Innovations in ethnic music

Innovations in ethnic music

By Kartika Bagus C.

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): The audience packing the
Surakarta Cultural Center Arena Theater burst into a huge roar of
applause when Drumming, a composition by young artist Gunarto
Gondrong, came to a close.

Soon words and whistles of admiration filled the air.

The composition brought together percussion instruments from
different places, such as African drums, a set of European drums,
Balinese drums, Javanese drums, Sundanese drums and Rudy's
plywood drums.

Enlivening the event was Jarot B.D., a guest singer, who
presented Jamaican music. His uniquely high-pitched voice was
extremely suitable for his ethnic music.

Drumming was the closing number of six compositions performed
that night, which was part of a hybrid music show titled Suita 42
Hari -- a collaboration between the SonoSeni Ensemble and
30-year-old Japanese musician Takahito Hayashi.

Hayashi presented a composition he wrote, Uzu (Deep). The
number featured the sound of dejeridoo, an Aboriginal instrument
which is the world's oldest wind instrument. It also featured
African drums called jembe and an acoustic guitar, which
mechanically formed a series of patterns.

The Nagoya-born Takahito, a graduate of the Jazz and Bosanova
Saxophone Department at Mesar House, Tokyo, proved he is a master
of Asian traditional wind instruments. Over the past two months,
he has collaborated with SonoSeni Ensemble to create seven cross-
cultural works.

Most members of SonoSeni Ensemble do not have a background of
playing in a band, but they do have the skill to play music of
different genres: keroncong, Javanese langgam, Bali gamelan,
Sunda gamelan and Madurese folk music. Only one has a rock music
background. The ensemble synthesized the various genres into a
hybrid.

SonoSeni Ensemble performed seven compositions. They music was
eclectic for an audience long accustomed to standard music. All
the compositions were from the ethnic genre, with rapid rhythms
and lots of improvisations. Ethnic vocals were now and then added
to the music.

The ensemble also incorporated the saxophone, played by
Hayashi. On the stage were combinations of musical instruments
and percussions, such as the bongo, ketipung, trumpet, Javanese
drums, ukulele, bonang (a small gong in the Javanese gamelan).

The collaboration between musicians from different cultural
backgrounds achieved its purpose of creating a hybrid music.

SonoSeni was founded two years ago by six veteran artists, I.
Wayan Sadra, Joko S. Gombloh, Zoel Mistortoify, Gunarto Gondrong,
Rudy Sulistanto and Abe Abdul Kholiq.

Each is a seasoned artist. Zoel Mistortoify, for example, is a
graduate of Gadjah Mada University's School of Performing Arts,
and founded a kulintang music group called Jambas and the gamelan
rock band Pelangi Nusantara. I Wayan Sadra was a 1991 recipient
of the New Horizon Award from the International Society for Arts,
Sciences and Technology in the U.S.

SonoSeni has its headquarters on Jl. Empu Gandring in
Surakarta. Its members' works have been performed in a number of
major cities in Indonesia. In July and August last year, they
performed at the Pacific Music Festival in Saporo, Japan, and in
Germany, featuring the works of Wayan Sadra.

All these performances have undoubtedly improved their
standing in the entertainment world. But most notable of all is
the fact that they have pioneered new innovations in ethnic
music.