Javanese singer/composer Peni Candra Rini is a transnational, transcultural, transcendent treasure. On some of the world's biggest stages - in New York City, Paris and London-and iconic festivals from Edinburgh International to the recent Big Ears in Knoxville, her compositions and singing have bridged musical divides with message-infused beauty.
Last September, she performed her works on the University of Richmond's Modlin Center stage with the renowned Kronos Quartet. This weekend in Richmond she will debut one of her most ambitious works: "Jiwa Kala" ("Soul Life") combines gamelan and western chamber music, traditional dance, shadow puppetry, and Candra Rini's music and powerful, pure vocals into an encompassing plea for ecological healing.
In more recent months, Candra Rini and her longtime collaborator Professor Andy McGraw, chair of the music department at UR, have toured behind a score for "Setan Jawa," a 2018 black-and-white silent film (inspired by "Nosferatu") from leading Javanese filmmaker Garin Nugroho. McGraw says they've done performances at The Smithsonian, at the PS21 Chatham Festival in New York, Wesleyan University, Louisiana State University, Emory University and William & Mary. "I think we will do it in Richmond next year," he adds.
A word from the king
This weekend's program, however, launches a new project. The heart of the program is a collaboration between Candra Rini and Mangkunegara X, the tenth king of a small princely state arching from Surakarta, a major city in central Java. The king, who will be attending along with the Indonesian ambassador and giving remarks during the UR performance, wants to revitalize his palace's support of the traditional and contemporary arts.
"The Mangkunegara court has been an important patron of the arts for centuries," says McGraw. "Much of the modern gamelan tradition originates from this court. While there are multiple kingdoms in Java [the result of colonial divide and conquer policies], artists consistently identify this one as the most culturally significant."
Also taking part are court dancers on a rare trip outside their homeland, led by renowned choreographer and matriarch of traditional dancers, Rusini Hendro Purnomo Sidi (listed as Rusini in the program). A still energetic 76 years old, she has a featured role as the goddess of the sea. Her protégé, Fransiska Yunita Alfiandri, is also featured as the matriarch of court dancers, as is dancer, composer and puppeteer, I Gusti Putu Sudarta, a frequent collaborator of Candra Rini in her local performances, and the co-founder with McGraw of the university's Gamelan Raga Kusuma. UR Pianist Joanne Lan-Funn Kong and her frequent partner, University of New Mexico Assistant Professor Christoph Wagner, will provide the western chamber colors in two additional cross-cultural compositions.
Longtime partnership
The self-effacing McGraw is the local hero of this program. A percussionist and ethnomusicologist, McGraw first met Candra Rini during his doctoral fieldwork in Java during the early years of the century. At the time, she was only 19, a singer from a rural fishing village trying to escape the constraints for women imposed by conservative Islamic culture. It was the start of a long, globe-spanning, critically lauded association. He describes his role as her court musician, suggesting ideas and using their RVA bands Rumput and the gamelan ensemble as a laboratory to flesh out ideas.
As a department head in a supportive school, single-handed achievement has less career impact. "Creative work, at its best, is collaborative," McGraw says. "Institutions often emphasize individual authorship; you get half as much credit if you cowrite a book or symphony. This doesn't reflect the way that artists actually create. Much of my most meaningful work has grown from shared experimentation, [serendipitous] mis-hearings and collective play."
But the dominant voice is Candra Rini. In her homeland, she has been a transformative figure who embraces and champions her heritage while defying the limited expectations for women in a profoundly paternalistic society. The Kronos Quartet describes her as "one of the world's greatest singers," and she uses that voice to the full extent of its possibilities, from floating above the rigorous polyrhythms of gamelan to soaring unpredictability with avant-garde improvisors. Now she is embarking on the next phase of her creative life.
A new phase
Candra Rini says she has retired from her university position. "Now I am focused fully on composing and performing, collaborating internationally and working outside institutional bureaucracy," she says. "I enjoy education and will continue my involvement through residencies, performances and mentorship rather than formal academic structures."
Being able to communicate across the vast divides of culture is a vanishingly rare talent. This is music from almost exactly half a world away. The lyrics are poetry in a foreign language, evoking unfamiliar myths and writing in rhythms and meters whose deep significance can be lost on a Western audience. The staging promises to be immersive, with gamelan instruments in the balcony and students making frog noises scattered around the room. The subject is the fate of our shared planet. However alien and dense the creative thicket containing the message, the soul of the music should shine through.
Peni Candra Rini presents "Jiwa Kala" at Camp Concert Hall in the University of Richmond's Modlin Center at 7:30 p.m on Sunday, April 19. $45.