Michael Bakan is Professor of Ethnomusicology, Head of the World Music Ensembles Program, and Affiliated Faculty in Asian Studies in the College of Music at Florida State University, where he directs the Sekaa Gong Hanuman Agung Balinese Gamelan. He has performed with everyone from George Clinton and the legendary funk band Parliament to John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Tito Puente, Johnny Rawls, Rudolf Serkin and the Music at Marlboro Festival Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Players, and several leading gamelan orchestras in Bali, Indonesia. His more than 100 publications include the books Music and Autism: Speaking for Ourselves, World Music: Traditions and Transformations, and Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World of Balinese Gamelan Beleganjur. His recording credits as a drummer and percussionist include A History of the Future with Longineu Parsons and Brian Hall, Medicaid Fraud Dogg with Parliament, Planetary Funk with George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, and Ashrei with Omnimusica (first ballot entry for best world music album, Grammy Awards, 2015). Dr. Bakan will appear with the multi-instrumentalist Roger Glenn as part of the Cuban and Latin Jazz Extravaganza at this year’s Word of South.
Michael Bakan
