Java Tour, July 2018!

We’re launching our new project, Akar, with a tour of Java featuring crankies, storytelling, songs, and international collaborators.

Beyond the simple pleasure of of performing beautiful music and shadow theater, Rumput’s mission has been intercultural communion through study and collaboration. Last year we traveled to Java on the extraordinary opportunity of an invited 12-day residency. The timing lined up fortuitously with Andy’s academic research in Bali and the departure of three of our members for a year of intensive study in Java — Hannah on a Fulbright scholarship to study keroncong, Natalie on a Darmasiswa scholarship to study gamelan, and Edward on a Darmasiswa to study wayang (shadow puppetry). We got to escort them overseas, play music together, immerse ourselves in the local culture, and collaborate with enormously talented Javanese musicians.

This summer we’re mounting a similar journey on the other end of our scholars’ study year. But this time we’re traveling on our own steam, with our own agenda, rather than on a sponsored, curated, and all-expenses-paid trip. This will enable us to dig deeper into the highly localized cultures of several Indonesian cities.

Detail from Beth Reid’s “Brer Rabbit” crankie. Photo by Robert Parrish.

Richmond International Film Festival

RIFF Music Fest is an international competitive festival with 65 local, national and international bands selected to perform at venues around Richmond over 5 days concurrent with RIFF’s film festival. A week full of great performances, industry panels, industry think tanks, RIFF jam sessions, and a platform for filmmakers and musicians to network and forge new working relationships.

Rumput will play the World & Americana Music Showcase at the Hof Garden along with Rawan Chaya (Lebanon) and Ezra Vancil (Dallas TX).

See the festival guide for a full schedule.

Origami in the Garden @ Ginter Botanical Gardens

http://www.lewisginter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Box-Pony-1250-400.jpgRumput will provide music for a special preview of the new origami sculpture exhibit for friends-level members at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

Activities:

  • Artist Talk: Kevin and Jennifer Box in the Auditorium 6-6:30 p.m.
  • Rumput musical performance in the Cochrane Rose Garden
  • Crane folding with RVA Origami in the Lora Robins Library
  • Fold & Float Boats at the Conservatory
  • Garden Shop extended hours until 7 p.m.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase from Meriwether Godsey.

 

Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog w/ Rumput and Maria Chavez

NOTE: This show was canceled due to illness!


Image may contain: 3 people, people smilingRumput is thrilled to open for Ceramic Dog. Get there promptly to catch us!

DJ and sound artist Maria Chavez will perform at the after party.

“Guitarist Marc Ribot’s wildest project doesn’t mess around. The guitar legend, with bassist Shahzad Ismaily, and drummer Ches Smith, merges funk backbeats with the taut chaos of Sonic Youth and flashes of Woodstock Santana.”
(NY Magazine, 2018)

Image result for maria chavezBorn in Lima, Peru, Maria Chavez is known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist and DJ. Accidents, coincidence and failures are themes that unite her sound sculptures, installations and other works with her solo turntable performance practice.

Refugees Welcome: Music for a Better World

The William & Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble

featuring guest artists:

Imad Al Taha
Iraqi violinist, arranger, composer

Danis Sugiyanto
Fulbright artist and teacher-in-residence from
Central Java, Indonesia,

with Richmond-based musicians
Gamelan Raga Kusuma and Rumput

Postscript: Watch our version of Tombo Ati, shot and posted by an audience member!

Sounding Out Indonesian Music conference @ Cornell University

Kroncong by Rumput, plus music composed and improvised by Andrew Timar, CAGE, and Szkieve.

The Cornell Modern Indonesia Project brings together some forty participants from the US, Canada, and Indonesia, to sound out the state of Indonesian music, both as a subject of scholarly inquiry, and as an artistic practice pursued within and beyond Indonesia. Those who work primarily as scholars of Indonesian music, mostly within the field of ethnomusicology, will be joined by others from in, around, and outside academia who work primarily as practitioners: as performers, composers, ensemble directors, and promoters. The mix of paper presentations, roundtables, and performances will build on the overlap and connections between these constituencies, whose priorities and attentions may differ but who fundamentally share a common cause.