Ted Tsai is considered the first Taiwanese scholar to have researched Indonesian musical culture, and his research interests encompass Islamic music and the artistic accomplishments of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. He is also one of the few Taiwanese researchers who have spent a considerable amount of time in the countryside of central and eastern Java conducting fieldwork in cities such as Yog­ya­karta, Su­ra­karta, and ­Se­ma­rang.

A royal destiny

Located in Central Java, the Yog­ya­karta Special Region and Su­ra­karta (also known as Solo) are among the most important centers for the preservation of traditional arts and culture. And it was from Su­­ra­­karta, the seat of the Javan imperial dynasty, that cultural influences spread throughout modern-day Indonesia and onward to countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Brunei.

Tsai’s connection with the Su­ra­karta Su­nan­ate began with his assistant, Tejo Ba­gus Su­naryo, who is himself a prince of Su­ra­karta and the director of the su­nan­ate’s cultural department. It was thanks to this fortuitous acquaintanceship that Tsai gained access to the valuable collection of documents at the Su­ra­karta Ha­di­ningrat Palace. His many years of research into Indonesian music eventually led to him being awarded the royal title of prince by the ruler of Su­ra­karta, Su­su­hunan Pa­ku­bu­wono XIII. 

Tsai explains that the su­nan­ate annually selects foreign nationals who have made contributions to Indonesian culture and educational exchanges and bestows upon them the title of prince. Most of those so honored, however, receive a princely title—“Kan­jeng Aryo”—designated for individuals who are not part of the royal family. Tsai, however, received a title usually reserved for blood relatives of the family: “Kan­jeng Ra­den Tu­mung­gung.” In Javanese, kan­jeng means prince, ra­den indicates a blood relation, and tu­mung­gung is a term meaning to act as regent. According to Tsai’s understanding, the honor was conferred on him to show that he was akin to an adopted father of Tejo Ba­gus Su­naryo. Although they had no actual blood ties, their relationship surpassed that between the royal family and most foreigners. Tsai was thus awarded the princely status of a royal family member and became the first Taiwanese person to be so honored.

Shadow plays, a traditional Chinese entertainment, are still seen on the streets of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

A path of one’s own

The breadth of Tsai’s research interests is quite unconventional in Taiwanese academic circles. He has studied everything from Central Asian music in Xin­jiang, mainland China, and religious music in Indonesia, to artists in Indonesia’s ethnic-Chinese community. Though Tsai speaks in a soft, gentle voice, he has a rebellious personality. “I want to do things that no one else wants to do,” he says.

While attending a vocational high school, Tsai joined the traditional Chinese music club and played the ­suona, a Chinese woodwind instrument not at all popular with the students. He later attended the Chinese Culture University, where he studied Chinese music. After graduation he traveled to the United States to pursue a doctorate in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. He originally wanted to write his dissertation on the history of Central Asian and Chinese musical exchanges, but was persuaded by his academic advisor to abandon the idea since the topic would require research into numerous ancient documents and require a facility with the Old Persian, Uzbek, and Uighur languages. Tsai therefore decided to focus on Central Asian music from Xin­jiang, and embarked on his researches into Islamic music.

The study of folk music attaches importance to the role of music in culture, and to study Islamic music one must first understand the ideas and attitudes Muslims have toward music, Tsai says. If we understand Islamic history, its philosophical currents, and different schools of thought, we learn that some conservative scholars have considered music to be a worldly temptation that leads Muslims away from Allah. 

Tsai has studied, among other languages, Arabic, French, Russian, Japanese and Uighur. He understands the origins and doctrines of Islam better than many imams.

Tsai’s study of Indonesian music began when Hsin-­huang Michael ­Hsiao and Tsai Yuan­lin at Academia Sinica invited him to Indonesia to conduct research. Indonesian music is centered on traditional percussion instruments, and this includes the most representative of all Indonesian traditional music, gamelan.   

