SEATTLE

After traveling 20 hours (Solo-Jakarta-Singapore-Tokyo-Seattle), Purbo Asmoro started his tour of the USA in the beautiful city of Seattle. After a grueling 2 hours at the immigration counter, he celebrated his arrival with a group dinner at a delicious Malaysian restaurant in town, and then proceded straight to a rehearsal with Gamelan Pacifica, directed by Jarred Powell. We all then returned to the extremely comfortable and spacious condiminium lodging loaned to us by a friend and fell fast asleep for 12 hours. In the next few days, Ki Purbo rehearsed with Gamelan Pacifica daily, reconnected with some old friends (Laurie and Tika Sears), and did some sightseeing around Seattle. The culmination of his time was the 2-hour performance of Ciptoning at Ethnic Cultural Center of The University of Washington, Seattle, after which he received a standing ovation the likes of which no one had ever seen. It lasted over five minutes and got to the point where no one knew what to do or how to get the crowd to stop!

NEW YORK

Ki Purbo left Seattle and got back on a plane for the 5-hour trip to New York City, followed by a 2.5 hour car ride to Middletown, CT, where rehearsals with Manunggal Rasa would begin. Manunggal Rasa is not a set group that plays together regularly, but rather a group gathered specifically for this wayang tour. It consists of the directors and major players in many groups (Anne Stebinger, Marc Perlman, Barry Drummond, Chris Miller, Jesse Snyder, Sarah Weiss, Wayne Forrest, Carla Scheele, Leslie Rudden, Susan Walton, Cindy Benton-Groner, Jody Diamond, and others.) Ki Purbo met up in Middletown with Bp. I.M. Harjito and a 2-day rehearsal marathon with Manunggal Rasa began. On the third day the group made the trip in to New York City and performed at Symphony Space to an audience of about 550, sponsored by the World Music Institute. Ki Purbo chose the lakon Sumilaking Pedhut Astina (the final episode of the Bharatayuda War), as he felt it would fit the personality of the New York audiences in its intensity. Again, he was received with an enthusiastic standing ovation. After the performance Ki Purbo had a day in New York to visit the Statue of Liberty, the Ground Zero site, as well as Chinatown and the East Village.

CHICAGO

After checking out of the Indonesian Consulate lodging in New York, Ki Purbo got on a plane once again and traveled west to Chicago. He performed Babad Wanamarta with the local Chicago group Friends of the Gamelan, and had the benefit of gamelan member and longtime Indonesianist Jan DiGirolamo's gracious hospitality--staying at her home for almost a full week. The Chicago group wanted to ensure adequate rehearsal time, so Ki Purbo spent the five days sightseeing all over Chicago, and the evenings rehearsing. The performance was a matinee, held in the breath-takingly beautiful Chicago Cultural Center. The audience was able to view from both sides of the screen, and there were over 600 in attendance.

KALAMAZOO

Right after hauling the gamelan and cleaning up, Ki Purbo's ensemble  and the Chicago group took the four hour drive to Kitsie's hometown of Gull Lake, Michigan, arriving at about 2:00 in the morning. Ki Purbo spent the first day relaxing out at Gull Lake--lounging in front of the lake, taking walks in the foresty area and going on a boat ride. The next day was a full rehearsal, a workshop with local school children, and the performance of Babad Wanamarta, accompanied by the Chicago Friends of the Gamelan group a the Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College. Kalamazoo audiences were amazed at Ki Purbo's ability to incorporate Gull Lake life into his gara-gara section--making fun of "Ted and Fred" (Kitsie's father and uncle), as well as weaving insightful commentary about local life after having only been in the area for two days. It is here that the media dubbed him a "genius of a communicator".

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

Having finished up in Kalamazoo, Ki Purbo boarded a plane again and flew back in to New York City, as well as driving back out to Middletown, CT. After two more days of rehearsal with Manunggal Rasa, Ki Purbo performed a highly successful 3-hour version of Babad Wanamarta for audiences at Wesleyan University. He also conducted workshops with the local high school students in residence at the Center for the Arts.

BOSTON

It was time for a break, and it also happened to be a holiday long weekend (Independence Day, the 4th of July), so we went up to Boston on the train, and spent some days sightseeing. Ki Purbo walked around Boston, ate lobster for the first time, and attended the 4th of July fireworks on the Charles River. He had a chance to visit with many friends and experience their lives in context at their homes, and then after three days of relaxation, boarded an Amtrak express train to Washington, DC.

WASHINGTON, DC

For his final stop, Ki Purbo prepared a padhat version of Duryudana Gugur, again with Manunggal Rasa, and performed at the Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institute. By now, news of the tour had spread and there were many people hoping to get a chance to see this last performance. Not only was the 400-seat theater packed , but the ticket office reportedly had to turn away 75 people in line, not to mention those who telephoned in wanting tickets. Ki Purbo spent his last day in the USA having an elegant dinner with Bp. H.E. Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, then the Indonesian Ambassdor to the USA, out at his home in the suburbs. It was as though Ki Purbo was giving a lecture during dinner, because the guests seemed so hungry to learn all about his performing and teaching life that thier questions never ended.

The next morning, after 28 days away from Java, Ki Purbo returned to Solo on the 20-hour flight, and went straight back into a busy teaching and performing month.

Many, many thanks to Jesse Snyder, who tirelessly drove Ki Purbo Asmoro and ensemble around throughout the tour--not to mention all his help renting cars and trucks, and just in general solving problems!