|
 Gamelan
Stories : Tantrism Islam and Aesthetics in Central Java (Monographs
in Southeast Asian studies) by Judith Becker
This essential
work from Judith Becker breaks important new ground in the quest
by English-speaking scholars to understand the deeper levels of
Central Javanese meaning regarding music and musical exegesis.
She approaches her work on gamelan and court dance by examining
texts and interviews of a number of older (and since deceased)
Central Javanese scholar/musicians. 'While these stories focus
on the events of music and dance, those activities also become
metaphors for the strongly felt , extra mundane connections between
human and cosmos, between the individual and a greater, more enduring,
more powerful realm with which he or she is both linked and separated'
(p. 1). Becker carefully outlines her claim with strong supporting
evidence, building a history of medieval Javanese thought that
lays the groundwork for the ways in which Javanese musicians interpret
their art today. She also notes some of the ways in which Western
scholars have misunderstood Javanese musicians and the literature
about Javanese music and dance, and how they have inaccurately
analyzed certain characteristics of modern practice. The Journal
of Asian Studies (Amazon.com)
|
