Female singer in Central Javanese gamelan. Commonly several pesindhèn participate in a performance, singing in alternation or in unison depending on context. They are prominent in shadow plays (wayang kulit), interacting with the puppeteer (dhalang). They sing sindhènan, as a featured solo or as one of many melodic strands in the gamelan texture (sindhènan also refers to mixed-gender choral song for court dances).
Sindhènan is fixed for some pieces, but for most the pesindhèn draws on stock texts and melodic phrases, parsing wangsalan, richly allusive couplets of 12-syllable lines, into eight- and four-syllable units, sung (with various interjections) to melodic formulae that lead to principal pitches in the composition according to modal constraints, incorporating substantial individual variation. Usually sindhènan is rhythmically free, unlike male choral melodies (gérongan), and is closely related to the rebab melody.
Recently the voice of the pesindhèn has been heavily amplified. She is often visually prominent in performance and on cassette covers, while other performers are anonymous. Paid more than male singers and instrumentalists, pesindhèn confer status on their patrons: the more famous and numerous the singers hired, the richer the patron appears. Despite this star status, allegations of immorality, based on singers' close associations with men, have led some singers to prefer the euphemistic label waranggana (‘nymph’).
In West Java the pasindén is a recent addition (mid-20th century onwards) to the gamelan saléndro ensemble. The pasindén plays a prominent role in wayang golék (rod puppet theatre, accompanied by gamelan saléndro), where the increasing focus on her melody has resulted in changes to the musical texture of the ensemble.
See also Indonesia, §§III and V, i; and Mardusari, Nyai Tumenggung.
S. Gitosaprodjo: Ichtisar teori sindenan [Summary of the theory of sindhènan] (Malang, 1971)
R.A. Sutton: ‘Who is the Pesindhèn? Notes on the Female Singing Tradition in Java’, Indonesia, no.37 (1984), 118–31
T.S. Suparno: Laporan penelitian sindenan andegan Nyi Bei Mardusari (Surakarta, 1985)
R.A. Sutton: ‘Identity and Individuality in an Ensemble Tradition: the Female Vocalist in Java’, Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective, ed. E. Koskoff (Norwood, CT, 1987), 111–30
S.P. Walton: Mode in Javanese Music (Athens, OH, 1987)
Supadmi: Cengkok-cengkok srambahan dan abon-abon [Basic patterns and filler phrases] (Oakland, CA, 1989)
I. Kurniatun: Garap sindenan ayak-ayak laras slendro cengkok Nyi Supadmi [Nyi Supadmi's patterns of vocal treatment for ayak-ayak laras slendro] (Surakarta, 1992)
N.I. Cooper: The Sirens of Java: Gender Ideologies, Mythologies and Practice in Central Java (diss., U. of Hawaii, 1994)
S.P. Walton: Heavenly Nymphs and Earthy Delights: Javanese Female Singers, their Music, and their Lives (diss., U. of Michigan, 1997)
BENJAMIN BRINNER