Robert Garfias (b. 1932 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

) is an American

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. He is a professor of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and a member of The Social Dynamics and Complexity Group at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

as well as a professor at the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology in Senri,

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. During the 1950s Garfias performed for several years in the

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

ensemble of

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

, appearing on two LPs (''Plectra & Percussion Dances'', 1953; and ''Oedipus'', 1954

In 1955 he produced an 11-part radio series about the music of Japan for the

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sign ...

radio station, and from 1962 to 1968 he served as the first music director for KRAB, a noncommercial listener-supported station in Seattle, WA, producing several hundred programs for a series called "Ethnic Music with Robert Garfias" between 1963 and 19

He completed his doctorate at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and taught at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

where he established the graduate program in ethnomusicology before coming to University of California, Irvine. He has conducted research on the analysis of complex music systems, including Japanese court music, the Turkish Ottoman Classical Music system, and many other musical traditions in which he is fluent as a musical performer, linguist, and archivist. He has also written on ''The Role of Dreams and Spirit Possession in the Mbira Dza Vadzimu Music of the Shona People of Zimbabwe''. Complexity in the domain of expressive culture, music, and the social organization of complex musical traditions is one of his major specialties. He has been actively engaged in the area of public policy and the arts as a presidentially appointed member of th
National Council on the Arts
and as a member of the Council of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

as well as with numerous state and local arts agencies. In these areas his primary concern is with ethnicity and cultural diversity. In 2005 the Government of Japan awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, which represents the third highest of eight classes associated with this award. "California Ethnomusicologist Dr. Robert Garfias to Receive Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun Award"
, ''Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) Archives''. He was cited for his contributions to promoting traditional

Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

and cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States.

References

External links

Robert Garfias
��Web site at UC Irvine
UCI Profile

Works

Published works are posted on Academia.edu https://robertgarfias.academia.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Garfias, Robert 1932 births Living people American ethnomusicologists University of California, Irvine faculty Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class Academics from San Francisco

See also

References

External links

Works