UC Davis Music: Rethinking the History of Indonesian Music

This Nov. 5 conference features presentations from scholars that explore topics of colonialism, indigeneity, evolving artistry, and the rethinking of Indonesian history.

• Free to attend and lunch provided for those that pre-register for the conference. Please submit your registration by Thur., Nov. 3rd.
• For those unable to attend, UC Davis Music will livestream the conference beginning at 9:20 am. Please note that interaction is not possible over the livestream.

About the Conference

Eight scholars will present 30-minute papers, followed by 10-minute prepared responses from local respondents, on topics related to the broad subject of music history in the geographical area currently identified as the Indonesian archipelago. The conference is part of a broader Luce Foundation project titled “Toward a Music History of the Indonesian Archipelago,” which will take place over two years. With this open approach, the conference seeks to explore topics of indigeneity, colonialism, the evolving artistry of modern gamelan, and the rethinking of Indonesian history.

Preceding the conference, the Bay Area’s rock-gamelan fusion group Purnamasari will give a concert Friday, Nov. 4, at 7 pm in the Ann E. Pitzer Center.

Visit the page on the UC Davis Music website for the conference schedule.

About the Luce Foundation Project

Starting in the 16th century and continuing until World War II, Christian missionaries to the Indonesian archipelago took an interest in indigenous music. Up until now, the source materials have been difficult to find, scattered and ignored. But UC Davis professors Henry Spiller and Anna Maria Busse Berger have received a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation’s Asia Program to investigate these sources and make these materials more accessible.

“It has been ignored because it was collected by missionaries and considered biased,” Spiller says, “but that’s throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We’re not trying to redeem the missionaries, but to make the priceless information they collected available to all interested parties.”

The professors will focus primarily on work done by Dutch and German missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, although there are reports by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries dating to the 16th century.

The award to the College of Letters and Science’s Department of Music professors provides funding for research, two conferences, and a post-doctoral fellowship, which has been filled by Dr. Dustin Wiebe.

Most European missionaries were trained to learn about the languages of the places they were posted, and as an outgrowth of that, some began documenting music. This was boosted with the founding in 1900 of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv, which provided sound recording equipment and training to missionaries and travelers.

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding.