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Selamat Sukses Bandung!
Getting back to Bandung, one of the first things I noticed was the place seems abuzz with activity - constantly.....with music, longser, theatre, dance performances, rehearsals and TV appearances happening non-stop, and the artistic careers of many of our AIAA members and friends progressing in leaps and bounds.
GUNGUN
I recently had the chance to interview Gun Gun Permana from Sambasunda and Jugala, who has more recently been performing with his new group Soulflip. This year Gun Gun has has spent 4 months in Thailand recording and performing with Soulflip, a band Gun Gun has put together with some friends from Bandung and Los Angeles.
Gun Gun took a group of 5 Bandung artists with him to Thailand - 3 musicians and 2 dancers - Gun Gun, Asep Bagja, Asep Black, Ade Marliah and Salela - who have been creating new music using improvisation and collaboration between techno and traditional music and dance.
Gun Gun described the creative process he has been using to create new compositions. They start first with a base of funky beats which Gun Gun then fills in with kendang, djembe and suling (bamboo flute). The group spends about half an hour improvising , then stop to edit and work together with the dancers. During the space of 4 months the group produced about 20 new songs in this way.
Thai music from the surrounding environment also made its way into Soulflip's sound with the musicians soaking up the traditional and modern sound culture around them in the village, then allowing these influences to be expressed in their new music. Gun Gun is now spending a month in Bali with Soulflip and the group also plans to spend time in Australia, India and Tibet.
Gun Gun has also been a member of Sambasunda since its inception in 1997 when he started studying at STSI, Bandung. Gun Gun has travelled to Sri Lanka and China with Sambasunda as well as performing regularly around Bandung - Jakarta and participating in the production of 6 CDs incorporating various themes such as Degung, Bamboo, Religious music, Salendro, Latin, string music and others.Sambasunda is presntly on its way back to Bandung after a two month tour of Europe including England, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Holland.
Gun Gun feels happy creating music which is a collaboration between different cultures as a way of discovering more about humanity and about himself. He hopes to continue to promote Sundanese music and to continue to tour overseas, especially Australia. Gun Gun and Soulflip have now settled in Bali, but I was able to catch up with him in Bandung during October before he flew out to perform in Taiwan with Sambasunda.
AGUS
Agus Partiwa, well-known on the AIAA website as a Longser actor and enthusiast, now leads his own Longser group of 19 performers called Panca Kaki. Since I arrived in Bandung, the group has been performing every week in many different venues around Bandung. Longser is a traditional form of Sundanese village theatre incorporating music and dance, theatre and mask performance.
Agus has been concerned that the popularity of Longser has been on the wane in recent years and he was worried that the art form may die out. He has taken it on as a personal mission to keep Longser alive, and during the last two years Agus' progress professionally and culturally shows that his hard work and determination have been paying off and creating opportunities for other young actors to keep performing and keeping Longser alive.
Recently Agus produced a Longser version of the Ramayana Story, which was performed for a number of local school groups in the Dewi Asri Building at STSI Bandung as well as performances for the general public.
I was very pleased to be able to attend a performance of Longser held in the courtyard of the Art School, STISI Bandung. Seaching our way upstairs and down into the kampus, we found the stage set in the central quadrangle of the school, scattered with straw with a bamboo saung and gamelan troupe readying itself to perform.
The performance commenced with a humorous narration in Sundanese not failing to point me out as the only foreigner in the audience not likely to understand Bahasa Sunda. The introduction was followed by a pleasant dance interlude performed by young female dancers before the start of the main story.
Toting rubber machine guns and wearing colourful, creative costumes incorporating elements both traditional and modern, the characters proceeded to perform a bawdy, humorous tale which seemed to be based around three soldiers encountering various adventures with other comic and magical characters on their tramp about the countryside. Very suggestive and humorous with lots of audience particiaption, quips and backchat, men playing women, an old woman character playing Inul, slap stick, raucous and ending with lead performer Agus doing a kind of strip - out of his bright orange uniform down to his undershorts, as a finale at the end.
While played in Sundanese, the Longser still lends itself to an entertaining evening due to the clowning suggestive physical humour which is easily understood by a non-Sundanese speaker.
OPE
Bandung Dancer/Choreographer Taufik Hidayat (Ope) has also had major career changes in the last year - now spending most of his time in Jakarta and running back to beloved Bandung on weekends when he can. Ope is now working full-time as a Dance and Costume Design teacher at an exclusive school in Jakarta.
