{"id":109750,"date":"2024-11-25T14:18:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T19:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=109750"},"modified":"2024-11-26T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T21:44:00","slug":"interview-andrew-timar-first-canadian-receive-aki-indonesian-culture-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/11\/25\/interview-andrew-timar-first-canadian-receive-aki-indonesian-culture-award\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Andrew Timar, First Canadian To Receive The AKI Indonesian Culture Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_109754\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109754\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109754\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-33.jpg\" alt=\"Musician and composer Andrew Timar plays the suling (Photo: Joseph Timar)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-33.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-33-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-33-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-33-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109754\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Timar plays the suling (Photo: Joseph Timar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Sepember 2024, Toronto musician, composer and educator Andrew Timar became the first Canadian to receive the highly regarded AKI or Anugerah Kebudayaan Indonesia 2024 cultural award. The award is issued each year by the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew was one of only three recipients of the AKI Award in the Foreign Institutions and Individuals category, the other recipients hailing from Poland and Netherlands. Timar received the Certificate of Merit in person in Jakarta from I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Executive Director of the ASEAN Institute for Peace &amp; Reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>The Certificate of Merit notes Timar\u2019s \u201cexpertise as artist, composer, gamelan and suling player, teacher, researcher, hybrid gamelan music activist in Canada, and his dedication to the advancement of Indonesian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with a commemorative gold pin that depicts the Garuda bird-like figure of Indonesian legend, the Award comes with a cash prize of 100 million Rupiah (about $8,825 CAD).<\/p>\n<p>Timar\u2019s recognition comes after decades of work, both in Toronto as a musician, composer, and co-founder of the Evergreen Contemporary Gamelan Club, and as a frequent visitor and collaborator with Indonesian musicians.<\/p>\n<p>He was also Gamelan Course Director at York University and Royal Conservatory of Music. in 2000 he founded the Gamelan Program at the Toronto District School Board which has been hosted by over 100 schools.<\/p>\n<p>We spoke to him about the AKI Award, and working as a musician and composer for the gamelan in Toronto.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TsZplqR1Dng?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Andrew Timar and The Gamelan<\/h3>\n<p>The trip to Jakarta was newly over when LvT caught up to Timar. \u201cIt\u2019s finally back down to earth. It was quite a trip to Indonesia and back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Where did his fascination with Indonesian music begin?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have training in ethnomusicology back in my undergrad days,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was always interested in music from other places outside the Eurocentric tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He began to discover Indonesian and other non-Eurocentric music with LP albums back in the 1960s. He\u2019d go on to study in California, where an American aficionado introduced him to the gamelan. While in Cali, he studied gamelan degung and suling with Sundanese master musician Burhans Sukarma. He first met colleague Jon Siddall, who also studied and performed gamelan in California, at York University in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>Siddall wanted to start a gamelan orchestra in Canada to play contemporary music, and in 1983, he purchased the instruments to kick start the project from scratch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, what??\u201d Timar recalls. \u201cThere was no gamelan course in Canada. There was nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But start, it did, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/10\/01\/preview-evergreen-club-contemporary-gamelan-celebrates-40th-anniversary-october-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan<\/a> is still active today, 41 years later. Despite its longevity, however, Indonesian music is still not common to find in mainstream concert halls. \u201cThe idea of a gamelan is still a mystery to the majority of Canadians.\u201d Timar has not only performed with the ensemble from its inception, but composed dozens of the works that Evergreen perform. Evergreen looks to use the gamelan in contemporary compositions that drawn on traditional music, but other sources as well. Timar has Western classical music training.<\/p>\n<p>The gamelan isn\u2019t a single instrument, it\u2019s an orchestra of traditional Indonesian percussion and other musical instruments. The instruments are often ornate and hand-made, and can consist of gongs, drums, cymbals, xylophones, and others, along with bamboo flutes and string instruments.<\/p>\n<p>Timar plays the suling, a ring flute made of bamboo or cane, and blown at one end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Canada, I\u2019m the pioneer of this thing,\u201d he says. Despite the low recognition for gamelan or Indonesian music overall in North America, he believes some inroads have been made by people like him who have been teaching the art as well. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing my best over the last decades,\u201d he says of his efforts at educating a new generation in the music.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_109755\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109755\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109755\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/A_Timar-plays_suling_tembang_May17_2017_ECCG_PhotoCredit-Josef-Timar.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Timar plays the suling (Photo: Joseph Timar)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/A_Timar-plays_suling_tembang_May17_2017_ECCG_PhotoCredit-Josef-Timar.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/A_Timar-plays_suling_tembang_May17_2017_ECCG_PhotoCredit-Josef-Timar-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/A_Timar-plays_suling_tembang_May17_2017_ECCG_PhotoCredit-Josef-Timar-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/11\/A_Timar-plays_suling_tembang_May17_2017_ECCG_PhotoCredit-Josef-Timar-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109755\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Timar plays the suling (Photo: Joseph Timar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>The AKI Award<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cIt was a bit of a process,\u201d he says of the nomination procedures. Officially, he was nominated by the Indonesian General Consul in Toronto. Timar has been working with their office for four decades organizing a community gamelan group, workshops, concerts and educational outreach projects. An artist who he met some 22 years ago in Jakarta also nominated him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was flattered, but I felt that I had about the chance of a snowball in Jakarta,\u201d he says. He notes that his own suling teachers had been nominated previously, and did not receive the award. He notes that the award reflects Indonesian cultural values and political aims.<\/p>\n<p>To his surprise, he got the notice of his win a scant two weeks before the ceremony. \u201cThe ministerial letter announcing my award, and what I needed to do, was quite extensive,\u201d he says, saying it led to an intense 2-hour meeting. \u201cI was very pleased, of course, but daunted by what\u2019s ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, it was a unique honour and opportunity not to be passed up. \u201cIt\u2019s an honour as the first Canadian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The trip to the ceremony in Jakarta was fruitful in other ways. He reconnected with a colleague he\u2019d first met back in 1988. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a milestone for me, and a very important one,\u201d Andrew says.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also led to a new tour that he\u2019ll take in Indonesia in 2025. \u201cI met with a number of folks there, both musicians, dancers that I\u2019ve known during my career, and also new ones, the dean of a university who\u2019s interested in my work (and others). Those kind of folks were interested in what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He notes that Indonesia is a large, multicultural country where more than 700 regional languages are spoken. The gamelan and its traditions are relevant specifically to Java and Bali.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s some interesting parallels to Canada,\u201d he says. \u201cThe people I\u2019ve met are very hip.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Contemporary Canadian music for the gamelan isn\u2019t traditional music, that\u2019s understood. \u201cI\u2019m not a spokesperson for any other culture than my own. By definition, that makes my work a hybrid,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been negotiating these cultural bridges for four decades. Mutual respect is important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AKI Award suggests that his brand of Indonesian fusion has found its audience. Music, as always, can build bridges where diplomats have difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to be recognized abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/masthead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>news tip<\/u><\/a>? Need to know the best\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>events<\/u><\/a>\u00a0happening this weekend? 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