(2020) VA - Anthology of Contemporary Music from Indonesia


Review:
In his personal and professional quest to find and document underground experimental music in all corners of our planet, Raffaelle Pezzella (of Sonologyst / Unexplained Sounds Group) has compiled this collection of Indonesian artists working in their particular music cultures and traditions, using tools, techniques and ideas picked up from formal experimental / avant-garde music scenes outside Indonesia to create some fascinating and intriguing fusions of their music and Western styles. Most of the music featured on this anthology is of either an ambient, drone ambient, musique concrete, noise or soundscape / sound art nature, reflecting perhaps a combination of what Pezzella was able to find and his preferences, though interestingly a couple of artists featured in the USG anthology, Senyawa and Wukir Suriyadi, have also been featured on another, earlier compilation “Pekak! Indonesian Noise 1995 – 2015: 20 Years of Experimental Music from Indonesia” which emphasised harsher noise, industrial and metal-influenced experimental music.

***

For many centuries Indonesia, from the Malay Peninsula throughout the vast archipelago, has been subjected to successive foreign cultural invasions which have left their deep imprint on the indigenous way of life. Among the first was the Mongolian intrusion from central Asia. A later cultural wave came from India when Hindu merchants and immigrants introduced Hinduism and Buddhism into the islands. Subsequently, about the 13th century A.D. Islamic influences penetrated the archipelago. Finally in the 16th century, Western culture and Christianity came into the picture. Although, after four centuries, Western civilization has by no means superseded the Islamic hold on Indonesia (90% of the population are Muslims), it has already reshaped the outward appearance of Indonesia life to a considerably extent. The cultural diversity is naturally reflected in the music. In the current globalized and digital communications-dominated era, influences from the Western world become more and more evident, in everyday life , as well in popular art and music from Indonesia. But listening to the tracks included in this compilation presented by Unexplained Sounds Group, you’ll discover how traditional Indonesian music, even in its more ‘primitive’ forms, as well in the very elaborate and developed ones from Javanese and Balinese tradition, are still very much recognizable. The current mix of influences in the experimental and avant-garde music from this region has resulted in an extremely fascinating kaleidoscope of sounds.





Tracklist:


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, world
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits