Pending Improvement in Current Health Situation: Musical Instruments: Sounds of the Asia Pacific

Curators: Annie Reynolds, Kirk Sullivan, Eric Chang
Consultants: Ricardo D. Trimillos, Lynn Martin, Michael Schuster
Installation Design: Lynne Najita

This exhibition features Asia Pacific musical instruments from the Ethnomusicology Instrument Collection at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The collection has been acquired over the past 70 years, initially established by Professor Barbara B. Smith, and continues today under the supervision of Professor Ricardo D. Trimillos. This collection is an invaluable resource for the community because the instruments are meant to be utilized rather than to be displayed as museum pieces. Many of the instruments in the collection are used in the various musical ensembles at the university including Indonesian gamelan (traditional ensemble comprised primarily of metallophones and gongs) and Japanese gagaku (ancient court music), as well as Hawaiian and Tahitian dance, koto (Japanese zither), Chinese, Korean, Okinawan, and Philippine ensembles. The collection is comprised of nearly 2,500 instruments from across the globe.