Indonesian guest artists to perform with gamelan ensemble

Master performers Otong Rasta and Atik Rasta Prawira from West Java, Indonesia, will be on campus through April 26 for a series of programs devoted to the elegant art of Sundanese rod puppet theater, or wayang golek.

Highlighting their visit will be a performance with Kenyon's gamelan ensemble, directed by Henry Spiller, the Luce Assistant Professor of Asian Music and Culture. The performance, to be held on Saturday, April 24, at 8:00 p.m. in Brandi Recital Hall, will also feature Andrew N. Weintraub, an ethnomusic-ologist and assistant professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh.

Two other public presentations are planned. The guest artists will offer a puppet-manipulation workshop on Monday, April 19, at 4:00 p.m. in the Bemis Music Room, Peirce Hall 201. They will offer a puppet-carving demonstration on Tuesday, April 20, during Common Hour, also in the Bemis Music Room.

Wayang golek is among the most popular art and entertainment forms of the Sundanese people of West Java. It features not only beautiful puppets that move and dance, but also philosophical lessons, political commentary, and bawdy humor accompanied by lively music. A single performer, called the dalang, manipulates all the puppets, provides their voices, sings the requisite mood songs, and cues the musicians.

Otong Rasta is one of West Java's most talented and knowledgeable puppeteers and one of the most respected Sundanese musicians of his generation, according to Spiller. Atik Rasta Prawira, the eldest of Otong Rasta's six sons, is a highly respected dalang in his own right.

Wayang performances are accompanied by an eleven-piece ensemble of bronze gongs, metallophones, and drums, known collectively as gamelan. Spiller founded Kenyon's gamelan when he came to the College in 2002. The visiting artists will work with the student musicians throughout the week.

Their visit is sponsored by the Luce Fund for Asian Music and Culture.