. 

And just like that, 

life became bleak; 

and boredom conquered. 

Everyday was the same ritual, 

same place, same people. 

Although she wasn’t always alone, 

She felt lonely.      

NARRATOR, RUKMINI, KARDINAH

 (they sing.)

SHE HAD A REBELLIOUS HEART FULL OF DESIRES

DESIRES TO BE FREE,

RUKMINI

FROM THE SHACKLES OF TRADITION 

KARDINAH

AND THE HARSH REALITY 

NARRATOR

AND HER NAME WAS 

NARRATOR, RUKMINI, KARDINAH

KARTINI