Expertise

Since its formal foundation in 1975, MAMU has attracted more than $4 million in Australian Research Council (ARC) funding and other grants, undertaking a range of field-based research projects focusing on the music-cultures of Indonesia and India, Asian and Australian Jewish cultures, Youth Orchestras (especially the Australian Youth Orchestra) and historical European music studies.

The current ARC-funded team project (2016-2021) led by MAMU’s Director, Professor Margaret Kartomi is titled:

“The Revitalisation and Sustainability of the Musical Arts of the Indigenous People of Lampung in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia”, involving Professor Margaret Kartomi, Associate Professor Bart Barendregt (Leiden University), and Dr Rina Martiara (STSI Yogyakarta).

This project includes the forthcoming International Conference and Cultural Event (ICCE) of Lampung, to be held on 14-16 December 2021.

The previous ARC-funded team project (2013-2016) was titled:

“The Changing Identity of the Musical Arts of the Sea Nomads and Settled Malays in the Riau Islands". It led to MAMU's organising the first International Conference on the Performing Arts of the Riau Islands in 2013, location: Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia, and a second International Conference on the same topic in 2015 at Monash University, Melbourne, and to the publication of the multi-authored book titled: Performing the Arts of Indonesia: Malay Identity and Politics in the Music, Dance and Theatre of the Riau Islands (ed. Margaret Kartomi, Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2019)