Rasa

The complex notion of rasa as understood by Javanese musicians refers to a combination of various qualities including: taste feeling affect mood sense inner meaning a faculty of knowing intuitively and deep understanding. This leaves us with a number of questions: how is rasa expressed musically? Who or what has rasa and what sorts of musical psychological perceptual and sociological distinctions enter into this determination? How is the vocabulary of rasa structured and what does this tell us about traditional Javanese music and aesthetics?