Born in Malaysia, 曹格 (Gary Cao, Cao Ge) did not intend on becoming a singer but considered becoming a teacher or landing a stereotypical job. It was only after listening to “Superwoman” whilst studying in Canada at nine years of age, that he began to be interested in music.
In 2002 Chaw left his home in Malaysia to go to Taiwan with hopes of joining the entertainment show business. He purchased a one-way plane ticket and brought with him only around RM1,600 (about HK$4,000). He tried to get into numerous record companies who criticised him harshly for being ugly and lacking talent. After many failures Chaw became an alcoholic, battled insomnia, unemployment, suffered from severe depression, loss of friends and confidence.He soon hit rock bottom.
One day he went out to Shilin Night Market and stumbled across a homeless cat with no owner. He took this cat home and raised it since they both were unwanted by society. He named it “Lin Lin” and wrote a song for the cat “The world’s only you” (世界唯一的你). From then on, his career completely changed. After three years of hard work, he signed with Rock Records.
After his move to Taiwan, he began composing his own songs, which were eventually well-accepted, not without hardships however. Many music producers criticized his style of music, stating that no artist would sing his songs. After monitoring the movement of various music styles, he slowly moved from a very western R&B style to what is now a mix of R&B and oriental style of music.He once commented during the course of music creation: “I started writing music because I wanted to sing songs that are beautiful and nice.”
Calling Back the Spirit: Music, Dance, and Cultural Politics in Lowland South Sulawesi
by R. Anderson Sutton
Oxford University Press, 2002
Calling Back the Spirit describes how, in the face of Indonesian and foreign cultural pressures, the Makassarese people of South Sulawesi are defending their local spirit through music and dance. The book examines the ways performers in this corner of Indonesia seek to empower local music and dance in a changing environment.
Colonial Counterpoint: Music in Early Modern Manila
by D.R.M. Irving
Oxford University Press, 2010
In this groundbreaking study, D. R. M. Irving reconnects the Philippines to current musicological discourse on the early modern Hispanic world. For some two and a half centuries, the Philippine Islands were firmly interlinked to Latin America and Spain through transoceanic relationships of politics, religion, trade, and culture. The city of Manila, founded in 1571, represented a vital intercultural nexus and a significant conduit for the regional diffusion of Western music. Within its ethnically diverse society, imported and local musics played a crucial role in the establishment of ecclesiastical hierarchies in the Philippines and in propelling the work of Roman Catholic missionaries in neighboring territories. Manila’s religious institutions resounded with sumptuous vocal and instrumental performances, while an annual calendar of festivities brought together many musical traditions of the indigenous and immigrant populations in complex forms of artistic interaction and opposition.
Multiple styles and genres coexisted according to strict regulations enforced by state and ecclesiastical authorities, and Irving uses the metaphors of European counterpoint and enharmony to critique musical practices within the colonial milieu. He argues that the introduction and institutionalization of counterpoint acted as a powerful agent of colonialism throughout the Philippine Archipelago, and that contrapuntal structures were reflected in the social and cultural reorganization of Filipino communities under Spanish rule. He also contends that the active appropriation of music and dance by the indigenous population constituted a significant contribution to the process of hispanization. Sustained “enharmonic engagement” between Filipinos and Spaniards led to the synthesis of hybrid, syncretic genres and the emergence of performance styles that could contest and subvert hegemony. Throwing new light on a virtually unknown area of music history, this book contributes to current understanding of the globalization of music, and repositions the Philippines at the frontiers of research into early modern intercultural exchange.
I Will Send My Song: Kammu Vocal Genres in the Singing of Kam Raw
by Hakan Lundstrom
University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2007
An ethnomusical presentation of one person’s vocal performance of rather highly varied sets of words, manners of performance, and the use of these competences in communication with other singers. Although this orally transmitted form of singing is unique to the Kammu of northern Laos, it is related to a much larger complex in Southeast Asia and thus will be of interest to a wide group of musicologists.
Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam
edited by Barley Norton
University of Illinois Press, 2009
Songs for the Spirits examines the Vietnamese practice of communing with spirits through music and performance. During rituals dedicated to a pantheon of indigenous spirits, musicians perform an elaborate sequence of songs–a “songscape”–for possessed mediums who carry out ritual actions, distribute blessed gifts to disciples, and dance to the music’s infectious rhythms. Condemned by French authorities in the colonial period and prohibited by the Vietnamese Communist Party in the late 1950s, mediumship practices have undergone a strong resurgence since the early 1990s, and they are now being drawn upon to promote national identity and cultural heritage through folklorized performances of rituals on the national and international stage.
