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Copyright Michael N Meyer 2002-2023

 


Bali, Indonesia: Rindik being played at Warung Billy's D'Esa. We stopped here for lunch on our way to Ulun Danu Beratan Temple. December 2019

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Bali, Indonesia: Monks drumming in the Ubud Monkey Forest outside of the Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal temple. December 2019

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Tzfat, Israel: As we were walking out of the market street in Sefad, we encountered the joyous procession of a Bar Mitzvah proceeding through the streets. It sounded like a good time was being had by all. September 2018.

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Washington, DC: As we came to the end of our tour of the The Hirschhorn's Kusama Show, curator Mika Yoshitake sat down at the worn piano in "The Obliteration Room" and played a few bars. May 2017.

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East London, South Africa: This is a snippet of a cultural performance I went to in East London, South Africa while on a study abroad program in that country 15+ years ago. I present it here without any interpretive bias--one might as easily listen to it simply as a musical performance or criticize various problematic cultural aspects of my recording and publishing of it. March 2001

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Mexico City: Walking through Mexico City recently, Ji and I came upon what at first sounded like a drumming circle--like what forms in Prospect Park here in Brooklyn most weekends. Getting closer, it became clear that the drumming was part of a larger happening. At its center was a mandala like offering, surrounded by drummers surrounded again by dancers in a varying mixture of indigenous costumes. While there were spectators, the performance was clearly independent of them. It was more like a religious service. It made me think of the performance I saw in South Africa over fifteen years ago and consider questions of cross-cultural understanding: How do I as an outsider understand this? Is this "real"? What does that question even mean? What biases am I bringing to my experience? What biases do I create or confirm in sharing this experience? Why does that tourist manically taking hundreds of photographs make me feel uncomfortable? Why can't I just enjoy this for the sensory experience that it is? February 2017

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