admin1-6 July 2024
The Decolonizing Southeast Asian Sound Archives consortium gathered for the third and last time in Bali on 1-6 July 2024. This year’s workshop is organized by DeCoSEAS project partner Citra Research Centre.
On Days 1 and 2 of the workshop, the team had listening sessions including: F. Landa Jocano’s recordings of the Hinilawod epic chant stored at the UP Center for Ethnomusicology; Citra Aryandari and Amabilita Shafaswara’s research on the 20th-century Javanese singing scrolls; Sri Margana’s research on the recordings of Raden Mas Jodjana at the Lautarchiv der Humboldt Universität; Emily Clark’s work on Gamelan in Suriname; Anas Ghrab’s work with AI to reduce noise in digitized audio from historical recording; Dominggus Elcid Li’s efforts to connect the Jaap Kunst recordings with source community in Kupang (among others).
The 2024 DeCoSEAS SEA-SEA fellows reported on their research stays in the partner archival institutions. Indonesian composer Gardikah Gigi spent three months at the UP Center for Ethnomusicology. Malaysian researcher Zikri Rahman worked on the popular music collection at Irama Nusantara. Singaporean researcher Jarrod Sim shared his work with the Eurasian music history at the Penang House of Music. The fellowship reports can be accessed on the DeCoSEAS website.
The consortium also collectively worked on the DeCoSEAS website updates (www.decoseas.org). New features will be rolled out in the last quarter of 2024 – so please watch out! We also discussed our forthcoming collected volume entitled Decolonizing Southeast Asian Archives Sonic Geopolitics, Entanglements, and Epistemologies (working title). We capped the evening with a Balinese dance workshop!
On Day 3 of the workshop, The DeCoSEAS team visited the Bali 1928 Archives at STIKOM-Bali. The consortium had a discussion with Mas Made Marlowe Bandem and Dr. Edward Herbst. We were in awe to learn about their repatriation projects and their continued effort to reconnect the historical sound and music recordings with source communities in Bali. We also learned a lot from their work on the ground and look forward to future collaborations. During the event, DeCoSEAS project leader meLê yamomo introduced the decolonizing sound archive work to the university and archive staff. We are also discussing the possibility of digital repatriation of the Jaap Kunst 1924 recordings in Bali.
On Day 4 of the DeCoSEAS Workshop in Bali, the consortium was welcomed by Vice Rector I Komang Sudirga at the Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Denpasar-Bali. Project leader, meLê yamomo introduced the DeCoSEAS project to the faculty, staff, and students of ISI-Bali. Anas Ghrab and Josephine Simonnot presented the pratinada.net website. Prof. Dr. I Komang Sudirga gave dr. yamomo a trophy as a symbol of future cooperation.
In the afternoon, DeCoSEAS members attended the Pesta Kesenian Bali XLVI (Bali Festival of the Arts) 2024.
On Day 5, the consortium visited the old palace and museum of the Klungkung Regency (kabupaten) and the Living Archive village of Tenganan Pegingsingan.