By tracing the historical trajectory of traditional music and religion since the early twentieth century, this groundbreaking study offers an intriguing account of the political transformation and modernization of cultural practices over a period of dramatic and often turbulent transition. An accompanying DVD contains numerous video and music extracts that illustrate the fascinating ways in which music evokes the embodied presence of spirits and their gender and ethnic identities.
Thai Classical Singing: Its History, Musical Characteristics, and Transmission
by Douglas Ezzy
Ashgate Publishing, 2003
Thai classical singing is a genre that blossomed during the golden age of music in the royal court at Bangkok during the nineteenth century. It took a variety of forms including unaccompanied songs used for narration in plays, instrumental music that was used to accompany mimed actions, and songs of entertainment accompanied by an instrumental ensemble. Today, Thai classical singing is found widely outside the court, and its influence is evident in many traditional songs.
This book is the first in English to provide a detailed study of Thai classical singing. Dusadee Swangviboonpong discusses the historical background to this long-established genre, the vocal techniques that it employs, the contexts in which it is performed, the degree of improvisation that performers use, the setting of texts and the methods used to teach the songs. Teaching methods still tend to focus on oral transmission, although there have been recent attempts by the Thai authorities to standardize the way singing is taught and practised. These controls are, argues the author, a threat to the the variety in style and approach that has characterised this music and kept it alive.
The book features transcriptions of Thai classical songs and a glossary of Thai terms, so making it a useful introduction to the genre.
Trịnh Công Sơn (February 28, 1939 – April 1, 2001) was a Vietnamese composer, musician, painter and songwriter. He, along with Phạm Duy and Văn Cao, is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern Vietnamese music.
Trịnh Công Sơn wrote over 600 songs, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Joan Baez dubbed him the Bob Dylan of Vietnam for his moving antiwar songs. He became one of South Vietnam’s best-known singer-songwriters, after his first hit, Ướt mi (Tearing ‘Lashes) in 1957. He was frequently under pressure from the government, which was displeased with the pacifist’s lyrics of such songs as Ngủ đi con (Lullaby, about a mother grieving for her soldier son). His songs were restricted by the South Vietnamese government. After the reunification in 1975, Son was sentenced by the new communist government, to “retraining” in a labour camp after his family fled to Canada. However, he was eventually honoured by the government and many officials sent their respects with floral tributes. His often melancholy songs about love and postwar reconciliation earned new acceptance and popularity in later years.
There are two singers’ names often associated with Trịnh Công Sơn: Khánh Ly and Hồng Nhung. -last.fm
Watch the 10 year anniversary performance celebrating the life of Trịnh Công Sơn below:
by Michael Hitchcock, Victor T. King (Editor), Michael Parnwell (Editor)
University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2010
This book examines heritage tourism across the Southeast Asian region from different disciplinary perspectives. With material that is new and topical, it makes an important contribution to the fields of tourism studies, cultural studies, development and planning studies, and beyond. Set against a backdrop of the demands, motivations and impacts of heritage tourism, the volume focuses on disputes and conflicts over what heritage is, what it means, and how it has been presented, re-presented, developed and protected. It examines the actors involved in encounters and contestation, drawing in issues of identity construction and negotiation, and requiring the contextualization of heritage in national and global processes of identity formation and transformation. Among the questions touched upon are the ownership of heritage, its appropriate use, access to it versus conservation needs, heritage as a commodity, as entertainment and as an educational medium.
The Anxieties of Mobility: Migration and Tourism in the Indonesian Borderlands
by Johan A. Lindquist
University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2008
Since the late 1960s the Indonesian island of Batam has been transformed from a sleepy fishing village to a booming frontier town, where foreign investment, mostly from neighboring Singapore, converges with inexpensive land and labor. Indonesian female migrants dominate the island’s economic landscape both as factory workers and as prostitutes servicing working class tourists from Singapore. Indonesians also move across the border in search of work in Malaysia and Singapore as plantation and construction workers or maids.
