Hepi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Bangga abdi janten urang sunda , kantun sumbangan ti sim kuring sareng baraya urang sunda sadayana kangge ngamajukeun budaya urang anu kacida luhurna ku nilai-nilai budaya. Komo di jaman kiwari jaman internet anu canggih jiga kieu urang kedah ngamanfaatkeun kamajuan teknologi keur ngarojong budaya urang sorangan. Salut baraya urang sunda anu aya di mana wae .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.
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)
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