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Trio Madois Perform at the Australian Embassy

A Collaboration of Sundanese and Aboriginal Music

- National Indonesian Newspaper Republika Thursday 6 February 1997

JAKARTA - The tinkling of the kacapi reminds us of Cianjuran music. The flute and soft murmur of the singer brings the mountainous countryside of West Java to the music lovers present in the Australian Embassy theatre. This is Trio
Madois, a group which brings new dimensions of feeling and imagination to Sundanese music.

Combining musical instruments and song forms from two countries - Indonesia and Australia, the trio was cohesive and tight on the night of the performance. Margaret Bradley brought a number of Australian Aboriginal instruments to the performance. Among them was the didjeridu, a wind instrument made from a two meter length of bamboo. Its sound, which is sometimes soft, and sometimes pulsates with feeling, reminds us of the Aboriginal people in the wilderness of the Australian bush.

Clapsticks (percussion instruments) were also played by this Australian woman who has spent twelve years studying Indonesian music and culture. Apart from playing Aboriginal instruments, Margaret is also skilled at singing
accompanied by Sundanese music. In fact, she sings in two languages - English and Indonesian - which is no problem for this woman with an Indonesian husband.

While Margaret performs using Aboriginal instruments, Dody Satya Ekagustdiman and Ismet Ruchimat play kacapi, tabla and bamboo flute. According to these two young musicians from Bandung, the idea to form the group actually came from Margaret. Still, the strength and tightness of the trio's music is due to their presence. They themselves call it a tight collaboration.

Trio Madois - Margaret, Dody and Ismet - was actually only formed about three months ago. Still, given the age of the group, it already has a considerable amount of touring experience. They have even been to Medan and Kalimantan. And their presence in Jakarta is part of an ongoing plan.

Sundanese Music

Margaret's interest in traditional Indonesian music has been poured into her thesis on Sundanese music. "Indonesia has many fascinating types of music. The one I have embraced is Sundanese music", the graduate of a Diploma in Music
Education from Sydney Conservatorium of Music said to Republika. Her thesis on Sundanese music led her to receive a Master's degree from the University of New South Wales in 1993.

"For the last six months, I have been back studying and performing in Bandung. I have also been developing my own music which combines lyrical melodies with steady rhythms", said the woman who has released a cassette of Indonesian language songs for children called Marilah Menyanyi (Let's Sing).

As for Dody, the group's kacapi player says he's been studying the instrument since 1972. He learnt to play this stringed instrument from West Java from the late Mang Koko Koswara, a famous composer, and his son Tatang Benyamin. His skill is of course aided by his educational background. Ten years spent studying at the Traditional Music High School (SMKI) and the Indonesian Dance Academy (ASTI)in Bandung were enough to provide Dody, who was born in Bandung in 1961, with the skills he needs to succeed in his chosen field.

But he still wasn't satisfied. He then continued his study at the Indonesian College of the Arts (STSI) in Surakarta. Then he received a scholarship to study culture and contemporary music performance in Germany. On his return to
Indonesia, he continued working as a freelance composer while teaching kacapi at STSI in Bandung.

He has received a number of offers to perform. In 1995 he presented his own work at the International Gamelan Festival in Yogyakarta. In the same year he also performed in Utrecht in Holland. Then in 1996, his compositions were performed at Bandung's National Theatre Festival, Experimental Performance II,and the Teachers College Campus Music Presentation. He also appeared at the Goethe Institute.

The group's percussion section is led by Ismet Ruchimat. Because of his ability to play a number of traditional instruments, he has been involved in several recording projects and performances which combined traditional
Sundanese music with other types of music. This man, who in 1991 completed his study at ASTI Bandung and STSI Surakarta, has performed in several countries, including Norway, Sweden, Iceland and India.