Sono Seni Ensemble brings musical democracy

By Blontank POeR

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): The audience is completely silent, intently following the compositions being performed. Every time a composition comes to an end, they applaud as a token of appreciation. The rest of the time, we know next to nothing about what the audience really feels.

This situation is only a realm where one tries to fully experience and understand the music. It is where a psychological awareness plays its role to liberate one's power to absorb the music rolling off the stage.

When the Sono Seni Ensemble performed Suitasuit at the Arena Theater in the Surakarta Cultural Park on July 6 and July 7, one could clearly see the effort to bring the audience to an area of interpretation-free musical democracy. There were no words or text.

Interestingly, the performances of the repertoires of three composers were supported by musicians (who are also composers) with diverse professional backgrounds. There was an ethnomusicologist, a rock musician, a keroncong player and traditional Sundanese, Balinese and Javanese singers. With the exception of John Jacobs, a British exchange student at STSI Surakarta, virtually all the musicians in Sono Seni Ensemble are not really skilled at playing instruments.

However, because the learning process is something they already understand from composing their own musical pieces, the result of four months of rehearsals was quite amazing. The arrangement of sounds presented were rich in nuance, including the local color which emerged from the ensemble. Some of the ethnic musical instruments used in the performance included terbang, genggong, kalumba and jembe.

The composition Kisah Sebuah Cerita (A Story) by Joko S Gombloh originally included a text. However, for this performance, the text was dumped to allow greater creative stimulation. In certain sequences in this seven-minute piece, Joko tried to mix pentatonic tones into an arrangement with a diatonic harmony. This clash of tones gave rise to a polyphonic impression, which was at times contemplative.

The sound produced appealed to the ears, asking the audience to listen closely and carefully. This work, which gave an empty space for the trumpetist and flutist, was not simply a nice blend of music similar to that now becoming trendy in the music industry. Neither did it take the audience to an area of excessive complex musicality. This piece called for great appreciation as a musical work.

In the meantime, John Jacobs presented Lucky for Some, which almost took the musicians into the hell of music goes round into a pattern of seven beats. This is a hell because in this pattern there are a number of difficulties the players must go through, particularly musicians with a gamelan background. This pattern would be alien to them because they are used to counting the beats evenly.

Lucky for Some was originally a melodic theme which later challenged Jacobs to consider a grander form in totality. The result was that the form became strong, with a constantly changing pattern of rhythm and melody development.

The articulation of the striking of the drum was just like a pillar in a consistent tempo and a guide marking the beginning of improvisation. Here, the ability to explore ideas was expected to give artistic substance to the composition.

The precision of seven beats would only be a danger in a mathematical category, but the process determines that this unusual condition becomes an inherent part of the musicians and their musical vocabulary.

Laras Lurus by I Wayan Sadra is a 30-minute composition made up of five parts. This piece will represent Asia in the Pacific Music Festival 1999 in Sapporo, Japan.

The composition was created on the basis of an instrumentation approach, where instruments were treated as no more than mediums of expression whose meanings were made empty. This treatment was similar to what Sadra did to a dining table in a previous work, Otot Kawat Balung Wesi (1995). Sadra, whose works are sold in Canada, the Netherlands and the United States, will make any object a source of sound.

There was no compromise or resignation in the mainstream images already inherent in the character of the music instruments. What came to prominence were atonal sounds. To Sadra, who has was awarded the New Horizon Award in 1991 from the International Society for Art, Sciences and Technology in Berkeley, the United States, Laras Lurus attaches greater significance to sound interaction and dialog.

In the program notes, Sadra wrote: Laras (nice to hear) or not, Lurus (not to be thought about only). It means that if you listen to music, do not have any tendencies. You simply have to set your ears free.

As a musical repertoire, the three pieces were a fair variation and reflected the personalities of each of the composers.

The various backgrounds of the musicians made them loyal to one another in the musical process. As a result, the arena became a venue for creativity.