1 http://devotion.greenvest.co.id

Volume 2 Number 1, July, 2020

p-ISSN: 2777-0915 | e-ISSN 2797-6068

PRESERVATION OF TRADITIONAL ARTS IN GROWING LOVE

OF LOCAL CULTURE

Ikhsan Nendi

Politeknik Bandung

Email: nendi.026@gmail.com

Keywords

conservation,

traditional

arts, local

culture

Article Info

Accepted:

June, 24

2020

Revised:

July, 10

2020

Approved:

July, 14

2020

Abstract This study aims to describe various problems

related to the preservation of traditional arts at the Klapa

Jajar Art Studio, Pekalipan Village, Cirebon City. In this

study the authors used a qualitative descriptive research

method. The author saw firsthand the problems that

existed in the Klapa Jajar art studio, Pekalipan Village,

Cirebon City. Then the author developed specifically the

problems that were in place and made an Innovation

Design in the form of implementation. Data collection

techniques were carried out by direct interviews and

documentation and direct observation. Based on the

results of the above research, it can be concluded that in

an effort to preserve traditional arts there are problems

related to art marketing, promotion and a lack of interest

in preserving arts from cultural elements. The

preservation of traditional arts as an effort to foster the

love of local culture in the Klapa Jajar art studio has an

effect on the progress and preservation of art that has

been dim for the last few years and supports people's

interest in advancing their own local arts. The form of

preservation of traditional arts as an effort to foster the

love of Cirebon local culture in the Klapa Jajar art studio

can be started from various elements in society to be

invited to be pro-active in supporting conservation efforts

by optimizing the media for art documentation.

Introduction

Art is something that refers to beauty (aesthetics). According to The Liang Gie

in (Irhandayaningsih, 2018) beauty or beautiful is a word equivalent to the

word beauty in English (in French “beau”, Italian and Spanish, “bello”).

Monroe Beardsley, a modern aesthetist in the 20th century, explained that

there are three basic elements to make something good and beautiful in art,

namely: Unity, Complexity, and Intensity (Syadian, 2020). Art is a cultural

Ikhsan Nendi

Preservation of traditional arts in growing love of local culture 2

product of a human civilization, a face of a culture created by a group of

people or nation. Theoretically, art or art can be defined as a cultural

manifestation (examination or thoughts and feelings; intention or will; works

or deeds) of humans that fulfill aesthetic requirements (SAPUTRI, 2021).

Culture comes from the Sanskrit buddhayah, which is defined as the plural

form of the concept of budhi and dhaya (reason) (Abidin, 2015). This concept,

applied by Indonesian cultural and educational thinkers Ki Hajar Dewantara,

is used to develop the concept of indigenous Indonesian culture (Eko Putri,

2012). According to Koentjaraningrat in his book Introduction to

Anthropology, a cultural theory emerged, which Talcott Parsons and A.L.

Kroeber is a system of ideas and concepts, a series of actions, and a form of

human-patterned activities (Marzali, 2016). In addition, researcher J.J

Honigmann in the book The World of Man mentions three cultural symptoms,

namely the symptoms of ideas, activities, and artifacts (Nirwana, 2019).

Experts conclude that ideas or ideas exist in human thought, of course as a

result of brain work. Because in the brain, aka the human head, the ideas are

invisible and invisible. It is only heard when it is mentioned orally by the

thinker. Then the ideas are seen when written down or broadcast through the

media (Mahliana & Mustikarini, 2013).

The importance of art and culture in society is often forgotten (Qomariyah,

2019). Art must create a longing for eternal life, because the main goal of art

is life itself. Art becomes something "rahmatan lil alamin" (Darmoko, n.d.). Art

is considered as an important suggestion for the achievement of life so that it

must maintain the fields of life to keep it green and provide guidance for

human life (Mandara, Wara, Irawan, Suhardi, & Dewi, 2020). Art has magical

power and must be utilized to create a good human person. Art must be able

to make social progress. Artists can be considered as great people and

become role models. According to Muhammad Iqbal, an artist with 'prophetic'

strength is able to elevate the status of a nation and send it towards greatness

in order to achieve greater greatness so as to satisfy the inner artist in creating

art (Nuruddin, 2014). Besides that, being able to satisfy the minds of others in

a way that connoisseurs of art will certainly have a level of assessment of the

artists' works of art. Being able to remember history through art is related to

education which aims to transmit historical messages to be remembered by

the next generation.

