In an increasingly globalized era, we should always be reminded that identity is a social construction, depending on time, place, and social scope (Agnew, 2005:12). Wenger (2004:151) states that identity is defined socially not only because of its reification in social discourse, but also because it is constantly reconstructed in “the direct experience of participation in particular communities”. Therefore, there is a constant struggle between participation in reification in processes of identity formation.
According to Strokes (1994: 5) that musical performances, which include listening, dancing, theorizing, talking, thinking, writing about music, and presenting the purposes of constructing and monilizing ethnicity and identity. Individuals use music as a source for constructing, affirming, and improving self-identity, through projection of others and introspection of oneself (DeNora 2000:44-49). Music has a great multiplicity of potentially meaningful measures, and its status as a collective activity helps to explain its specific power to create an identity. Therefore, a discussion about collective creation is important in finding out the construction of identity in diaspora groups.
Some of the Jagat Gamelan members use music to claim national diaspora identity, while they are physically separated from their homeland. Therefore, the majority of this group was not raised in a Javanese social environment, this motivation does not refer to a sense of nostalgia for musical traditions in particular, but to strengthen and affirm their identity. As social researchers have explored about identity, diaspora, and music, we are constantly reminded that identity is socially constructed and defined through the constant struggle between participation and reification.
Through musical performances, members of the Gamelan Gamelan deliberately seek activities to play gamelan, this action is carried out specifically to emphasize their national identity. Gita Sudarsyah is the only member of Jagat Gamelan who has played Javanese gamelan before joining this group. Later, he participated in a school event that required his students to play gamelan and dance.
