Sound of a Thousand Years: Gagaku Instruments from Japan

It is an exhibition on Gagaku, the ceremonial music and dance of the imperial court and the main Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines of Japan; as the oldest continuously performed orchestral music in the world (the tradition in Japan starts in the late seventh century), it has been designated by UNESCO as part of the world heritage.

Prof. Rambelli curated this exhibition with the help of Dr. Rory Lindsay (University of Toronto) and grad students from EALCS and Religious Studies—Kaitlyn Ugoretz, Mason Johnson, Mariangela Carpinteri, and Daigengna Duoer—based on a seminar of the cultural history of Gagaku held in Fall 2019. We are grateful to the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA for loaning several instruments, to Maestro Bunno Hideaki and the musicians and dancers of his Gagaku Ensemble (for allowing us to use photos and videos of their performances at UCSB in March 2020), and to the Music Department at UCSB for loaning some pieces from the Henry Eichheim Collection. Special thanks also to Professor Scott Marcus (Music Department).

See the AD&A Museum’s page for more details: https://www.museum.ucsb.edu/news/feature/839.