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Javanese-Indonesian Forum

Anggoro Kasih

What's Anggoro Kasih?

Anggoro Kasih Forum is intended to help those coming from overseas and all people interested in Javanese to get in touch with Indonesian culture generally and Javanese culture especially. The Forum which is established by center of language and culture Merdeka University Malang is very much concerned with the development of Indonesian culture. The forum holds a meeting every Kliwon Tuesday to discuss many aspects of Javanese culture. There are some activities done by the Forum, for example, holding a monthly sarasehan, publishing bulletin and magazine, holding jamas pusaka (ritual bathing of pusaka or keris), celebrating Suro ritual (new year in Javanese Calendar), giving kinds of courses on Javanese culture to overseas people and Indonesians, and so on. The Forum also tries to rediscover original Javanese philosophy system of belief and so on.

The name of Anggoro Kasih is derived from old Javanese Calendar system referring to Kliwon Tuesday. So every month on Tuesday that happens to have pasaran Kliwon, the Javanese usually hold sarasehan or ngaji kaweruh because they believe that it has a magical spiritual atmosphere. Therefore, as routinity, the forum invites public to attend the sarasehan every Kliwon Tuesday. On this occasion, usually some Javanese experts to give presentation on certain given topics.

What are the activities of the Forum?
The club has two kinds of activities:
A. Routine Activities
1. Sarasehan on Tuesday Kliwon
2. Courses
B. Extra activities
1. ritual processing as such jamas pusaka, art performance, Suro ritual ceremonies, slametan, cultural exhibition, and so on.
2. seminar and workshops
3. research

COURSES FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS
A. JAVANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
The students will be taught how to communicate in Javanese language both spoken and oral. Javanese language knows the so-called diglossia that makes speech divided into
1. Ngoko (very casual); e.g. "Kowe arep mangan opo"?
2. Madya (moderate); e.g. "Sampeyan bade nedho nopo"?
3. Inggil; e.g. "Panjenengan bade dahar nopo"?

The Javanese writing system is also very interesting. It has twenty characters which are syllabic namely ha-na-ca-ra-ka-da-ta-sa-wa-la-pa-dha-ja-ya-nya-ma-ga-ba-tha-nga. Each character has symbolical and philosophical meanings. The course will be given in one month (4 weeks). The class is given from Monday to Thursday starting from 08:00 until 12:00 AM. On Friday, the class starts at 08:00 and ends at 11:00 AM.

B. JAVANESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC INSTRUMENT (GAMELAN)
The students will be taught how to use many kinds of gamelan instruments such as gong, kendang, suling, and so on. The course will take one month (4 weeks). The class is given from Monday to Thursday starting from 08:00 until 12:00 AM. On Friday, the class starts at 08:00 and ends at 11:00 AM.

C. JAVANESE TRADITIONAL SINGING (TEMBANG)
The students will be taught how to sing Javanese songs (macapat) in various genres such as sinom, dandhanggula, and so on. The course will be completed in one month. The class is given from Monday to Thursday starting from 08:00 until 12:00 AM. On Friday, the class starts at 08:00 and ends at 11:00 AM.

EXTRA CLASS
The students will be also introduced to some specific areas of Javanese culture so that they may know to some extent about Javanese culture in general. The areas offered are as follows:

1. Keris (traditional weapon that has symbolical as well as mythical function).
2. Arts such as the theatrical ludruk, wayang or shadow puppet, ketoprak, and so on.
3. System of Belief such as the Javanese Kebatinan (Mysticism), religions, animism, and others.
4. Cuisine, traditional food of Java.
5. Medicine, Javanese herbal medicine (jamu).
6. Literature, both classic like Centhini or modern.

For further information, please contact us at (62-0341) 560634 or email us at javaneseculture2003_unmer@yahoo.com.

Language Centre
Merdeka University Malang
BNI Building, 4th Floor
Jl. Terusan Raya Dieng No. 57
Malang 65146 East Java
Indonesia
Telefax (62-0341) 560 634
Tel. (62-0341) 568 395 ext. 872

Website: http://www.unmer.ac.id
Emails: javaneseculture2003_unmer@yahoo.com
ilicos_unmer@yahoo.com

Salam Budaya!