Podcasts

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Visiting East Java

with Gillian Roberts

East Java has its own colourful and vigorous musical and dance styles which arise from village traditions rather than the pomp and glitter of the Central Javanese courts.

Dancer and teacher Gillian Roberts has visited East Java on a number of occasions to study at the Padhepokan Seni Mangun Darma (PSMD) a unique arts centre located near the city of Malang in East Java.

During the podcast Gillian talks a little about the centre and some of the East Javanese dances she studied there.

Click on the link below to play or download the podcast.

Play podcast
Size 26.5mb
playing time 28 minutes 55 seconds

Music

The music included in the podcast is two short extracts from 'Panji Reni' a wayang topeng performance at the Padhepokan Seni Mangun Darma with dhalang M. Soleh Adi Pramono and pesindhen Elizabeth Sekar Arum.

The Padhepokan Seni Mangun Dharma is dedicated to fostering and preserving local village traditional art forms including masked dance, puppetry, trance dancing and sung poetry and crafts such as mask carving, costume making and batik.

As well as training local young people the centre sponsors students to study for degrees or masters and welcomes visitors from outside Java including research students.

For more information on the centre and its activities visit their website:

Padhepokan Seni Mangun Dharma

See also Gillian Roberts' article, 'A House in Java' available to download in pdf format.

This article originally appeared in Seleh Notes Volume 7 Number 1, November 1999.