Musicians from Indonesia's premier gamelan fusion group SambaSunda recently celebrated their 25th anniversary with the release of a new album, Taramurag: The Story Of Rangkay (GNP, Indonesia).
The 17-member group rose to fame internationally with two releases, The Sunda Music in 2004 on the UK-based Rice Records label and Rahwana's Cry on the German label, Network Medien, in 2005. At the same time, the band embarked on an Asian and European tour and it was in 2005, I think, that I saw the band perform a scintillating set at the Rainforest World Music Festival.
The band is led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Ismet Ruchimat, who began his career in 1989 with Gugum Gumbira's wonderful Jugala Orchestra, which like Ruchimat and the band mostly hail from Bandung, the capital of Java's western region, Sunda. Bandung is one of the musical centres of Indonesia, known for its distinctive gamelan music and popular styles like jaipongan and pop Sunda. Many of the musicians studied at STSI Arts College in Bandung.
Gemelan is the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali and is mainly made up of percussion instruments -- often metal keys hit by mallets, Kempul gongs, bamboo shakers and various hand drums like the kendhang. Xylophones, bamboo flutes, the rebab fiddle and vocals complete the line-up.
Gongs, of course, are found in many cultures across the region, and are often used in rituals and ceremonies. They also form a key part of traditional music in many cultures as well. In Thailand, classical music features the khong wong yai and khong wong lek, which are sets of gongs set in a circle.
Gamelan music in Indonesia has distinctive regional styles: West Java (Sunda) and East Java have distinctive varieties of gamelan, while the Balinese version is known for being the liveliest of the lot. What marked and marks Sambasunda as being very different and original is the fact that these musicians can play any of the gamelan styles, which they often mash up in one song.
Ruchimat also brought foreign elements into the band's music. He explained to me in 2005 that he deliberately went to live and work in Sweden during the early part of his career to learn different Western styles of music which he thought might work well with his gamelan playing mates. The results on the band's first two international releases were a revelation. Western touches were added but not in the standard way bands do this in Southeast Asia, which is often focused on rock guitar licks with Santana-esque riffs. They added outside elements, including rock guitar, but only to further the music, which remains gamelan with a twist.
The band is well known in Indonesia, not only for the full-on 17-member ensemble, which gets even bigger on some shows (see YouTube). In 2012, a scaled-down version of the band, Sambasunda Quintet, released Java (TUG).
The new album features some typical gamelan fused with outside elements and on some songs we are treated to the unique voice of Rita Dila, whose voice soars over mesmerising rhythms from the kecapi, a kind of zither and percussion from banks of angklung (sets of bamboo tubes on a frame; single ones are often found in Thai schools and are common across the region), over which the suling bamboo flute pipes its lilting riffs. She is dreamily wonderful on the song, Paris Van Java.
Taramurag also features a song written by Colin Bass, who may or may not be the infamous Sabah Habas Mustapha from 3 Mustaphas 3 (remember the "Balkan" band from the 1990s?) who went on to found a record label in Germany, Kartini, which released two excellent Indonesian and Sundanese music albums. From these two albums, a monster hit emerged, Denpasar Moon, which Bass once said has spawned at least 50 cover versions (copies). The new song, Di Nagara Deungeun, is a jaunty dancer that features guitars and a rolling rhythm that feels vaguely Caribbean or African.
I don't know of any band in Southeast Asia that has succeeded in taking the roots of their traditional music and creating something new, without in any way diluting the music. I do hope that this album or a major retrospective compilation of their best work over the past 25 years gets released internationally (you can find it on YouTube, iTunes and Spotify) and that the band embarks on an international tour to bring their distinctive gamelan fusion to music fans outside of Indonesia.