Conveying cultural values and expressions of these artists is very important to

preserve cultural arts in society (Susilo & Soeroso, 2014). Art can be expressed

as it should. Various arts have sprung up with the times. One of them is

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p-ISSN: 2777-0915 | e-ISSN 2797-6068

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traditional art which has various forms, some of which combine dance and

music, singing and music and so on. This can be seen in the activities of the

Klapa Jajar art studio, Pekalipan Village, Cirebon City, which has several folk

arts that still survive today, including various types of dances such as the

princess dance, the rimbe dance, the bird dance, the coastal ronggeng dance,

the mask dance and the Sintren dance as well as teaching regional musical

instruments, namely the Cirebon gamelan as dance accompaniment.

The challenges in efforts to preserve culture, especially traditional arts, are

getting heavier due to the development of the times and the current

globalization flow (Surahman, 2016). The development of the times and the

current globalization have resulted in many changes that have occurred in the

pattern of people's lives, which also have an effect on the culture of the

community itself. The culture of the ancestral heritage areas has begun to be

influenced by cultures that come from outside and gradually the culture of

the area has begun to be abandoned (Rohimah, Hufad, & Wilodati, 2019).

Some local cultures in Indonesia are purely the result of works, created by the

Indonesian people them selves and some are influenced by foreign cultures

due to communication with foreign cultures in the past. Regional culture,

especially traditional arts, is now starting to be marginalized and replaced by

more modern arts. Society has begun to open up to existing developments

due to social changes in society, openness to outside culture, as well as

modernization and globalization which unconsciously change existing cultures

in society.

The Klapa Jajar art studio as an art studio that teaches and trains the younger

generation in Pekalipan Village has various artistic potentials. However, in the

course of many changes that occurred due to several influencing factors.

According to some people, the biggest factor is that the love of teenagers to

learn Cirebon traditional arts has eroded. In its development, the Klapa Jajar

studio must innovate in implementing methods so that the adolescents' love

for Cirebon traditional arts can grow, one of which is to innovate by

developing traditional arts by packaging and integrating through the

presentation of the sports, but the value and meaning of tradition is

maintained.

It is hoped that through innovation in packaging and manufacturing, it can

revive the arts that were dim due to several inhibiting factors. From the

information of the public, another factor that is very influential is the problem

of media promotion or marketing of art that has not been maximally carried

out by the Klapa Jajar studio. Lack of promotional media and ways of

promotion that are not packaged in an attractive and widespread manner

Ikhsan Nendi

Preservation of traditional arts in growing love of local culture 4

have resulted in less public awareness of shows with the theme of art. In fact,

the community needs a mediator who connects them with events.

The problem faced by the Klapa Jajar art studio, Pekalipan Village, Cirebon

City, is the lack of development of promotional media and optimization of

documentation in the marketing of its local arts, so the Community Service

Lecture (KPM-DR 2020) is partly focused on planning, understanding,

implementation design processes and results. Art documentation in an effort

to provide innovation in art performances or performances in it according to

existing needs. From here, the existence of a performance event is a strategy

that is best done as a first step to reintroducing various Cirebon arts.

Many young people today think that traditional art is now very unattractive

when compared to modern art, even though the times have changed,

traditional arts which are now changing into a more attractive packaging and

not as boring as they thought. Therefore, promotion is an effort to show a

vibrant, cheerful, elegant, and many kinds of artistic imagery.

Helping to promote and implement various Cirebon arts as well as helping the

Klapa Jajar art studio to show the public that there are still young people who

care about the existence of traditional arts that has declined from time to time

so that other young people out there are also moved starting from getting to

know art themselves and their largest group play an active role in loving and

caring for the existence of traditional arts.