Export processing zones such as Batam are both celebrated and vilified in contemporary debates on economic globalization. The Anxieties of Mobility moves beyond these dichotomies to explore the experiences of migrants and tourists who pass through Batam. Johan Lindquist’s extensive fieldwork allows him to portray globalization in terms of relationships that bind individuals together over long distances rather than as a series of impersonal economic transactions. He offers a unique ethnographic perspective, drawing together the worlds of factory workers and prostitutes, migrants and tourists, and creating a compelling account of everyday life in a borderland characterized by dramatic capitalist expansion.
The book uses three Indonesian concepts (merantau, malu, liar) to shed light on the mobility of migrants and tourists on Batam. The first refers to a person’s relationship with home while in the process of migration. The second signifies the shame or embarrassment felt when one is between accepted roles and emotional states. The third, liar, literally means “wild” and is used to identify those who are out of place, notably squatters, couples in premarital cohabitation, and prostitutes without pimps. These sometimes overlapping concepts allow the book to move across geographical and metaphorical boundaries and between various economies.
Tourism in Southeast Asia: Challenges and New Directions
edited by Michael Hitchcock, Victor T. King, Michael Parnwell
University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2009
Tourism in Southeast Asia provides an up-to-date exploration of the state of tourism development and associated issues in one of the world’s most dynamic tourism destinations. The volume takes a close look at many of the challenges facing Southeast Asian tourism at a critical stage of transition and transformation and following a recent series of crises and disasters. Building on and advancing the path-breaking Tourism in South-East Asia, produced by the same editors in 1993, it adopts a multidisciplinary approach and includes contributions from some of the leading researchers on tourism in Southeast Asia, presenting a number of fresh perspectives.
Travels In The Skin Trade: Tourism and the Sex Industry
by Jeremy Seabrook
Pluto Press, 2001
This updated version of Jeremy Seabrook’s highly acclaimed book Travels in the Skin Trade contains a new preface, highlighting the current issues surrounding sex tourism in Thailand. Press coverage of the sex trade routinely consists of ill-informed, moralising and sensationalist denunciations of the “industry”. Through the words of sex workers and their clients, distinguished journalist and writer Seabrook reconsiders the popular conception of the sex industry and explores the complex relationship between sex and tourism. In so doing he presents an objective, unmoralizing and sensitive view of the industry. Through its examination of the many paradoxes surrounding this controversial subject, Travels in the Skin Trade also sheds new light on the wider and problematic relationship between the North and the South.
FOURTH ANNUAL FILIPINO FILM FESTIVAL | THE DORIS DUKE THEATRE
Fourth Annual Filipino Film Festival
April 21-29 2012
Celebrate Filipino film making and culture with six of the best new films from acclaimed and emerging Filipino directors.
Many thanks to Dr. May Ablan and the Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii for sponsoring this festival, Vicky D. Belarmino, Arts Officer and Film Archivist of the CCP Media Arts Division and the Assistant Festival Coordinator for Cinemalaya.
Opening night reception: Apr. 21, 6-7:30pm
Enjoy Pinoy bento and wine for purchase. Screening at 7:30pm. Tickets: $15, $12 museum members. Click here to purchase tickets in advance and guarantee your seat.
Festival pass: $50, $45 museum members; Includes all 6 screenings. Tickets for opening night on Apr. 21 must be purchased separately. Click here to purchase a pass online
Related programming: Spotlight Tours – Highlights of Filipino Art
Apr. 24 – 28 at 1:30pm
No reservation required. Free with museum admission.
DANCE OF MY LIFE
Hawai‘i Premiere | DANCE OF MY LIFE
Directed by Lydia Benitez-Brown, Philippines/USA, 2011, 75 mins., Filipino
Apr. 21 1 + 7:30pm
Apr. 26 at 1pm
Portuguese and English with English subtitles, Hawai‘i premiere.
Icon Bessie Badilla was the first Filipina to become Carnival Queen in Brazil. This film traces her journey from a humble childhood in the Philippines, to success as an international supermodel, and to her life as a Connecticut wife and mother. Official selection: Chicago Filipino American Film Festival.
