Synopses & Reviews
This book examines the ways in which the urban aristocratic Sundanese of West Java recall the rural past of their ancestors through performances of the tembang Sunda ensemble (voice, zithers, and bamboo flute). This is the first book on Indonesian music that focuses on a non-gamelan ensemble as well as the first book to highlight Sundanese cosmological and cultural practices through an examination of musical performance. It reveals some of the musical tensions and points of connection between men and women, rural people and urbanites, and the classes. Illustrated with photographs and brief musical examples, this book also includes a CD.
Review
"
The Sound of the Ancestral Ship is a wonderful and evocative ethnography of an important musical genre from a part of Indonesia that has long been overshadowed by the traditions of neighboring Central Java. Williams's description of
tembang Sunda in present-day Bandung combines the bird's-eye view of an outsider with the detailed experience of a participant observer. In the process, we get to see a well-rounded ethnomusicologist at work as she analyzes musical structures at the same time she explores both historical roots and core cultural metaphors of cosmological significance. An important contribution to the field, this study will be of value not only to those interested in Southeast Asian musical traditions, but also to anyone interested in the practice of fieldwork, music pedagogy, the musical construction of gender, and especially, process of musical urbanization."--
NOTESDescription
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.