Los Andeles's Aratani World Series Announces Season

Aratani World Series announces its 1st season with a lineup of eight powerfully expressive and exceptionally diverse music and dance performances at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Starting Saturday, November 29, 2014 through Saturday, May 30, 2015, this trailblazing new series will feature world-class legends as well as a new generation of artists at LA's global crossroads of music and dance.

Aratani World Series artists include the Angolan-born. Portuguese musical legend Waldemar Bastos, LA's hottest, newest Cumbia bands Viento Callejero, La Chamba, Buyepongo & Eduardo Martinez y Su Palo Cuero, India's most genre bending adventurous dance ensemble Navarasa Dance Theater, Taiko rhythms and experimental Jazz with On Ensemble, Sumie Kaneko and Kaoru Watanabe; world trance music by Persian songstress Mamak Khadem; Filipino and Hawaiian aesthetics converge at the 25th anniversary celebration of Kayamanan Ng Lahi featuring Grammy-winning, Hawaiian slack key guitarist Patrick Landeza with the brilliant Jazz instrumentalist Abe Lagrimas, Jr.; a musical migration of gypsy soundscapes from Bulgaria to Los Angeles with the Varimezov Family Band & Moira Smiley with VOCO; the foot-moving glory and soul of Viver Brasil dance ensemble with the captivating vocalist Katia Moraes.

Aratani World Serier opens with CUP OF JAVA
Gamelan & Dance from Yogyakarta, Indonesia
An International Collaboration between ISI Yogyakarta & CalArts, and
The first major Indonesian concert at the Aratani Theater, Los Angeles

Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 7PM
ARATANI THEATRE, 244 South San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Complex polyrhythms on elegant bronze gamelan accompany Javanese dancers of stunning grace and visual beauty. Movement and music fill the stage where every gesture and cadence is crafted and executed with emotion and energy. A Chinese and Javanese Princess resolve their conflicts to the ethereal soundscapes for Tari Wayang Golek --a moving canvas of Javanese history; transformative mask dance Tari Topeng Panji unveils the interior world of legendary hero Panji; transcendent and strong, the male dance quartet Lawung echoes the ceremonial splendor of the Sultan's court. The culmination of this diverse program is Karna's Choice - a story about the sorrows of war, the love of mother Kunti, and the loyalty of brothers - as told in the beloved Indian epicMahabharata.

Cup of Java is distinctly Javanese in feeling and gesture yet the powerful resonance communicates beyond the boundaries of Java. Cultivated for hundreds of years in the palaces of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, the music and dance continue to define Javanese classical aesthetics.

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