Javanese gamelan music has for more than 100 years held a fascination for Western composers, travelers and scholars. This presentation is for people who want to experience a musical tradition totally different from western folk, rock or classical music. The gamelan is an ensemble of metallophones, gongs, drums, xylophone, a few stringed instruments and singers. This presentation shows how gamelan music is linked to the culture from which it springs—how the very structure of the music is related to core Javanese cultural notions of coincidence, serenity, reincarnation. A small group of musicians from UM’s Gamelan will perform for you, as will a classical Javanese dancer. Audience members will have an opportunity to perform a simple piece.

Dr. Walton has authored “Mode in Javanese Music” (Ohio University, 1987), articles on gender issues in music and experiential ethnography and has translated two treatises on gamelan music from Javanese.

This is the final of six lectures in the series, "Indonesia; Culturally Diverse, Geographically Fragmented, Strategically Located."