The promotional media has indirectly played a role in introducing the variety

of Javanese art from the various photographs used, but if some still think that

the promotional media only helps the process of introducing the event then,

plus two media who play a more active and prominent role in introducing

traditional arts that can accessed every time and books as a medium that can

last a long time. There is also a booth design at the event venue where people

can enter and see and even try using musical instruments directly.

Method Research

In this study the authors used a qualitative descriptive research method. The

author sees firsthand the problems that exist in the Klapa Jajar art studio,

Pekalipan Village, Cirebon City, especially by observing and seeing the

importance of optimizing documentation as supporting conservation and

encouraging a sense of pride in Cirebon traditional art through the Klapa Jajar

art studio . Then the author develops specifically the problems that are in

place and makes an Innovation Design in the form of implementation.

The subject of this research is a Cirebon art figure who is the son of the

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founder of the Klapa Jajar art studio, Pekiringan Village, Cirebon City, namely

Cah Mamat. Data collection techniques are carried out by direct and in-depth

interviews with research subjects, documentation and direct observation by

following activities carried out in Klapa Jajar art studio. The time of the

research was carried out during the implementation of Community Service

Activities, from 30 November to 30 December 2020.

Result and Discussion

Art is everything that is created by humans that contains elements of beauty

and is able to evoke feelings for themselves and others. Based on this

definition, art is a product of beauty, in which humans try to create something

beautiful and can bring pleasure. The term art comes from the "Sanskrit"

language, which is sani which means worship, offerings and services which are

closely related to religious ceremonies called art. Art is also a local identity

from an area that can support the development of society from various fields.

As one of the identities that shows that the area is viewed by other local

people, art of course requires marketing and promotion in order to maintain

its sustainability. One of them is through documentation.

Documentation as a forum for preserving art plays an important role in the

Klapa Jajar art studio. This documentation can support various aspects that

can be used to revive art that was born before but had dimmed. It can be

concluded that documentation itself means that a collection of various

documents can provide information or evidence related to the process of

collecting and managing documents systematically and disseminating it to

users of the information, or it can also be concluded that documentation is a

job in charge of collecting, compiling, searching, investigating, researching,

and processing and maintaining as well as preparing so that it becomes a new

useful document. This can be in the form of photos, videos, printed works,

recorded works and audio visuals. The art of blimbing blimbing village varies,

one of which is: calligraphy, tambourine, horse lumping, handicrafts and

ketoprak.

In preserving art, it can be done by:

1. Culture Experience

This method is by going directly to study the culture of each region according

Ikhsan Nendi

Preservation of traditional arts in growing love of local culture 6

to the region. Examples of the Sundanese tribe learn the jaipong or pencak

silat dance. It is important to learn from generation to generation in order to

remain sustainable so that we can introduce as well as show culture to many

people and even to the world.

2. Culture Knowledge

This method is to create their respective cultural information centers, so that

everyone can easily find information about the culture of an area. In today's

modern era, websites can be an easy alternative to provide all of these

information sources. The role of documentation in preservation can be

through collecting, classifying and continuing to disseminate documents to

those in need.

Please note that documentation is a source of information. The Klapa Jajar art

studio, which in fact can introduce its artistic culture to all Indonesian people

by documenting the results of the existing arts, has been done by the Klapa

Jajar art studio. The advantage of disseminating the results of documentation

throughout the country is that the Klapa Jajar art studio can be known

throughout Indonesia, the potential of the art can develop because many

outsiders are interested in coming to the Klapa Jajar art studio. So that it can

be concluded, documentation as a medium for preservation is a process of

documenting a work or art, which can give a distinct impression to these art

actors.

The Klapa Jajar art gallery can have mementos in the form of photos or videos

containing traditional Cirebon arts. In the documentation process, it can be

said as a medium for preservation of art, a recording medium that can

produce a print or video work as authentic evidence that can be disseminated

to people throughout Indonesia to provide information about small villages

that have extraordinary artistic potential.