The School specialises in training Indonesian dancers in traditional and contemporary dance, in order to audition for employment in Japan. The teachers and co-ordinators of the exchange program also move regularly back and forth between Indonesia and Japan. As part of his role as dance teacher at the school, Ope now also presents regular dance shows at various Jakarta venues such as the Fashion Cafe, Latin Cafe and Indian Restaurant, in which he designs the costumes himslef as well as choreographing and teaching the dancers. Recent plans include participating in a dance festival in Padang, Sumatra as well as participating in AIAA activities and collaborations in Jakarta and Bandung.
OSENG
Deni Tudi Rahayu (Oseng) previously Musican-in-Residence with AIAA Byron Bay has been riding a rocket of success in the last year or two.
His career as a musician, event and art management company has taken off very fast since his return Indonesia in 2001. While planning to return to Australia, Oseng became involved with arts management in Bandung, firstly forming Bandung Percussion Society which provided percussion performances for various festivals and performances in Bandung and Jakarta.
Since then a big break came when the now renamed Ozenk Percussion were offered a regular weekly spot on television in Jakarta, which then led to the group being invited to tour nationally with Indonesia's latest Diva - Sahnti.
Now co-ordinating regular music and dance performances on Indosiar's Live Monday night Dangdut show, Oseng now leads Ozenk Dancers, Ozenk Percussion as well as managing local Bandung Rock band Neima - all under the umbrella of Ozenk Management. Needless to say, Oseng is pretty much on the go non-stop - touring, performing, rehearsing, composing new music and co-ordinating music and dance groups in the Bandung-Jakarta area and still finding time to record and perform with friends like Doel Sumbang and others while providing support and employment for many other young Bandung artists based around STSI Bandung. We will be very lucky to see Oseng back in Australia at this stage as his career in Indonesia has taken off like a rocket.
NENENG
On a personal note, I have been greatly pleased and overjoyed to meet up again with the fabulous psinden Neneng Dinar.
I first met Neneng in Byron Bay in 1999. Neneng came to Australia as the singer with the kacapi suling group Parahyangan which toured the East Coast of Australia. AIAA was able to provide support for the group's stay in the NSW North Coast and on their brief 2 day visit, many local people had the chance to meet the musicians at a farewell lunch in Byron. Later, sitting at Byron Bay Railway Station said to Neneng - 'One day I want to study singing with you!'
Fate brought us together again here in Bandung when Bpk Yoyon, who I knew from his visit to Australia wit Krakatau invited me to visit local musicians Tati Saleh and Desentara. Dropping by to Desentara on a Sunday afternoon, who should walk in th doorbut Neneng Dinar, ready to practise with Ibu Tati.
We immediately arranged to meet again and my lessons in Classical Tembang Sunda commenced soon after. While also working full-time, Neneng is in great demand as a singer performing regularly on TVRI as well as classical Sundanese music performances for state events, private functions, recordings, tours and culturual events of all kinds.
I am very grateful for her kindness and generosity in sharing her art with me, her humble student.
YANI
Yani Mae is a new AIAA member (see her page in the Performing Arts Gallery ) and is currently a lecturer in the Theatre Department at STSI Bandung. Besides teaching, Yani is also a director, actor, photographer of performing arts and event manager.
In 2002, Yani launched a womens art group called Komunitas Perempuan Bandung - Woman Community Bandung. So far the group have presented a photography exhibition a major theatre production - Malam Terakhir - Sotoba Kamachi at Gedung Kesenian Dewi Asri, STSI and this year presented a performance of childrens theatre - Kerajaan Burung - written by Saini KM.
In the near future the group plan to create a new performance around the theme of Polygamy. Yani has also had recent personal success by being selected to participate in the Photography Exhibition at the Jakarta Bienale opening in September.
EFEN
Efendi Jaenudin ia another member of Sambasunda who has been a member of AIAA for some years. Efen is a wonderful performer of Karawitan Sunda who specialises in Bamboo flute and Rebab. His latest activities include regular spots on RCTI as well as other TV stations, performing music with Karel for a welcome Dance performance as well as doing some recording with local musician Niko, recording songs by Niko and Mukti2.
Efen aslo recently provided musical accompaniament for Kerensa's performances at the AIAA Malam Persahabatan Indonesia Australia held at STSI Bandung on 21 September.One day I bumped into Efen at STSI carrying a very interesting and
ancient one string instrument called a Tarawangsa - he played me a beautiful,
wistful tune then told me he was on his way to rehearse for a show at
a Bandung Night Club Studio East in a Techno music collaboration with
Idjul DJ - well that's Bandung for you!!!!Salam hangat,
Judy Shelley