Hello to the few folks who may be checking this blog regularly,
Sorry for the month-long absence of new posts...I still have a treasure trove of sounds to share with the world (including quite a few from my most recent trip to Sulawesi), but have been in a bit of a lazy slump recently. Next wednesday is election day here in Indonesia (I'm nervous about that, but don't get me started), so I've got work off and plan to spend the day loading up a bunch of posts of great music and photos.
Last month my friend Greg Ruben interviewed me for his pirate radio station in New York City - you can listen to the hour long piece here - it features my awkward, often misinformed ramblings about Indonesian music with a few of my recordings thrown in there, including a not-yet-released tune from Mandar in West Sulawesi.
At the moment I'm planning a trip to the deep jungles of inner Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) for the end of this month in search of some of my favorite music of the archipelago, the sape' lute of the Dayak people.
Aural Archipelago still lives...keep checking back!
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog! Kudos for preserving and showcasing Indonesian traditional music in an accessible format.
If I may, I would like to suggest that you take a look at Gambang Kromong. It's a traditional Betawi orchestra with a huge Chinese influence. Check out the wiki article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambang_kromong.
There are also clips of the music on youtube, uploaded from an album recorded by the Smithsonian recording label. Here is one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPtjMS-NbEo.
A liner note, which explains the history of Gambang Kromong, from the album can be downloaded here: http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/smithsonian_folkways/SFW40057.pdf
Thanks John! I'm glad someone is enjoying it...I am computerless at the moment so unable to post recently but I've got tons more stuff to share, so check back in a month or so and there will hopefully be tons of new content.
DeleteThanks for the gambang kromong rec - that is a style that I have been really fascinated since I've been here. I have a friend here in Bandung who actually made a great documentary about gambang kromong, which I think you can watch here:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/70/Dragons-Begets-Dragons
Hopefully sometime soon I can utilize her contacts to go out to an area like Tangerang and try to further document some of the great, weird music there.
What is your experience with Indonesian music? Are you a musician?