GengGong to showcase cross-cultural music

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When musicians from two different cultures join together, there is no telling what kind of music they will produce. There is an exploration of sounds from their unique cultures, producing something that is new and unique, not quite one or the other.

One group that has successfully pulled this off is GengGong, a collaboration of Indonesian and Australian musicians led by noted Indonesian musician Sawung Jabo, based in Sydney, Australia.

GengGong's music is derived from the traditional sounds of Indonesia, Turkey and Bulgaria, processed in contemporary arrangements and original compositions.

Indonesian drums, gongs and reeds, are combined with the guitar, Balkan and Middle-Eastern bagpipes, didjeridus, saxophones, and wooden flutes, producing a unique and compelling performance.

The group's 15-concert tour across Indonesia in 2000 opened eyes to the wide possibility of cross-cultural music, while its concerts in Australia have been hailed by Diaspora World Beat magazine as "appealing in the freshness of its sounds and cumulative power of its grooves, but at the same time rich enough in detail to withstand close listenings".

GengGong features Sawung Jabo, the creative singer/composer and master of blending traditional Indonesian rhythms with contemporary rock; world music veteran Kim Sanders, whose experience reaches Turkey, the Balkans and West Africa; percussionist and composer Ron Reeves; and drummer Reza Achman.

GengGong will perform at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ) on Saturday in support of their album Not Just Music (2000), including a lively and comical rendition of the traditional Javanese song Ning Nong Setan and the drum music of Derevaza Redezava.

I-box:

GengGong will perform on Saturday, June 28, at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta at Jl. Gedung Kesenian 1, Central Jakarta, at 8 p.m. For tickets and reservations please call 021-3808283, 3441892.