Performing arts in postmodern Bali

This collection of articles covers recent phenomena in the revival and modernization of a broad variety of Balinese performing arts in both old and new contexts, seen through a postmodern lens. The only one of its kind in more than a decade, this collection brings together authors from five continents, all of them experts in the ethnomusicological study of Balinese performing arts. For as long as Balinese performing arts development is documented, outside and inside trends have always been incorporated into existing music and dance traditions. Sometimes such new creations have evolved into new genres, supplanting older forms. Others have quickly died out again, or led to a revival of preceding genres. Contributors to this volume investigate how Balinese tradition is interpreted and re-interpreted through this constant change, and in which ways Balinese artists reflect upon what is 'Balinese' in postmodern times. The Authors and their Contributions: Kendra Stepputat: Introduction Lisa Gold: Time and Place Conflated – Zaman dulu (a Bygone Era) and an Ecological Approach to Change in Balinese Shadow Play Music Kendra Stepputat: Using Different Keys – Dalang Made Sidia’s Contemporary Approach to Traditional Balinese Performing Arts I Wayan Dibia: Topeng – Masked Dance Theatre in Globalized Bali Sonja Downing: Strategies of Modernity and Traditionalism in Women’s Gamelans I Wayan Sudirana: Borrowing, Stealing, Transforming – Cross-cultural Influences in Balinese Neo-Traditional Composition Mashino Ako: Between Classic and Modern – The Aesthetic and Social Evolution of Balinese Arja from the 1990s to the 2010s Made Mantle Hood: Finding Your ‘Gedig’ – Revivalism in Balinese Improvised Paired Drumming David Harnish: Between Traditionalism and Postmodernism – The Balinese Performing Arts Institution, Çudamani Sarah Weiss: Perspectives on Balinese Authenticities – Sanggar Çudamani’s Odalan Bali Christopher J. Miller: A Different Kind of Modernism – The Sound Exploration of Pande Made Sukerta Andy McGraw: The Ethical-Aesthetics of I Wayan Sadra (1953 – 2011) Michael Bakan: Italian Cinema and the Balinese Sound of Greek Tragedy – Kecak Contortions and Postmodern Schizophonic Mimesis in Pasolini and Fellini