Ethno-musicologist Jaap Kunst

INDONESIAN MUSIC AND DANCE: TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND ITS INTERACTION
WITH THE WEST

Jaap Kunst was a pioneer in the study of non-Western music who
did most of his Indonesian field work in the thirties, while in
Indonesia as a colonial civil servant. He travelled throughout
the country to attend village festivities where people danced,
sang, and made music, and convinced many musicians to record
their music on wax cylinder records. Back in the Netherlands, he
continued his research and discussed a comparative framework for
the study of Western and non-Western music with fellow
ethnomusicologists including E. von Hornbostel in Berlin. In
addition, as curator of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, he applied
his views within the context of an ethnographical museum.

By Dick van der Meij

Now, the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam  in conjunction
with the Ethnomusicology Centre 'Jaap Kunst' of the University of
Amsterdam has published the first English translation of early
text by Jaap Kunst (1891-1960), a pioneer in the study of
non-Western music. The book is a compilation of articles
(1923-1952) originally published in Dutch, with biographical
essays by Ernst Heins, Elisabeth den Otter, and Felix van
Lamsweerde.
'Indonesian music and dance' offers a broad view on Indonesian
musical traditions. These articles enable the reader to trace
Kunst's important contribution to the development of
ethnomusicology as a separate scientific discipline. In addition
to his own writings, biographical essays on Jaap Kunst, his work,
and his participation in the scientific debate on 'comparative
musicology' are included.
The work of Jaap Kunst is well known. His standard works on the
music of Bali (1925 in Dutch), the music of Java (originally in
Dutch in 1934, last English edition 1973), music in New Guinea
(1967), Nias (1939), Flores (1942) and numerous other books and
publications made Jaap Kunst the outstanding scholar on
Indonesian indigenous musical traditions. 
This book starts with introductory essays on Jaap Kunst, his work
in the field of ethnomusicology, the collection of musical
instruments at the Royal Tropical Institute and on the recordings
Kunst made. It shows a rounded off picture of Kunst and his
achievements. The articles by Kunst included in this book are
introduced by Maya Frijn. They deal with such matters as
indigenous music and the Christian mission (1947), musicologica
(1950), ancient western songs from Eastern countries (1934),
music and dance in the Outer Provinces (1946), music and dance on
the Kai Islands (1945), and, lastly, two thousand years of South
Sumatra reflected in its music (1952). The book is completed with
two appendices: 1. Bibliography, 2. Inventory of the wax cylinder
collection of the Tropenmuseum by Felix van Lamsweerde.
The book is illustrated with more than a hundred pictures, many
taken by Kunst himself, as well as many melodic transcriptions.

Kunst, Jaap, 'Indonesian music and dance: Traditional music and
its interaction with the West', KITLV Press, Amsterdam 1994
Contributions by Ernst Heins, Felix van Lamsweerde, Elisabeth den
Otter
Introduction by M. Frijn
Translated by S. Reijnhart
Illustrated, Hardcover, ISBN 90 6832 240 0

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