k a M an interactive shadow play
Design
steve everett - music/direction/design/video installation
midiyanto - puppeteer, voice
pramoedya ananta toer - text
Musicians
Javanese gamelan ensemble, flute, marimba, cello, keyboard, female vocalist
Media
kyma computer music system
i-cube interactive sensor system
max/msp programming environment
videodelic interactive video system
wayang kulit (shadow puppets)
3 digital cameras and data projectors
KAM is a shadow play with video installation, musicians, and
interactive sound and movement based on the play Ki Ageng Mangir by Indonesian
author and political dissident, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Movement, shadow puppets,
and music are able to interact with the use of several computer-based hardware-software
programs: Kyma DSP Composition System, I-Cube Sensor System, MAX Object Oriented
Programming for MIDI, and Videodelic interactive live video.
In combining traditional Javanese and contemporary Western art forms, KAM attempts
to mirror the cyclical nature of current and past sociopolitical dynamics in
Indonesia. Today, through modern information and communication systems, political
censorship is becoming increasingly ineffective and previous models of social
rule violently collide with a rapidly evolving public demand for political change
and open society. In attempting to maintain political power, Javanese rulers
throughout their history have used the shadow puppet play as a tool of propaganda.
kaM provides a modern glimpse into this intriguing world of shadows, corruption,
and political power.
The composer has met with Toer on two occasions (1996 and 1997) in Jakarta to
discuss this play and his projections on the future of his country. The play
is a retelling of a sixteenth-century Javanese conflict, but the situations
in Toer’s adaptation are quite current. Individual recordings have been
made of the gamelan sekaten instruments in Surakarta, Java dating from the 16th
century, and analysis/resynthesis of their timbral spectra have been performed
using the Kyma system. The resultant timbres then served as the basis for the
construction of many of the vertical sonorities used in the composition. Original
shadow puppets of the characters in the play have been created in Java for this
production as well. The text is spoken and sung in English with occasional sections
in Bahasa Indonesian.
The video installation creates visual bridges between the traditional and contemporary
and the shadow and physical worlds. Shadow puppets and music interact with the
use of Kyma, Eyecon infrared motion capture system, and Isadora video processing
program. KAM was most recently featured as concluding performance at the Society
of Ethnomusicology 50th International Conference in Atlanta in 2005.
Ladrang Kampung from KAM was performed at ICMC2003 in Singapore and has been
recorded by Gamelan Asmårådånå of Singapore on their
CD Fusion Gamelan, with dizi (Chinese flute) solo.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer was imprisoned as an Indonesian political dissident
for fourteen years where he created a series of novels and this play without
the use of pen or paper. Four of these novels, Buru Quartet, have been twice
nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and are currently banned in Indonesia.
Toer has been under house arrest in Jakarta since his release from prison in
1979.
Steve Everett is artistic director of Thamyris New Music Ensemble and
professor of music at Emory University in Atlanta where he directs the computer
music studio and the Javanese gamelan ensemble and teaches composition and Asian
music.
Funding support for the creation and production of this work has been provided
by:
Rockefeller Foundation
Bogliasco Foundation
Asian Cultural Council
Chamber Music America Performance Fund
City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs–Mayor’s Fellowship
Fulton County Arts Council Award performance funding
Dekalb County Arts Council Award
Emory University International Travel Award
Contact:
Steve Everett
Department of Music
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
USA
tel. 404.727.7937
gsevere@emory.edu
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