Trio Dingo proves music knows no boundaries<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The greatest achievement for musicians in a live performance
\nis their ability to build chemistry between themselves:
\nIndividual craft is employed purely to build a harmonious whole.<\/p>\n
Australian genre-evading band Trio Dingo is an outfit of three
\ndexterous musicians who excelled in demonstrating that their
\nmusical marriage is greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n
In their evening performance at Gedung Kesenian, Central
\nJakarta, last Saturday, music from the trio evolved into an
\norganic entity that had a life of its own.<\/p>\n
Combining traditional music from Southern India, Turkey, the
\nBalkans, the Middle East, Java and Bali, the trio, wind
\ninstrument player Kim Sander, percussionist Ron Reeve and multi-
\ninstrumentalist Blair Greenberg, delivered flawless performances
\ncomprising free-form tunes suffused with drama.<\/p>\n
The musical matrimony was so pervasive that the instruments
\nfrom which it was built made little difference, be it the ney
\n(traditional sufi flute), kaval (long wooden flute), tenor
\nsaxophone, tabla, Scottish bagpipes or more familiar acoustic
\nguitar.<\/p>\n
Such a marriage was perfectly captured, for instance, during
\nNoam Chomsky Auto Focus Boogie Wooegie, the second item of the
\none hour-plus performance. During the tune's middle course,
\nGreenberg's guitar strumming accompanied a sublime duet in which
\nSander's tenor sax playing was backed by Reeve's supple pounding
\non his traditional Javanese percussion kendang.<\/p>\n
The trio lifted the audience to a higher transcendental plane
\nwith a Turkish tune titled Kermezuk Gul.<\/p>\n
\"We were in the eastern part of Turkey; the temperature was
\nminus 40 degrees Celsius and we sat by a fire playing this
\nmusic,\" said Sander, the tune's composer, as he talked about its
\ngermination.<\/p>\n
Building its drama from the ney, the tune produced an eerie
\nsense of despondency that gave it a funereal character. Reeve
\nabandoned his kendang to play the kaval, which provided a
\nhaunting monotone throughout the number.<\/p>\n
Contrary to routines in regular pop gigs -- where lengthy
\nsolos are often played as part of ego trips -- the protracted
\nsolo in Trio Dingo's performance was intended to enhance the
\ndramatic atmosphere.<\/p>\n
After taking the audience on a journey to exotic territories,
\nTrio Dingo landed firmly on their feet with a number titled
\nBurning.<\/p>\n
Composed by Greenberg only six months before his Sydney
\napartment caught fire, this was the most accessible number on the
\ntrio's playlist that night: a conversational, yodeling piece
\nbacked by Greenberg's plucking on an acoustic guitar and
\noccasional sax, barely audible in the midst of Reeve's
\npercussion.<\/p>\n
In the finale, a heavily percussive South African tune, the
\ntrio invited pop singer Oppie Andaresta and percussionist Jalu to
\njoin them on stage.<\/p>\n
Apart from their impressive musicianship, the trio also had a
\ngood sense of humor, as shown in their frequent jokes thrown to
\nthe floor. Reeve who served as MC throughout the performance,
\nregularly cracked jokes in fluent Indonesian.<\/p>\n
Before a rendition of The Impossible Dream of Sonja, Sander
\ngave an introduction that made the audience giggle. \"This song
\nwas inspired by graffiti we found on a Sydney bus. It said
\n'Sonja, Sonja let me own ya.' Poetry doesn't get any better than
\nthat,\" Sander said.<\/p>\n
Sander has studied and performed in Turkey, the West Balkans
\nand China. He is a specialist in Turkish Sufi music.<\/p>\n
Reeve lived for many years in Indonesia, studying traditional
\nmusic from Bali, Java and Sumatra and specializing in Sundanese
\nkendang.<\/p>\n
Greenberg has played djembe, steel drums, marimba and guitar
\nin Africa, Europe and Australia, including with an ensemble
\nknown as the Paranormal Music Society.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/trio-dingo-proves-music-knows-no-boundaries-1447893297",
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