Opening night reception: Apr. 21 6-7:30pm. Screening at 7:30pm. Purchase tickets here
DANCE OF THE TWO LEFT FEET
DANCE OF THE TWO LEFT FEET
Directed by Alvin Yapan, Philippines, 2011, 85 mins., in Filipino with English subtitles
Apr. 22 at 1, 4 + 7:30pm
To impress his literature teacher, who moonlights as a dance teacher and choreographer, Marlon hires a classmate to give him private dance lessons. A unique love triangle unfolds set to Filipino poetry intertwined with haunting music and stunning choreography. Official Selection: Hawaii International Film Festival. Winner: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Cinemalaya.
TEORIYA
Hawai‘i Premiere | TEORIYA
Directed by Zurich Chan, Philippines, 2011, 100 mins, in Filipino, Chavacano, Cebuano with English subtitles
Apr. 24 at 1 + 7:30pm
Apr. 29 at 1pm
After hearing the news that his estranged father has passed away, Jimmuel Apostol II goes home to Zamboanga City for the first time in a decade. He arrives to find that his father left him a piece of land, a rundown car, a diary and no clue as to his burial place. As he searches for his father’s grave, he discovers his secrets and finds meaning in his own life. Official Selection: Cinemalaya
PINTAKASI
Hawai‘i Premiere | PINTAKASI
Directed by Nelson Caguila, Lee Meily, Philippines, 2011, 72 mins., in Filipino with English subtitles
Apr. 25 at 1 + 7:30pm
Apr. 27 at 9pm following ARTafterDARK
In this urban hip-hop fairy tale, aspiring graffiti artist DJ moves to a big city “garbage island” to practice his craft. After joining a local gang, he falls afoul of their leader. The ensuing results in a multimedia “pintakasi” or human cockfight of artists, rappers, dancers, and thugs. Featuring award-winning hip-hop dance group Philippine All-Stars. Winner: Best Film, New Wave Section, Metro Manila Film Festival
THE GIFT OF BARONG: A JOURNEY FROM WITHIN
Hawai‘i Premiere | THE GIFT OF BARONG: A JOURNEY FROM WITHIN
Directed by Benito Bautista, USA/Philippines, 2006, 88 mins., in Filipino and English with English subtitles
April 26 + 29 at 7:30pm, April 27 at 1pm, April 29 at 4pm
In this poignant documentary, two Filipino-American surfers from the Bay Area travel to the Philippines to immerse themselves in the culture, surf the islands, and rediscover their roots. More than a surf tale, the film is an exploration of cultural identity as it follows two men reconciling their Asian heritage with their American selves.
Official selection: Cinemanila International Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival, Chicago Filipino Film Festival. Winner: Best Cinematography, New York International Independent Film Festival
Director Benito Bautista will be in attendance to introduce the film before each screening and will lead q+a sessions afterwards.
BOUNDARY
Hawai‘i Premiere | BOUNDARY
Directed by Benito Bautista, Philippines, 2011, 110 min., in Filipino with English subtitles
Apr. 28 at 1, 4 + 7:30pm
A slick businessman takes cab, not knowing that the driver and two local gang members are conspiring to kidnap him. Their journey along the streets of Manila makes for an innovative, breathtaking thriller. Official Selection: Toronto International Film Festival. Winner: NETPAC Prize, Cinemalaya, Special Mention, Cinemanila
Director Benito Bautista will be in attendance to introduce the film before each screening and will lead q+a sessions afterwards
Plan Your Visit to the Doris Duke Theatre
Location
Honolulu Museum of Art | Doris Duke Theatre
900 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96814
The Theatre entrance is on Kinau Street, between Victoria Street and Ward Avenue.
Parking
• Art Center Lot, Victoria Street with entrances on Beretania and Young streets: Mon–Sat 7 am–11 pm, Sun 10 am–6 pm. The fee is $3 for every 4 hours with validation until 4pm, and $4 flat rate from 4pm until closing.
• 1035 Kinau Street Lot: (Diamond Head of the Admiral Thomas building) The lot is closed to the public 10am-4:30pm Monday to Friday. It is open to the public and free on weekends and from 4:30 to 11pm during the week.
• Street parking is available along Victoria Street
• Parking for persons with disabilities is available in the Luce Pavilion lot on Victoria Street; patrons using disabled access stalls should proceed to the main entrance on Kinau Street. There are two stalls, which are open on a first-come, first-served basis.
Getting here
Bus: The Academy is on the following bus lines; 1, 2, 13, B and 1L.
