Media

Flamenco Louisville and Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble at the Juerga/Hafla! March 28, 2026 Flamenco Louisville Studio Saturday #Flamenco #CanteFlamenco #Palmas #Dance #SpanishMusic @flamencolouisville @jonsilpayamanant @denisecollinsmartinez @h.edgewalker

Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble at Flamenco Louisville Studio before the Juerga/Hafla! We had a blast and have missed these events! Thanks to Diana and Paul and all the Flamenco and Belly Dancers, and other musicians who partied with us! March 28, 2026 Saturday Saw Peep: Penelope Quesada – flute Chelsea Getty – cello Jon Silpayamanant – kamancheh, percussion, vocals Angela Thomas – bass Roxell Karr – percussion Divya Karthikeyan – vocals, percussion Helen Holifield – percussion Denise Collins-Martinez – oud #Flamenco #Bellydance #SpanishMusic #BellydanceMusic #Juerga @jonsilpayamanant @h.edgewalker @denisecollinsmartinez @flamencolouisville

Happy Lunar New Year/Year of the Horse! Saw Peep isn't playing any Lunar New Year Events this year but here's a short excerpt from our rehearsal this Sunday (2/15/26) playing through Zhao Lin's "Battle Remembered!" It's been some years since we've performed this so we're happy to bring it back into our active rep rotation! Penelope Quesada – flute Jon Silpayamanant – cello Angela Thomas – bass Helen Holifield/Roxell Karr – def/frame drums #赵麟 #ZhaoLin #LunarNewYear #LunarNewYear2026 #Cello #Flute #Bass #Def #Daf #FrameDrum #ChineseMusic @jonsilpayamanant justlifenow2026 @h.edgewalker

Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble will see you Sunday afternoon (Dec. 7) at our Asian Group Folk Dance Workshop as part of our COLLIDER Residency! You’ll get to learn some West Asian line dances from Jo Hadley of Raqs Maqom/Crescent Moon Dance Company and a Filipino Folk Dance from AJ Spurlock of Cultura Philippines! Kid friendly—so sign up (or talk to one of the directors if you’re a walk-in)! The Filipino dance portion starts after 3 and is appropriate for younger children! https://www.lfpl.org/asian-group-folk-dance-workshop

Our Meena wanted a picture of her sitar next to Angela's bass after rehearsal last Sunday! Here's a festive little photo of both instruments in front of the Christmas decorations at our new rehearsal space, the lobby of the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana! Photo by Jon Silpayamanant #Louisville #Sitar #Bass #StringInstruments #ChristmasTrees #AfterRehearsal

Saw Peep rehearsing Ki Nartosabdo's "Gambang Suling" at the World Affairs Council lobby downtown Louisville! November 9, 2025 #IndonesianMusic #JavaneseMusic #Gongs #Riqq #Bass #Flute #Oud #Sitar #Violin #Louisville #AsianMusic

Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble members Sheryll, Divya, and Roxell with one of our new members, Angela, displaying her magnificent bass! #Bass #Louisville #AsianMusic #AsianAmericanMusic Photo credit: Jon Silpayamanant

Jon Silpayamanant performing Adile Sultan’s “Hicaz Hümayûn”* At Raqs Maqom: Dances & Music of Central & West Asia in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana. October 19, 2025 World Affairs Council Lobby 223 South Fifth Street Louisville, KY Adile Sultan (1826-1899), the daughter of Mahmud II, was an Ottoman princess, a Diwan poet, and a philanthropist. Education in the Quran, Arabic, Persian, music and calligraphy, she also had her own ensemble (ince saz takimi) consiststing of women musicians. *Also known as “Gizlice şaha buyur, hâne-yi tenhâya buyur.” [Secretly come to my kingdom, my heart]. Raqs Maqom was founded in 2008 by dancer Taletha Al Badr and musician Jon Silpayamanant and is currently led by Jo Hadley, founder and director of Crescent Moon Dance Company, and Jon Silpayamanant, founder and director of Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble.

ASIAN STRING BAND MUSIC South Central Regional Library: Artist-in-Residence Room Saturday, December 13, 2025, 8PM Did you know that Asia has string band traditions? When we think about string bands the image that comes to mind are old-time or jazz ensembles made up mainly or solely of string instruments that were especially popular in the 1920s and 1930s but have been making a comeback. Some of the oldest Asian string bands, like kronchong in Indonesia and rondalya in the Philippines, date back to the early colonial period in the 1600s. Come hear and see a wide variety of Asian String Band ensembles and genres in this presentation by Jon Silpayamanant. Jon will talk about some of the string band music that Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble performes and demonstrate some instruments from his personal collection which he uses in performances with Saw Peep. In the presentation, you will also get a glimpse of the string band world created by generations of Asian immigrants in the US. 'Asian String Band Music' is Free and open to all ages and is part of the Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble's COLLIDER Residency at the South Central Regional Library and will take place in the Artist-in-Residence Room (No. 7 on this map of the library: https://www.sawpeep.com/southcentralregionallibrary-floorplan ) Artist-in-Residence Room South Central Regional Library 7300 Jefferson Blvd. Louisville, KY 40219 (502) 964-3515 www.lfpl.org/south-central-regional-library About the COLLIDER Artist-in-Residence Program https://www.lfpl.org/lifelong-learning#150 About Jon Silpayamanant: Born in Udon Thani, Thailand Jon Silpayamanant is an intercultural multi-instrumentalist, composer, cellist, and music educator based in the greater Louisville and Kentuckiana area. As a biracial Thai American with musical families on both sides of the world, he has been navigating musical code switching and bimusicality for much of his life and uses that experience to inform his understanding of how music ecosystems interact, hybridize, and create systems of exclusion.