Javanese Gamelan and the West studies the meaning,
forms, and traditions of the Javanese performing arts as
they developed and changed through their contact with
Western culture. Authored by a gamelan performer,
teacher, and scholar, the book traces the adaptations in
gamelan art as a result of Western colonialism in
nineteenth-century Java, showing how Western musical and
dramatic practices were domesticated by Javanese
performers creating hybrid Javanese-Western art forms,
such as with the introduction of brass bands in gendhing
mares court music and West Javanese tanjidor/, and
Western theatrical idioms in contemporary wayang puppet
plays. The book also examines the presentation of
Javanese gamelan to the West, detailing performances in
World's Fairs and American academia and considering its
influence on Western performing arts and musical and
performance studies. The end result is a comprehensive
treatment of the formation of modern Javanese gamelan
and a fascinating look at how an art form dramatizes
changes and developments in a culture. Sumarsam is a
University Professor of Music at Wesleyan University. He
is the author of Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and
Musical Development in Central Java (University of
Chicago Press, 1995) and numerous articles in English
and Indonesian. As a gamelan musician and a keen amateur
dhalang/ (puppeteer) of Javanese wayang puppet play, he
performs, conducts workshops, and lectures throughout
the US, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
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