Car: On the H-1 freeway from Waikiki, take the Lunalilo St. exit and make a left at Ward Ave, and another left on Kinau Street. From downtown or the airport, take the Lusitana exit to Kinau Street.
Potato (Thai: โปเตโต้) is a Thai rock band. The band won numerous awards for their popularity in Thailand. They released their fourth album, Sense, in 2007, and their fifth, Circle, in 2008. Their latest album is Human, which was released in 2011.
Potato was formed by Peechanit Oan-Aari (Pee), Nantakrai Cham-Jaiharn (Note), Oranuch Tangdechavut (Nuch), and Suwatin Watthanawitukun (Bom). Potato’s original vocalist was Peechanit Oan-Aari (Pee) but he died on October 3, 2002. This led to the dissolving of the band, but Potato soon reunited in 2003. As of 2008, Potato has a new drummer named Kan Uamsupan (Kan) instead of Suwatin Watthanawitukun (Bom), who left the group after the recording of the “Sense” album but still makes occasional live appearances with the band. Potato’s current lineup includes Patchai “Pup” Pukdesusook (vocals), Piywawat “Ohm” Anukul (bass), and Kan Uamsupan (drums). The band’s last guitarist, Rattanapon “Win” Keng-Rean, left Potato in 2010 and a number of guitarists from other bands having substituted for him since. -wikipedia
Coming of Age: Women’s Colleges in the Philippines During the Post- Marcos Era
by Francesca Purcell
Routledge, 2005
In view of the increasing number of Third World countries considering the establishment of women’s colleges to meet the demand for the higher education of women, presenting a case study of two key women’s colleges in the Philippines. Within the context of global, national and local changes since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, academic and administrative leaders at two prestigious women’s colleges candidly discuss how their respective institutions adapted to their environments and how the colleges will fare in the future. Preferences for large, coeducational institutions; the emergence of less expensive tertiary institutions; and the downward spiral of a weak national economy combined to destabilized the enrollment base of these colleges. Factors unique to the Philippines including an increasing number of female overseas contract workers; struggles with national language preferences; and the growth of feminism also affected the colleges. In response, the colleges expanded their curricula, chose high-profile presidents, focused on faculty development, and acquired technology. Decision-markers at these colleges will have to continue in their efforts at solidifying their positions in the Philippine higher education system. The book that women’s colleges worldwide must articulate their unique purposes and collaborate with other institutions to strengthen their organizations.
Contested Democracy and The Left in the Philippines After Marcos
by Nathan Gilbert Quimpo
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2008
When people power toppled the dictator Marcos, the Philippines was considered a shining example of the restoration of democracy. Since 1986, however, the Philippines has endured continuing political and social unrest and encountered tremendous obstacles to the consolidation and deepening of democracy. Scholars have called post-Marcos Philippines an elite democracy, a cacique democracy, or a patrimonial oligarchic state.
In this volume, Nathan Gilbert Quimpo disputes such characterizations of democracy. He argues that the deepening of democracy in the country involves the transformation of an elite-dominated formal democracy into a participatory and egalitarian one. He focuses on emergent, democratically oriented, leftist parties and groups that seek to transform the formal democracy of the Philippines into a more substantial one and shows the difficulties they have encountered in fighting patronage politics. The complexity of the process to deepen democracy in the Philippines becomes evident from Quimpo s exploration of competing notions of democracy, contending versions of the civil society argument, and contending perspectives in governance.
Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism
by Albert F. Celoza
Praeger Publishers, 1997
Ferdinand Marcos came to power in the Philippines in a coup d?tat in 1972 and ruled absolutely, in the name of order, until his dramatic overthrow in February of 1986. This study examines how the authoritarian regime of Marcos remained in power, sometimes in the face of massive opposition, for 14 years. Repressive regimes may seem undesirable, but they are often able to elicit the support of significant sectors of society. Marcos was able to maintain authoritarian rule through the support of bureaucrats, businessmen, and the military–all with the assistance of the United States government. He maintained this network of support through a patron-client system with a centralized bureaucracy as its power and resource base. In order to reward his supporters, he expanded the authority of government. But to minimize the political cost of expansion, he maintained the legal and constitutional forms of democracy. The Philippine experience in despotism is not unique; many Third World countries are under authoritarian rule. This subtle and nuanced analysis, therefore, provides an examination of the levers of power available to absolute rulers, to better understand the political economy of authoritarianism.