Gamelan performances allow one to glimpse its underlying philosophy. It cannot be played solo, and often an entire village participates in performances. There is no conductor, and the tempo and rhythm are determined solely by the percussionists. Each instrument in the ensemble fulfills its own role. Some provide the melody, others provide the tempo. Others are tasked with adding musical variations. If one drummer misses a few notes, others step in to cover. The performance reflects the cultural importance placed on the spirit of cooperation.

In addition to the study of Indonesian music, Tsai has in recent years been looking into the contributions of Chinese Indonesians to culture and the arts, such as Indonesia’s famous batik tradition, which is being promoted by Go Tik Swan, an Indonesian of Chinese heritage. There is also Chinese Indonesian Di­dik Nini Tho­wok, a well-known performer whose transgender dance is second to none. Tsai’s interest in the cultural contributions of Chinese Indonesian artists prompted him to record their achievements and situation in the documentary Ta­xiang Shi Gu­xiang (“Home Is an Adopted Land”).

After finishing a day’s fieldwork, Ted Tsai and his students discuss the content of their interviews.

Finding fun in fieldwork

Since conducting doctoral research in Xin­jiang, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and later in Indonesia, Tsai, who is now in his fifties, has been enamored of the charms of fieldwork. He is one of the few scholars who takes students on overseas research trips. Among many adventures, graduate student ­Huang ­Chuan Lin and Tsai once encountered a volcanic eruption, and initially the field team thought that the falling ash was snow. They were nearly stranded in Java but caught a train that night and were able to leave Yogyakarta after a journey of more than ten hours.

And Tsai Bing Chun, formerly a professional photographer, traveled with Ted Tsai to the city of Sing­ka­wang in the Indonesian province of West Ka­li­man­tan on the island of Borneo to experience the Cap Go Meh Festival, a part of the Chinese Lunar New Year. According to local custom, Aboriginal shamans, witchdoctors, and deities from Chinese religious traditions all pay their respects at the Bo Gong Temple, a center of local worship where Tudi Gong, an earth god, is the main deity. Tsai Bing Chun describes how he witnessed firsthand the religious trances of shamans and witchdoctors during the festival (similar to Taiwan’s spirit mediums), even as he attempted to create an objective anthropological record. He says it was one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life.   

Through the many student fieldtrips that Ted Tsai has led, he has tried to allow students to experience the power of local folk customs and understand the deep connection between ethnomusicology and local culture.

For ethnomusicologists, the Cap Go Meh Festival, held in the city of Singkawang in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, is a celebration not to be missed.

A one-man cultural bridge

For many years, Tsai has used the summer and winter academic vacations to conduct fieldwork. He says it has been 18 years since he spent Chinese New Year in Taiwan.

Tsai describes himself as too fun-loving, attracted by the possibility of experiencing all the wonderful sights and sounds of the world. Although fieldwork is arduous, he says, “I consider research a way of having fun, and in this way I can do it happily and sustain my interest.”

The high honor of being awarded a prince’s title indicates that Tsai has a position of some standing in the Surakarta Sununate and will be able to participate in cultural projects sponsored by the Hadiningrat Palace. In 1965 Indonesia proclaimed a movement known as the New Order, which included anti-Chinese laws that were eventually repealed in 1998. Today Chinese culture is flourishing all over Indonesia, and Taiwan and Indonesia enjoy a host of opportunities for cultural and educational cooperation. Tsai feels that it is an exceptionally good time to deepen those connections. “I’m willing to act as a cultural bridge between Taiwan and Indonesia,” he says. He further hopes that Taiwan can shed prejudices and gain a deeper understanding of Southeast Asian neighbors with an open mind and discover their unique brilliance.

The cultural influence of the Surakarta Sunanate has been far-reaching in Southeast Asia. Members of the Malaysian royal family were invited to attend the honors ceremony for Ted Tsai (right).

A breastpin completes Ted Tsai’s formal attire as a newly invested prince of the Surakarta Sunanate.

Indonesians believe that gods inhabit gamelan instruments, so they step carefully around them, but never over them. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

gamelan instrument

Huang Chuan Lin, one of Ted Tsai’s graduate students, spent a year as an exchange student in Indonesia studying gamelan instruments, and was later able to introduce this aspect of Indonesian culture in Taiwan. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)