SonoSeni to stage collaborative works

SonoSeni to stage collaborative works

JAKARTA (JP): Seven composers will stage their compositions
during a collaborative hybrid music effort between the SonoSeni
Ensemble and Japanese composer Takahito Hayashi on Sept. 29 and
Sept. 30.

The show, which will be staged at the Surakarta Cultural
Park's Arena Theater in Surakarta, Central Java, is entitled
Suita 42 Hari (42 Days of Suita).

The seven composers, who come from diverse professional
backgrounds, will try to find new musical perspectives based on
new sources of sound.

According to the show's production manager Esha Kardus, the
collaboration is also intended to challenge the musical
perceptions of each composer and they are expected to take the
collaborative work as a learning process in articulating a
composition and reflecting even the smallest ideas or themes in a
composition.

Although modern and popular musical instruments such as
guitar, bass, keyboard and drum will be used in the musical
exploration show, it does not mean the collaborative work will
totally submit to mainstream pop music, he added.

"The show is expected to return instruments to their real
purposes, as sources of sound that is free of any values," Esha
said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post.

The seven composers -- I Wayan Sadra, Takahito Hayashi, Joko
S. Gombloh, Rudy Sulistanto, Gunarto Gondrong, Ade Abdul Kholiq
and Zoel Mistortoify -- will "take" the instruments and then
transform them to create hybrid music.

In the two-day show, I Wayan Sadra will present Nyanyian Tanah
(Song of Land), which will highlight Balinese musical
instruments.

The composer, who is also a lecturer in music criticism and
repertoire at the Indonesian Arts Institute in Surakarta, started
his career in 1976 and since then has taken part in many national
and international events. The winner of the New Horizon Award
from the International Society for Art, Sciences and Technology
in the United States has produced musical works for concerts,
dance, theater, poetry, fine arts installation, and animated
films.

Composer-saxophonist Takahito Hayashi, who has been with the
SonoSeni Ensemble for two months, will perform Uzu (Inside),
while Joko S. Gombloh will present Etc, Rudy Sulistanto Sang
(The), Gunarto Gondrong Drumming, Ade Abdul Kholiq 33-17 and Zoel
E-lae.

"Through this work we want to find music with Asian
characteristics because Asian music, historically, has the same
roots," Esha said. (ste)