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FEMUSINDO.com - Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata or Raden Machjar (EYD: Raden Mahyar) is a legendary Indonesian composer.
The role of Raden Machjar, a Sundanese artist and musicologist, in the Indonesian music subsector deserves a thumbs up.
The reason is, this composer who was born on December 7, 1902, is the inventor of the tone notation system in Sundanese music: da-mi-na-ti-la-da.
In fact, Raden Machjar became the inventor of 17 scales in the interweaving of pelog and salendro.
Sundanese Artist Expert in Karawitan and Vocal Arts
This Sundanese artist from Sumedang who is an expert in the world of karawitan and vocal arts has also succeeded in creating serat kanayagan (one of the notations in writing musical notes in karawitan).
In addition, Raden Machjar also succeeded in creating a monocord or a tool for measuring sound vibrations, which has been used by music experts abroad.
The son of Raden Haji Muhamad Ali (father) and Nyi Mas Uti (mother) is better known in the West Java community as an artist who creates Sundanese songs.
However, he is actually an educator and musicology expert, especially ethnomusicology specializing in pelog and salendro.
Raden Machjar's Knowledge Regarding Musical Art
His knowledge of pelog and salendro musical art was obtained since childhood by studying with several tembang and nayaga (terms in karawitan art).
Machjar's introduction to scientific methods and physics, and western music science occurred when he was a student at a teacher's school (Kweekschool and Hogere Kweekschool).
With a fairly deep foundation in western music and physics, he measured and researched the frequencies of sounds from gamelan instruments and songs sung or played on the rebab.
In 1923 (still in school) he had created serat kanayagan (Sundanese scale notation) da mi na ti la, and wrote a book on Sundanese vocal art theory entitled ‘Elmuning Kawih Sunda’.
After completing HKS and being placed as a teacher at HIS Sumedang (1924-1932), he continued his research on the theory of raras art.
Raden Machjar’s Career as a Researcher
An important turning point in his career as a researcher was when he met Mr. Jaap Kunst, a Dutch ethnomusicologist, between 1927-1929.
At that time, Mr. Jaap Kunst was conducting research on various vocal arts throughout the archipelago in the archipelago.
Here, there was an exchange of knowledge, between Jaap Kunst’s musical knowledge and Machjar’s gamelan or pelog-salendro knowledge.
It was during this period that he understood more deeply the concept of sound vibrations and how to measure them with instruments concerning their mathematical conversion to a musical scale.
The measurements he made using logarithmic values, the concept of interval cents from Ellis (1884) and Hornbostel (1920) and music rules from Reiner.
Received the Highest Award in the Field of Culture
For his works, Raden Machjar received the highest award in the field of culture; the Art Award Charter, as an expert and theorist of Sundanese Karawitan from the Minister of Education and Culture (August 17, 1969).
Then, he also received an award as the creator of the song Rampak Sekar Ibu Dewi Sartika (December 4, 1975) and an award from the Sundanese Artists Association (May 9, 1959).
Raden Machjar, whose full name is Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata, died in Bandung, West Java, April 9, 1979 at the age of 76. (*)
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