Wesleyan’s World Music Archives and Music Department invite you to a celebration in honor of Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Sumarsam’s forthcoming book, History and Myth, Interculturalism and Interreligiosity: The In-Between in Javanese Performing Arts (Wesleyan University Press). This hour-long event includes a concert, featuring guest singer Heni Savitri, and a short presentation by Sumarsam entitled “History and Mythology in Javanese Performing Arts,” followed by a reception.
Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 1:00 pm FREE! — Smith Reading Room, Olin Library
All are welcome! For more information: visit the CFA event page or email wma@wesleyan.edu. This event is also part of Wesleyan’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month calendar.
In addition to the forthcoming book from Wesleyan University Press, this event will also celebrate two more new works from Sumarsam: his recent open access publication Introduction, Theory, and Analysis: Javanese Gamelan;and his “Liner Notes and Translation of Langendriyan’s libretto ‘The Death of Ménakjinggå’: 78-rpm recordings. Columbia, 1931 and 1932” (forthcoming, in collaboration with Philip Yampolsky). There will be a small exhibition highlighting Sumarsam’s publications and research, the history of the gamelan program at Wesleyan, and field and concert gamelan recordings from the World Music Archives collection. For more information, see the CFA event listing or email wma@wesleyan.edu.
Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Sumarsam has been teaching at Wesleyan since 1972. His research on the history, theory, and performance practice of gamelan and wayang, and on Indonesia-Western encounters has resulted in numerous articles and two books: Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java (1995) and Javanese Gamelan and the West (2013). He is a master gamelan musician and also a keen amateur dhalang (puppeteer) for wayang kulit shadow puppet plays. He holds a BA degree from Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia, an MA from Wesleyan, and a PhD from Cornell.
