Suwardi (Soewardi), Aloysius

Suwardi (Soewardi), Aloysius, respected Indonesian composer, performer, teacher, and experimental-instrument maker; b. Sukoharjo, Central Java, June 21, 1951. He studied in Surakarta at the Konserva-tori Karawitan (KOKAR, high school cons.), then at the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (A.S.K.I., college cons.), graduating in 1981 with the thesis The Construction of Suling in Central Java; subsequently taught classical music there (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia/ S.T.S.I.). In 1974 he became involved in new music circles and subsequently participated in new music festivals throughout Indonesia. He developed a fine reputation as a player of traditional gamelan music and as a gamelan tuner and restorer; he is often called upon to repair and/or retune Javanese gamelan throughout Indonesia, Europe, and the U.S. In 1986-87 he was a Fulbright visiting scholar to the U.S., teaching at several Midwest univs. As a composer, Suwardi is best known for works that make use of his own experimental instruments; his instrument innovations include placing the bronze keys of the gender on motor-driven resonators, developing a giant-sized gambang (wooden xylophone) inspired by the log xylophones of Africa, and designing and building a kind of water suling wherein the air goes through a tube and into a tin can of water before passing, modified, into a bamboo tube with finger holes. Among his compositions are Ngalor-Ngidul (1982; in collaboration with Rustopo and Suparno), Gender (1984), Sebuah Process (1984), and Sak-sake (1988). He is one of the few Indonesian composers to have been invited twice (1984, 1988) to the Pekan Komponis Muda, a national young composers’ festival held annually in Jakarta.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire