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Originally Posted by Montino Bourbon
I know almost nothing about Tanguh, Dapur, and other particulars of the Keris; I just know what I like, and what I feel.
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What a fascinating story! Thank you for telling it to us. I bet you felt good when you finally were able to give home to your friend
I have absolutely no clue whatsoever on the particulars either but I do know what something feels to me. - My answer now moves along way to what was discussed a while back in the "Appreciation" thread, yet I feel (pun intended) we are tightly within the topic of this thread also as I stated on the opening post that.
In your subjectively objective opinion what forms the core of the understanding of the keris? What areas should be addressed? - How, what, why?
The attempt of trying to gain a complete understanding on such a vast subject as the keris is - in my opinion - a futile task. It cannot be achieved. Much how ever can be achieved and the joy of learning is the best reward.
Now from my personal perspective I tend to look at the keris with four different set of eyeglasses: as a cultural phenomena, as a time machine, as a story teller and lastly but not least, as an object of art. The first three are related to studying the keris as a hobby and whilst I do give these views space when deciding on possible acquisitions it is the last that either makes or breaks my interested on any keris. That is the "feel" I get from it. A keris for me has to have "cadence". It does not matter whether it is steady, broken, fast or mellow it has to evoke a feel of movement or a pause in between that I like. If I do not like the "cadence" of a keris it most likely is not going to play part in my little ensemble of pointy gamelan. Yeah, consideration is given to "tonality" also but for me the appreciation of tonal characteristics is more of a learnt thing whereas good cadence is something I appreciate intuitively.
So "cadence" it is for me. The rest is more learnt appreciation behavior that stems from studying the subject. To express the same in other words I tend to look at kerises very "monochromatically". Basically what I am saying is that being personally drawn to a keris regardless on how it stacks on other criteria should always count if not for another reason for the fact that this cannot be avoided.
Did a bit messy writing above but I hope you get my drift. Something like this is a bit difficult to bring across right for a non native English writer.
Thanks,
J.