Indonesian Cultural Forum: Music, Dance, and Poetry of the Sundanese Culture (West Java)

Saturday, March 23, 2002 at 8:00 pm (pre-concert lecture at 7:00 pm) Sunday, March 24, 2002 at 3:00 pm (pre-concert lecture at 2:00 pm) World-premiere composition by Burhan Sukarma on suling (bamboo flute) with choreography by dancer Sri Susilowati Gamelan degung and kacapi-suling performance by Pusaka Sunda with Undang Sumarna on kendang drums and dancers Sri Susilowati & Aleida Lumintang Crocker Pre-performance lectures by ethnomusicologist Henry Spiller ODC Theater, 3153-17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 Tickets: $15 in advance, $18 at the door. To order, call 415-863-9834 or visit www.odctheater.org, www.ticketweb.com, or Tix Bay Area in Union Square.

Click on an image for Artist Bios...

Event Description

The Center for the Art of Translation presents two performances of Sundanese music, dance, and poetry at ODC Theater in San Francisco. The program will introduce the public to the fascinating Sundanese culture of West Java through the music of virtuoso suling (bamboo flute) player and composer Burhan Sukarma directing his gamelan ensemble, Pusaka Sunda. Pusaka Sunda’s music has been called “seductive, mesmerizing” (SF Bay Guardian) and “lovely, deep and luminous” (KZSU).

The performances will feature traditional and modern compositions for gamelan degung (an ensemble of bronze gongs and metallophones) as well as kacapi-suling, a small chamber ensemble featuring kacapi (zithers) and suling (flute). Pusaka Sunda will be joined by dancer/choreographer Sri Susilowati and traditional singers. In all, ten musicians, including suling master Burhan Sukarma, and two dancers will perform.

The program will focus on the Sundanese culture of West Java and demonstrate how the Sundanese intertwine music, drama, dance, and poetry. As our performers will show, Sundanese poetry interacts with music and dance in various ways, at turns serving as the inspriation for an instrumental work, as the basis for a narrative dance, or as the lyrics in a tembang vocal piece. The original Sundanese poems featured in the performance will be read along with their English translations, and will also be printed in the performance program.

The Center for the Art of Translation has also commissioned a new work for gamelan degung, composed by Burhan Sukarma and choreographed by Sri Susilowati, to be premiered at the Indonesian Cultural Forum. A new translation of the poem that inspired the work will also be presented.

Prior to each performance, Bay Area ethnomusicologist Henry Spiller will discuss Sundanese musical tradition in a lecture entitled “The Music of Sundanese Poetry.” As at the Center’s Tamil Cultural Forum in June 2001, attendees will receive a comprehensive program with all of the poems and songs presented in the original language and in translation.