The World’s Fair…

An article on the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair of 1964-5 in today’s NYTimes incorporates personal photographs and recollections from those who attended the event. The fair, designed to share international cultures, was promoted with the theme: “Peace Through Understanding.” Though the fair took place years before I was born, I’ve long felt grateful for its international bent–since the Javanese gamelan instruments that I play in NYC at the Indonesian Consulate happen to be the instruments created specifically for the Indonesia Pavilion at the World’s Fair of 1964-65. With these instruments, my friends and I have performed Javanese music in concert at venues like Lincoln Center and Asia Society. While the World’s Fair of 1964-5 is for many a thing of the past, for our gamelan group the history and theme of the fair live on–as we continue to promote “peace through understanding” by sharing traditional Indonesian music on veteran instruments from the fair.