The Music of Bedhaya Anduk: A Lost Treasure Rediscovered

Abstract

This is a short report on the discovery of the notation manuscript of the musical accompaniment to Bedhaya Anduk, a Solonese court dance once thought lost and irrecoverable, with its full transcription into modern cipher notation. The notation in question was discovered in one of the memorandum notebooks written in 1905 by K. R. T. Warsodiningrat (1887–1975), a master court musician of gamelan in Solo. Its melody and lyrics show sufficient attributes to be acknowledged as the offspring of the preceding Bedhaya Ketawang, the most sacred dance in the Solonese court, and also as the progenitor of several later works.