Copyrights regarding traditional gamelan music?

[Enrique]

A couple of threads here have been discussing copyright, distribution, permissions, etc, but I had a question regarding copyright with traditional javanese gamelan music (this might apply to most if not all 'traditional' folk music, and by traditional i mean music that's been used over a span of several generations with little or no modifications)

I'm talking about pieces like Wilujeng, and not something that can easily be traced to a single composer (ie, Double Concerto by Lou Harrison)

Quoting a piece is one thing, but using the full or part of a piece as is, superimposed over other sounds. Since most of this music is learned aurally, is the copyright 'held' by the transcriber (usually an ethnomusicologist) or is it all a bunch of nonsense and these things are considered in the public domain?

I'm probably making a big deal out of this by posting, but I'm curious and ethically I want to give credit where credit is due, but to whom?! If I missed a post that answers this, forgive me (and please point me to that post!)

Thanks all,

Enrique

[Dannthr]

You've seen it before, in the composer credits section of your sheet music, it says "Traditional Irish Folk Jig."

[peter5992]

Hi Enrique:

Well, essentially, if the music you use has been around for generations, it is in the public domain and you can use it as you please. If the music has been transcribed then the transcriber would have copyright in that transcription if he adds originality to the transcription, and if you were to use that particular transcription rather than the generic music, you'd have to have his or her permission. The transcriber always has copyright in the sheet music itself (you cannot copy that for public distribution without his or her permission) (I understand that they have a different type of transcription, different from Western music notation, so that may not be very relevant).

This is essentially the way it would work in the US - a few complications:

(a) This would be governed by Indonesian law, which is probably not too dissimilar to Dutch law (Indonesia once was a Dutch colony). Being a Dutch lawyer I should know how Dutch law works in this regard, but to be honest I really do not know exactly since I never practiced copyright law and it's been about 20 years since I got out of law school in Holland. But it is probably pretty close.

(b) Where are you yourself located? If you use the music and someone in some country believes you infringed his copyright, he is going to sue you in your home country. You'd have to figure out if the country of origin and the country where you live are both members to the Bern Convention. The Bern Convention protects works by authors worldwide, basically on the principle that if the work is protected in the country of origin, it is also protected in all other countries that are party to the Bern Convention.

Then, even if it is out of copyright, you can of course always give to credit like "traditional Balinese folk song" or something like that.

Hope this helps -- just for the record, to cover my ***, I am not giving any specific legal advice and if you or anyone has any specific issues I would advise to always consult a copyright attorney or specialist (I am not a specialist! I just took copyright classes to educated myself) as copyright is notoriously difficult.

With my best regards,

Peter

[Enrique]

Hey thanks for the replies, I am living in the US, and am a member of Gamelan Nyai Saraswati, so I have access to a huge collection of gamelan music, but non of the pieces have any credits and i believe were transcribed by a variety of people, some of whom I may know.

Yes the notation is very different, consisting of and rows and columns, numbers and symbols, rather than your typical western music staff with note values.

Anyways, thanks for re-affirming, it seems the safest bet would be to credit it as "traditional javanese music" or "based on music from central-java" or some other form specifying it's origins.

Dannthr, sheet music? What's that? ;)

Thanks again,

Enrique