Siang tadi di kampung saya terjadi kehebohan. Usut punya usut, ada mobil yang memutar lagu dangdut Jablai dan SMS yang sedang ngetop (lagu yang aneh!), dan di atas mobil itu nangkring seekor nyamuk raksasa. Nyamuk itu tentu saja orang yang memakai kostum nyamuk. Ternyata itu mobil untuk promosi obat nyamuk Baygon. Ada sales yang cuap-cuap menginformasikan bahwa setiap pembelian tiga buah Baygon akan mendapatkan hadiah, seperti payung, toples, dan macam-macam lagi, yang jelas barang yangibu-ibu biasanya suka (ehm, selain barang bapak, tentunya :D).
Langsung saja orang-orang mengerubuti mobil tadi. Di sekitar mobil si nyamuk joget-joget, dikerubuti anak kecil sekampung, sementara para ibu berbondong-bondong membeli Baygon, entah mereka sebenarnya butuh atau tidak, yang penting dapat payung. Ibu-ibu itu mau saja berpanas-panas sambil joget (pake daster lagi!) demi mendapatkan hadiah. Mungkin para salesnya juga usil meminta ibu-ibu itu joget dengan iming-iming payung, haha.
Tampaknya upaya promosi penjualan yang dilakukan produsen Baygon sangat efektif. Dengan langsung terjun (terjun payung kali!) ke konsumen dan membagikan merchandise seperti payung, jam, toples, dan semacamnya, yang notabene disuka ibu-ibu (gratis lagi!), langsung dapat meningkatkan penjualan Baygon. Mungkin produsen lain perlu mencontoh metode ini. Promosi penjualan semacam ini tampaknya cukup murah daripada pasang iklan, karena biaya promosi periklanan itu sendiri sangat mahal, tetapi kurang langsung menyentuh target.
PS: Ibu saya tidak ikut-ikutan beli, sih. Apalagi jogetan, haha!
Books I really want to have...Introduction to Language (Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams), and The Religion of Java (Clifford Geertz).. anybody wants to buy them for me??..haha...I would really really appreciate it!
PS: I copied the book images from Amazon.com :P
PS #2: Finally got the "An Introduction to Language". Copied my prof's. Still don't mind receiving the real one, though, hehe.
Jam pitu mlebu sekolah
kaya ngene, wajibe dadi murid
wira-wiri saben esuk
menyang ing pamulangan
durung uwis manawa ta durung lulus
lulus saka pandhadharan
amarga mandheg margi
That was a Javanese tembang (traditional song) taught by my teacher when I was in elementary school. It was pretty hard to translate it literally in English, so I guess I will try to interpret it. It is about a "struggle" of being a student. You go to school every morning and start studying at 7 am. You have to deal with some trials (exams) and if you fail you will struggle even harder. (This is a crappy interpretation, haha)
There are many kinds of Javanese tembang, such as Pangkur, Gambuh, Dhandhanggula, and many more. I think the tembang I cited above is called Pangkur, but I'm not sure. I don’t remember the rules like guru lagu, guru wilangan, etc. I remember another tembang, and this one is called Gambuh (I'm pretty sure with that):
Sekar gambuh ping catur
kang cinatur
polah kang kalantur
tanpa tutur
katula-tula katali
kadaluwarsa katutuh
kapatuh pan dadi awon
I like that tembang, but too bad I don't know what that means. It is such a shame that as a Javanese person I don’t know the meaning of that tembang. I believe it is philosophical. As far as I remember my teacher didn’t tell us the meaning, he just taught us how to sing it. At least, though, in my opinion, that is better than not knowing anything about my own culture. I'm glad I still know those tembangs, though very little.
I don’t know if teachers still teach how to sing Javanese tembang now. Schools (elementary to high schools) have Javanese language as a subject, but I doubt they teach tembang. It is elderly Javanese who are able to sing such tembangs. Younger generation seems to enjoy modern music. I myself like listening American/western music too, although some are degenerating, haha. What about you?