一九五〇年代の西ジャワにおける舞踊創作活動

チェチェ・ソマントリ (一八九二～一九六三) の創作活動を中心に

抄録

The purpose of this paper is to describe the creative work of Tjetje Somantri, choreographer and dancer from the West-Java(Sunda) district, who was active in 1950's. He created 38 pieces, which became extremely popular in West-Java. Presently, his works are known as the specific genre of kreasi baru in the repertoire of Sundanese dances.
In the 1950's there existed an artistic movement which aimed at the reorganization of Sundanese languages and art forms, and it is in this context that also Tjetje Somantri's artistic activity should be examined. Rather than singling him out, he should be seen as one of the representatives of the reorganization process of Sundanese art, which was taking place in West Java. This is why, in the present paper, I consider Tjetje Somantri as the pioneer of this reorganization process and describe his work within the context of activities undertaken by D. K. D. B. (West Java Cultural Bureau).
Firstly, I describe the historical background of artistic activity in West-Java. In post independence Indonesia in the 1950's, there existed the basic concepts of “national culture” and “regional culture”. The main concern in this era was to realize national unity through preserving and developing the diverse regional cultures of Indonesia.
Secondly, I examine the activities of D. K. D. B. as seen against the cultural background of Indonesia. Tjetje Somantri's artistic activity became possible with the political support offered by Oemay Martakusuma, who, at the time, serving as chief of D. K. D. B. In the atmosphere of increasing cultural awareness shown by different ethnic groups in Indonesia, Oemay Martakusuma became conscious of the necessity to reorganize the field of Sundanese dance, and, in order to promote the enlightening quality of art, he launched the cultural magazine “Budaja” (Culture). At the same time he played an important role in encouraging Tjetje Somantri to create “new Sundanese dances” as pieces of stage performance, and made efforts to popularize his pieces.
Thirdly, I considered the specific structure of Tjetje Somantri's pieces through the analysis of the “Kandagan” dance, one of the most representative female solo dances. As a result of this analysis, I pointed out that Tjetje Somantri arranged the many specific elements of traditional Sundanese dances effectively in the simple musical structure of his pieces. This musical structure can be divided in a number of special patterns. Because of this clear structure, the performance time of Tjetje Somantri's pieces can be easily controlled by rearrangement of the patterns. This is the reason they are suitable for educational material and stage performances.
Lastly, I summarize the significance of Tjetje Somantri's activities as follows. He dismantled the division lines between traditional genres of Sundanese dances and, by doing this, created “the new genre of the Sundanese dances”. Although he was also criticized for neglecting the “true” traditional elements of Sundanese dances in his pieces, his efforts to create a new genre of Sundanese dances had a great influence in the artistic expression in 1950's West Java. He reorganized Sundanese dances by presenting them in a new form. Since then, Tjetje Somantri's ways of composition, have been adopted by those involved in the investigation and reorganization of West Javanese regional culture.