Listening to an Earlier Java: Aesthetics, Gender, and the Music of Wayang in Central Java

In "old-style" Central Javanese wayang, still known to many shadow-puppet performers and musicians in Java today, the male dhalang and his female accompanist are gendered embodiments of an aesthetic that has its origins in early Java. Analysis of the musical style known as "female style" grimingan makes it possible to "listen back" to and reconstruct aesthetics for Javanese performance that can be felt in literary sources as early as the twelfth century. This study is the first large-scale treatment of gender issues in Indonesian music. Integrating the analysis of gender and music with that of aesthetics, this study of the musical synergy between the puppeteer and his female accompanist describes the ways in which shifting gender constructions have helped to shape and change Central Javanese music and theatre performance practice while throwing new light on the history of Javanese gender relations and culture, as well as on the aesthetics of Central Java shadow-puppet theatre.