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A Brief History
From its very first teaching programs in San Francisco in 1963, the Center for World Music was inspired to high standards in music and dance by its first two artist/teachers, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and the legendary Indian dancer, Balasaraswati. For sixteen years the Center sponsored hundreds of concerts, introduced many prominent Asian artists and companies through national tours, and was instrumental in creating the rich mix of world performing arts activities in the Bay Area by training hundreds of American students. Many of them are now leaders in their fields. At its height in the mid-1970s, the Center had no fewer than forty-five artists in residence, many from India and Indonesia, two areas of specialty that have remained through the years. The Center moved its headquarters to San Diego in 1979, and continues on a smaller scale its long tradition of sponsoring leading performers in concert. It continues to provide instruction by accomplished teachers in music, dance and theater, mainly from Asia, but also including--as its name indicates--a range encompassing Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America. In San Diego, the Center has funded projects with the local Indian, Persian, Hmong, Chicano, and Filipino communities. Beginning in 1971, the Center began to organize summer study abroad for American students. In recent years the programs have been held at Flower Mountain in Payangan, Bali, using facilities built for that purpose by the Center's founder and former president, the late Dr. Robert E. Brown. These performance study programs are sometimes given in cooperation with an Indonesian foundation, the Center for Traditional Arts of the World (SenDuTra), whose officers consist largely of artists who have taught in the past for the Center for World Music in the United States. Since 1976, yearly cultural tours to Indonesia have been offered, with emphasis on the performing arts. Cultural tours have also been offered in India and Turkey. In the year 2000, the Center hosted at Flower Mountain a group of students of the performing arts from the University of Illinois, led by Dr. Charles Capwell. They were followed by a group of experienced gamelan players from UCLA and California Institute of the Arts, together with the professional tap dance group, Rhapsody in Taps, all led by SenDuTra president Dr. Nyoman Wenten. Also participating in Center-sponsored events at Flower Mountain were a group of teachers from the Center's World Music in the Schools program in San Diego and an undergraduate drama group from Hartwick College in upstate New York. The Center for World Music's Artist in Residence for 2002 was again I Nyoman Sumandhi, who first taught for the Center in 1972, and who two years ago taught Balinese music, dance, and theater here for the Center with his wife, Ni Putu Sutiati. Sumandhi returned for concerts and workshops, and to continue work with World Music in the Schools, a program that is attempting to develop new ways of presenting world arts and culture to children, mainly at the elementary and middle school levels. In November of 2005, we were saddened by the passing away of Dr. Robert E. Brown, our longtime president. Bob's presence and inspiration will be sorely missed by the Center and the world music community. An obituary may be found here; see also the Wikipedia article on Bob's contribution.
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Note on the Center's History
Modified: September 6, 2008 |
