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punten teu
ditarjamahkeun....
Seamless fusion
SambaSunda prove that gamelan is more than gong
bashing on their latest album
John Clewley
SambaSunda, the Indonesian gamelan band from the Javanese Sunda
region, are riding high on the European World Music charts with their new album,
Rahwana's Cry.
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| SambaSunda's latest realease "Rahwana's Cry"
(left) and "Soul Deep", a compilation of Afro-American music put out by
the BBC as part of its recent six-part TV series. |
Gamelan was one of the first Southeast Asian musical styles to
be introduced to Western audiences when it took its bow, along with Cambodian
classical dance, at various exhibitions in the 19th century. Classical composers
like Debussy were fascinated by the intricate, densely layered percussive
rhythms and melodies of gamelan, just as modern minimalists like John Cage and
Terry Riley were years later in the 20th century.
It may have taken a
long time for gamelan to emerge again, but SambaSunda have been tearing up the
international circuit for a few years now. The band has a string of domestic
releases on the GNP label that chart the band's development as it experimented
with incorporating new sounds from other styles - like Brazilian samba and the
African djembe drum - into a basic gamelan set up. Some of the songs featured on
these albums appeared on Berekis (Kartini, Germany) and last year's The Sunda
Music (Rice Records, UK), which I reviewed earlier this year.
For those
of you that missed the review, SambaSunda is an 18-member ensemble featuring
gongs and percussion instruments used in various kinds of Indonesian gamelan,
ably supported by violin, suling flute, djembe and timbales. Many songs are
instrumental but the vocal tracks feature the sweet, nasally voice of Rita Tila.
SambaSunda's first effort specifically designed for international
audiences, Rahwana's Cry is doing very well in Europe, boosted no doubt by the
band's festival appearances this past summer.
The foreign influences and
Indonesian pop elements apparent on the previous two albums have this time been
seamlessly blended into a gamelan base, creating a distinctive sound that is
both ancient and modern. With plenty of surprises and musical detours, the songs
on this terrific album swing from haunting, dreamy soundscapes to hard driving
percussion workouts, augmented by wails, chanting, haunting violin and Rita
Tila's soaring voice - her contributions are found on my favourite tracks, Mang
Mang and Harepan.
The band certainly does its best to dispel the notion
that gamelan is just about gong bashing and repetitive rhythms. SambaSunda have
developed a mature sound that is distinctive and unique. Whereas most bands from
this region that attempt to create some kind of fusion music nearly always fall
back on rock, jazz funk or bossa nova to "internationalise" their music, there
is not one rock guitar solo on this album.
I expect this album to be
featured on many critics' best of the year lists. Highly recommended. Mail order
from: www.sternsmusic.co.uk, www.amazon.com and www.phatplanet.com.
It's
a tall order to try to cover the history of Afro-American popular music in just
two CDs, but Soul Deep - the compilation the BBC released as part of its recent
six-part TV series - attempts to do just that.
To cover 50 years of
music in only 39 tracks means that some omissions had to be made, but why there
is nothing by Ray Charles, a key pioneer in the secularisation of gospel music
during the 50s, nor anything by Sam and Dave, Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett or
Otis Redding is a mystery. The Southern Soul belles are largely absent, as is
any representative from the Philly sound or disco. Oddly, the album ends with
Bobby Brown's My Prerogative, which was released in 1988, so the last two
decades of hip hop and r'n'b are ignored.
That said, there are plenty of
great songs on the album, which at 399 baht is a bargain (I found my copy in the
music section of Central Chidlom's B2S store). James Brown, Etta James, Sam
Cooke, the Temptations, the Isley Brothers, Sly, Parliament, Aretha Franklin,
the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves and even James Carr take their
bows.
Soul fans will already have many of the songs - Baby Love and My
Guy are so well known you wonder why they were chosen - but if you don't know
gospel from funk, then this album is a must.
The TV series was highly
acclaimed when it was broadcast but so far the BBC has indicated that the
six-part series will not be released on DVD.
Let's hope the mandarins of
the BBC change their minds. If you want to find out more information on the
series, read articles and listen to sound clips, go to
www.bbc.co.uk/music/souldeep.
This column can be contacted at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect
upon art. -Susan Sontag,
author and critic
(1933-2004)
Komunitas Urang Sunda --> http://www.Urang-Sunda.or.id
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