ShadowBang is a Balinese Shadow Puppet Opera by Evan Ziporyn, performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars, story and puppeteering by Balinese puppet-master Wayan Wija, and dancing by Made Moja.

News Flash: ShadowBang named Tuscon Citizen Top 10 of 2003!

Available on Cantaloupe Records

Painting of ShadowBang by famed Batuan artist Made Budi. (Click to view enlarged picture.)

Reviews of the Performances:

• "Shall We Rock: Composers getting funky" by Alex Ross, The New Yorker, June 23, 2003.
  
• "Bang! Purr... Fusion Puppetry at MIT" by Marcia B. Siegel, Boston Phoenix, October 2001.
  
• "Balinese puppet show overturns conventions." Boston Herald, October 2001
  
• "More 'Bang' for the buck: New-music maestros team up with a puppet master to create unique entertainment program" Boston Herald, October 2001
  

Press Release:
World premiere of ShadowBang a collaborative performance featuring the electrifying Bang on a Can All-Stars and I Wayan Wija - the foremost living Balinese "dalang" (puppeteer). It is both a continuation of this timeless art form by one of the masters and a radical reinvention of it.

Bang on a Can's new wayang - Shadow Bang - brings a new musical and theatrical dimension to the art form. Replacing the traditional gamelan with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, composer Evan Ziporyn bridges Balinese and Western musical idioms to forge an entirely new sound. In place of the oil lamp, an innovative stage and lighting design reflects shadow images onto large screens in front of and behind the musicians and puppeteer. By providing multiple perspectives, the performance reveals both the process and the product of Wija's unique, master artistry, retaining the intimacy inherent in the form while placing it in a broader cultural context.

The hour-long work of music, visuals and storytelling is a performance event that will forever blur the line between east and west, tradition and experimentation.