Trio recreate the rhythm of falling rain

Trio recreate the rhythm of falling rain

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The sound of drizzle intensifies into a thundering downpour.
The sound of the pounding rain reverberates in our ears, but at
times it is just a distant roar in the background, coming from
the Purna Budaya Yogyakarta building.

In actual fact, it is not real rain that surrounds us, but a
recreation of its rhythm from various kendang (drums) in a
composition titled War of Rain.

Indonesian musician Djaduk Ferianto, Malaysian musician Mohd.
Kamrulbahri Hussin and Indian musician Kirubakaran collaborated
on the piece, and along with the Kua Etnika arts community,
performed it live on Wed. May 22.

The percussion repertoire, called Many Skins, One Rhythm, was
the outcome of a three-week workshop involving the trio in
Yogyakarta, who were under the sponsorship of Arts Network Asia.

The founder and leader of Kua Etnika, Djaduk Ferianto, has
long been exploring traditional music and frequently staging
national and international music events.

Percussionist Kirubakaran has taken part in many music shows
and collaborative works with international musicians
and has also played music for rituals. Kamrulbahari is a noted
percussionist who has frequently appeared at a number of
international events. He also teaches music at the National
University in Malaysia.

The workshop, which involved these three musicians, produced
eight percussive compositions, reflecting the characteristics of
their three countries. The compositions included Perang Hujan
(War of the Rain), Pantai Rebana (Tambourine Beach), Panggil
(Summons), Indies and Kulit Pepak Satu Rampak (Various Skins, One
Tune).

Out of the eight pieces, only Kulit Pepak Satu Rampak matched
the theme of the evening's performance, with one voice ringing
out amid the various percussion instruments. All the pieces
reflected unity in diversity, not only in terms of the
instruments used, but also in the various backgrounds of the
musicians.

The Kulit Pepak Satu Rampak composition, used as the closing
number, was strong in its display of ethnic music. The audience
wholeheartedly applauded the trio during the jam session, in
which Indian, Malaysian and Indonesian percussion instruments
fused together to create a dynamic sound that developed into an
Asian composition.

The dynamic diversity of Indonesia's ethnic music became all
the more apparent when the Batak gondang (a drum) from North
Sumatra and kendang from West Java, Central Java, East Java,
Bali, Sulawesi and Papua were used for this piece, lending solid
evidence that the kendang skin is truly rich in its sound.

Most of these eight percussion pieces impressed the audience,
providing ample opportunities to let the imagination run wild,
especially during the first piece, Perang Hujan.

True to its title, Panggil (Summon) played with high
resonating percussion instruments, presented the rhythm like a
summons to the audience. In this piece, Djaduk Ferianto, who
started with the small madel kendang, playfully improvised the
music along with Kirubakaran, who played Indian percussion
instruments, such as the tabla, hanjira, udukku and tawil, and
Kamrulbahri, who played the rebana ibu (mother tambourine),
rebana anak (smaller tambourine) and the darbuka.

Another interesting composition was Indies, which was played
together by Djaduk and Kirubakaran. This piece sounded like a
dueling dialog between the two percussionists as they played off
the beats made by the other, namely the Balinese kendang and the
Indian tabla.
This piece, whose sound was enriched by a bamboo flute played by
Djaduk, was closed with a saxophone solo.

All in all, this musical collaboration was successful,
especially given the excellent lighting and sound system that
accompanied it. Unfortunately, many members of the audience
forgot to turn their cellular phones off, which disrupted the
entire performance, disturbing those who came to the event
specially to enjoy the rare performance.