The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era
by James K. Boyce
University of Hawai’i Press, 1993
The experience of the Philippines from the 1960s to the 1980s vividly illustrates the interplay between wealth and power in the course of economic development. During this period, the benefits of economic growth conspicuously failed to trickle down. Broad sectors of the Filipino people experienced deepening poverty. Professor Boyce traces this outcome to the country’s economic and political structure, and to the development strategies pursued by the Philippine government and its international backers. Impressive gains in rice production via the ‘green revolution’ failed to translate into less hunger. Profits from the country’s agricultural exports – sugar, coconut, banana, and pineapple – were concentrated in the hands of a few. Forestry exports triggered severe environmental degradation, the main victims of which were the poor. Massive external borrowing financed capital flight rather than productive investment, and left the country with a crushing foreign debt burden. The Philippine experience provides important insights into the political economy of development.
SPRING 2012 CSEAS SPEAKER SERIES
A Presentation by Donald Seekins, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Meio University, Okinawa, Japan.
Myanmar’s Old and New Capitals, Rangoon and Naypyidaw: a Slide Presentation
Location: Tokioka Room, Moore 319; UHM Friday, March 16, 12:00 P.M.
Précis:
In November 2005, Myanmar’s military government, the State Peace and Development Council, decreed the relocation of the country’s national capital from Rangoon (Yangon) to an entirely new city that was officially named Naypyidaw, or “the Abode of the King.” The new capital is starkly different from the old one. Rangoon is oriented toward the sea and served as the major port both during and after the British colonial period, linking Burma with global markets for raw material exports, especially rice; while Naypyidaw is located inland, much closer to Myanmar’s land borders with India, China and Thailand. Moreover, colonial Rangoon was a multi-ethnic, multi-religious city, one of the most cosmopolitan in Asia, while Naypyidaw’s population is mostly indigenous Burmese, the great majority of whom are Buddhists. Finally, Rangoon’s town design under British colonial rule was focused on a tight grid pattern of streets fronting the Rangoon River, with a dense population, while Naypyidaw is really without a center, or consists of several centers connected by broad highways. The new capital is also – at least at present – rather thinly populated. However, both capitals boast a major pagoda – the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon and a replica of the Shwedagon, the Upattasanti Pagoda, in Naypyidaw – that reflect the nation’s dominant Buddhist values.
Bio:
Donald M. Seekins, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Meio University, Okinawa, Japan. Since 1988 he has done research and published articles and books on Burma/Myanmar, the latest publication being State and Society in Modern Rangoon (London: Routledge, 2011).
Event Sponsor:
Center for Southeast Asian Studies
For more information, please contact The Center for Southeast Asian Studies at cseas@hawaii.edu.
Amateur Takes Control is an instrumental rock band from Singapore. Originally a solo project of guitarist Adel, ATC became a full band in December 2006, now including Jem (guitar/keys), Isa (bass) and Syadie (drums). Their music is undeniably diverse in style and influence, yet still manages to showcase a seamlessness that justifies their identity as a band.
Belying their age and experience, the band is proud to have self-released an eponymous EP as well as a single entitled “Built on Miles of Hope”. In October 2008 the band realised their dream of releasing their debut full length album “You, Me and The Things Unsaid” on KittyWu Records. -last.fm
After the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist
by Clifford Geertz
Harvard University Press, 1996
“Suppose,” Clifford Geertz suggests, “having entangled yourself every now and again over four decades or so in the goings-on in two provincial towns, one a Southeast Asian bend in the road, one a North African outpost and passage point, you wished to say something about how those goings-on had changed.” A narrative presents itself, a tour of indices and trends, perhaps a memoir? None, however, will suffice, because in forty years more has changed than those two towns–the anthropologist, for instance, anthropology itself, even the intellectual and moral world in which the discipline exists. And so, in looking back on four decades of anthropology in the field, Geertz has created a work that is characteristically unclassifiable, a personal history that is also a retrospective reflection on developments in the human sciences amid political, social, and cultural changes in the world. An elegant summation of one of the most remarkable careers in anthropology, it is at the same time an eloquent statement of the purposes and possibilities of anthropology’s interpretive powers.
