Kidung Merapi as the Arts-Politics of Memory

Abstract

Mount Merapi is not merely an active volcano but a living symbol in Javanese cosmology, deeply intertwined with myths of sacred guardians and ritual performances. This study explores the kidung (ritual chants) performed during the Labuhan Merapi as a form of noble wisdom and a cultural strategy for negotiating human–nature relationships in a disaster-prone landscape. Using Performance Studies and Politics of Affect, this research analyzes how these chants produce affective atmospheres of fear and reverence that sustain collective memory of past eruptions. Ethnographic observation, textual analysis of the kidung, and interviews with ritual custodians reveal that the poetic structure encodes ecological knowledge, local cosmology, and the philosophy of sumeleh (sincere acceptance) as a mode of living with disaster. The study highlights how ritual music and simple gamelan accompaniment create a sacred soundscape that connects spiritual beliefs with communal resilience. However, the transformation of Labuhan into a form of spiritual tourism generates tensions between the sacred and the commodified, raising critical questions about who benefits from this affective economy. This paper argues that the Merapi kidung is not merely a static heritage but an affective performance that is constantly renegotiated within the interplay of local agency, state narratives, and the tourism industry. As such, the noble wisdom embedded in these ritual soundscapes offers alternative knowledge for sustaining life amid ongoing threats and the pressures of modern cultural commodification.