Join UK for a Celebration of World Music and Dance, Special Balinese Gamelan Naming Ceremony

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 13, 2017) — Join the University of Kentucky School of Music for its 13th UK World Music and Dance concert 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at Briggs Theatre on the first floor of the UK Fine Arts Building. The concert is free and open to the public but space is limited, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early to save a spot.

This year the program will feature the debut of the newly acquired UK Balinese gamelan angklung made possible through a grant from the Donovan Trust. This gamelan angklung set is based on a scale of four pitches and is used commonly in ritual ceremonies in Bali.

Traditionally, gamelans can only be named by a master artist who is from the gamelan’s place of origin. Given this, special guests Pak Made Lasmawan and his wife Ni Ketut Marni, teachers of Balinese music and dance at Colorado College, will perform with UK’s performers, come up with a name and conduct this special naming ceremony. The name will be revealed during the actual ceremony and be kept secret until then.

In addition to this naming ceremony, the gamelan will perform a longer multi-movement piece called “Capung Gantung.” This will be followed by a piece called “Pendet Penyambutan,” a traditional female dance of welcome as well as a female warrior dance called “Baris.” This part of the program will close with a short piece called “Gegilak Munggah Gunung” usually performed at the end of a ceremony or concert.

The UK World Music and Dance concert will also feature another form of Asian dance from the Indian bharatanatyam tradition, directed by local dancer/choreographer Lakshi Sriraman and performed by UK Plant Pathology Professor Aardra Kachroo and Lafayette High School student Hena Kachroo, as well as Deepti Radhakrishna, Vasundhara Bhaskar and Maanasa Muthukrishnan. The show will also include UK student Naizal Hargana on Mongolian horsehead fiddle and Lotus Ai on Chinese guzheng zither.

The concert program will then travel to Africa and the music of Zimbabwe performed by the UK Mbiracats, who will play pieces from the traditional Shona mbira dzavadzimu repertoire. Lastly, UK will welcome a new member to the world music community in Lexington, Namkyung Joh, who will perform on the Korean cylindrical oboe, called the piri. 

This concert is sponsored by the UK World Music program, the School of Music, the Division of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, the Donovan Trust and an Inclusive Excellence Program Grant.

For more information about these events, contact Donna Kwon, coordinator of the UK Division of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, by email at donna.kwon@uky.edu or by phone at 859-257-4912.

The UK School of Music in the UK College of Fine Arts has garnered national recognition for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, music therapy, composition, and theory and music history.