To view his two towns in time, Pare in Indonesia and Sefrou in Morocco, Geertz adopts various perspectives on anthropological research and analysis during the post-colonial period, the Cold War, and the emergence of the new states of Asia and Africa. Throughout, he clarifies his own position on a broad series of issues at once empirical, methodological, theoretical, and personal. The result is a truly original book, one that displays a particular way of practicing the human sciences and thus a particular–and particularly efficacious–view of what these sciences are, have been, and should become.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
by Benedict Anderson
Verso Books, 1983
A view of Islamic civilization that runs counter to that provided by 19th-century Western Orientalists and 20th-century Islamic fundamentalists. The novels cover a vast period, beginning with the conquest of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century, via the liberation of Jerusalem by the armies of Saladin in the 12th century, to the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire.
Southeast Asia: A Testament covers the tragic history of post war Indonesia from its successful struggle against the Dutch to Suharto’s bloody overthrow of Sukarno in 1965. It also gives a personal account of the US involvement in Indochina, where George Kahin was an early critic of the Vietnam war and struggled to open the eyes of policy makers to the historical, political and military realities of the Vietnamese situation. Kahin also witnessed the reluctant involvement of Cambodia in the conflict, and the 1970 coup against Prince Sihanouk which paved the way for the Communist accession to power.
This book will be of interest to students of American diplomatic and foreign policy, Asian studies, and international relations. It is an engagingly written, often poignant personal account of George Kahin’s experiences in Southeast Asia, ad as such will also appeal to the general reader.
The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia
by Barbara Watson Andaya
University of Hawai’i Press, 2006
“The Princess of the Flaming Womb,” the Javanese legend that introduces this pioneering study, symbolizes the many ambiguities attached to femaleness in Southeast Asian societies. Yet despite these ambiguities, the relatively egalitarian nature of male-female relations in Southeast Asia is central to arguments claiming a coherent identity for the region. This challenging work by senior scholar Barbara Watson Andaya considers such contradictions while offering a thought-provoking view of Southeast Asian history that focuses on women’s roles and perceptions. Andaya explores the broad themes of the early modern era (1500-1800)–the introduction of new religions, major economic shifts, changing patterns of state control, the impact of elite lifestyles and behaviors–drawing on an extraordinary range of sources and citing numerous examples from Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Philippine, and Malay societies.
Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia
by Benedict Anderson
Solstice Publishing, 1990
In this lively book, Benedict R. O’G. Anderson explores the cultural and political contradictions that have arisen from two critical facts in Indonesian history: that while the Indonesian nation is young, the Indonesian nation is ancient originating in the early seventeenth-century Dutch conquests; and that contemporary politics are conducted in a new language. Bahasa Indonesia, by peoples (especially the Javanese) whose cultures are rooted in medieval times. Analyzing a spectrum of examples from classical poetry to public monuments and cartoons, Anderson deepens our understanding of the interaction between modern and traditional notions of power, the mediation of power by language, and the development of national consciousness. Language and Power, now republished as part of Equinox Publishing’s Classic Indonesia series, brings together eight of Anderson’s most influential essays over the past two decades and is essential reading for anyone studying the Indonesian country, people or language. Benedict Anderson is one of the world’s leading authorities on Southeast Asian nationalism and particularly on Indonesia. He is Professor of International Studies and Director of the Modern Indonesia Project at Cornell University, New York. His other works include Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism and The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World.
Born in Malaysia, 曹格 (Gary Cao, Cao Ge) did not intend on becoming a singer but considered becoming a teacher or landing a stereotypical job. It was only after listening to “Superwoman” whilst studying in Canada at nine years of age, that he began to be interested in music.
PDF 
Trịnh Công Sơn (February 28, 1939 – April 1, 2001) was a Vietnamese composer, musician, painter and songwriter. He, along with Phạm Duy and Văn Cao, is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern Vietnamese music.
Potato (Thai: โปเตโต้) is a Thai rock band. The band won numerous awards for their popularity in Thailand. They released their fourth album, Sense, in 2007, and their fifth, Circle, in 2008. Their latest album is Human, which was released in 2011.
Amateur Takes Control is an instrumental rock band from Singapore. Originally a solo project of guitarist Adel, ATC became a full band in December 2006, now including Jem (guitar/keys), Isa (bass) and Syadie (drums). Their music is undeniably diverse in style and influence, yet still manages to showcase a seamlessness that justifies their identity as a band.
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