Sanggar Klapa Jajar was founded on August 16, 1970 by Pangeran Agus Djoni

Arkaningrat. He is the father of cah Mamat, a figure who preserves Cirebon

culture. The name Sanggar Klapa Jajar is taken from the name of the Klapa

Jajar alley where the studio is located. With the Klapa Jajar art studio, it is

hoped that Cirebon traditional arts will not disappear in the future. Efforts to

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preserve it, namely by providing opportunities for those who want to learn

dance arts, will not be charged anything. Even though they pay a lot of money,

they are sincere in teaching traditional arts as long as they have the intention

and desire to learn traditional dance.

The Klapa Jajar art studio teaches various types of dances such as the female

dance, the rimbe dance, the bird dance, the coastal ronggeng dance, the mask

dance and the Sintren dance as well as teaching regional musical instruments,

namely gamelan as dance accompaniment. The practice is held every day

except Thursday, because on that day they usually hold yasinan together.

Sanggar Klapa plans to collaborate with hotels in Cirebon, to direct their

tourism trips to their camps so that they get to know the various arts of

Cirebon.

So tourism coming to Cirebon does not only taste Cirebon culinary and batik,

but they also enjoy the beauty of its art. Promotional efforts made by the

Klapa Jajar art studio through the use of social media such as Facebook,

Instragram and Youtube.

The studio teaches various types of dances such as the female dance, the

rimbe dance, the bird dance, the coastal ronggeng dance, the mask dance and

the Sintren dance and also teaches regional musical instruments, namely

gamelan as dance accompaniment. The training is held every day except

Thursday, because usually they hold yasinan together because the people of

Cirebon are also steeped in spirituality.

The leader of the studio, who is often called Cah Mamat, has succeeded in

continuing and introducing the studio to the public until now, so that this

traditional art that is unique to Cirebon can still be enjoyed, even the younger

generation can learn as a successor. Not surprisingly, from his tenacity and

sincerity, his position has been trusted to carry out various performances,

both for social, custom and religion, as well as performances in a parade or

cultural festivals throughout the city.

The method used to develop this traditional art is through the collaboration

of schools such as campuses to be able to teach Cirebon traditional arts and

also hotels in Cirebon. To direct the tourism of its mango so that they get to

know various Cirebon arts. So tourism comes to Cirebon not only tasting

Ikhsan Nendi

Preservation of traditional arts in growing love of local culture 8

Cirebon culinary and batik, but they also enjoy the beauty of its art. Cah

Mamat as the leader of the Klapajajar studio hopes to make his position an

art village, which is filled with a variety of Cirebon-specific arts in collaboration

with the community.

Cultivating and preserving traditional arts is very important to increase love

for local culture. The Klapa Jajar art studio, with the guidance and assistance

of KKN students, has begun to show efforts to cultivate local traditional arts.

Plus support from the local government.

Indirectly, the recognition of the Klapa Jajar art studio as one of the art studios

that cares about the preservation of Cirebon's local culture can be an asset in

preserving local arts that will help instill the values of love for local culture

towards the younger generation in Cirebon society.

Conclusion

Based on the results of the above research, it can be concluded that in an

effort to preserve traditional arts there are problems related to art marketing,

promotion and a lack of interest in preserving arts from cultural elements. The

preservation of traditional arts as an effort to foster a love for local culture in

the Klapa Jajar art studio will affect the progress and preservation of arts that

have been dim for the last few years and support people's interest in

advancing their own local arts.

This form of preservation of traditional arts as an effort to foster a love for

Cirebon local culture in the Klapa Jajar art studio can be started from various

elements of society to be invited to be pro-active in supporting conservation

efforts by optimizing the media for art documentation. Starting from how to

process manually or digital software, to process and present the results of

documentation in various forms that are processed and then marketed to the

general public.

Other innovations can be implemented through multimedia packaging as

access to all parties. Therefore, the follow-up of innovation in optimizing

documentation as a promotional media to support the preservation of

cultural arts will be successful in society if the community is moved and gets

full support from local officials and local governments to jointly welcome the

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preservation of Cirebon local culture as a culture that is to be proud of and

dependable.

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Ikhsan Nendi (2020)

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