Home | Vol 9 Table of Contents | Previous Issues | Contact Us: 07 55278753 / 0405463663 | Email: judybyronbay@yahoo.com

Musik Baru

Yayasan Polosseni CD's

The Yayasan Polosseni presents a series of CD's.
Profit from the CD's is used by the Yayasan to continue the research and training of perfomers at the Yayasan Polosseni in such projects as the Legong Kraton Project which is committed to the preservation and promotion of the Teges, Peliatan Style of Legong Kraton. The Yayasan's flagship group, Sekehe Dharma Purwe Jati has been working with the legong teachers Ibu Sang Ayu Ketut Muklen and Ni Putu Sutarini in the revival of the missing segments of Legong Kraton. The group is currently working on Legong Kraton Pelayon.

• Sweet Sukawati Seeds YP 1040
  This recording is the result of a project initiated by Yayasan Polosseni. The projected aim was to combine Balinese melodies and Balinese performers with selected Western performers in an attempt to create some new and interesting musical experiences. Western Artists : Spiros Brachi (violin), Brachi Tilles (piano), Brenda Schuman-Post (oboe), Jeff Beer (trumpet) Balinese musicians : Purwe Jati Group
  
  

• Gambuh Bali YP1030
  This is a recording of the group Sekehe Gambuh Panti Pusaka Budaya from Batuan performing Satya Mapaid. These are ancient melodies which unwind to the accents of the drums and willow away softly through the remarkable, long, bamboo flutes which are only found in Gambuh and are the root material of all Balinese music.

• Legong Kraton YP1020
  Lasem and Kuntir The Legong series combines the musical expertise of its Semar Pegulingan gamlean orchestra, sekehe gong Dharma Purwa Jati and the Yayasans Legong dancers and their teachers Sang Ayu Ketut Muklen and Ni Putu Sutarini. This is the second ina planned ongoing series of recordings which will present all the segments of Balinese Legong.

• Golden Gong of Bali YP1010 Gamelan Semar Pegulingan.
  Sekehe Dharma Purwa Jati is the flagship group of the Yayasan Polosseni. It plays on a Gamelan Semar Pegulingan. This is the great gong of the palaces of the Balinese Rajas. The sweet sound of the Semar Pegulingan was traditoinally heard throughout the King's palace in the afternoon. The great teacher of these melodies, I Made Lebah, passed on his knowledge to the groups in this village and the music lives long after he has passed away.

Producer: Douglas Myers
Recording Engineer: Rodney Jacobson
Recording Technician: Dave Stewart
Grevillea Mastering, Brisbane, Australia
Yayasan Polosseni P.O.Box 56, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia Tel: 62 361 975 869
Email: polos@goarchi.com Web site: http://www.goarchi.com.yp

---

CD Reviews

Sunda Bali

I found listening to this music to be a very soothing experience. A light energetic quality runs throughout the whole album, which is deepened by very moody and smoothly elongated infusions and interludes from wind and string instruments which I found a little strange and humorous at times.This is Balinese gamelan and Sundanese music idiom being fused together in a "cross-cultural" relationship that is both harmonious and dynamic. Popular and classical music is allowed to keep living and growing in what is a common example of the creative process at work in Indonesia. Chances are you will like this album. Sunda Bali by Sambasunda Reviewed by Tom Mullins, Byron Bay, NSW.

Archipelagongs

This album takes echoes from Indonesia's ancient past and infuses them with ultra-funky bass, serenely delicate expression of voice, which extends and rises at times to an outpouring of epic proportions, and modernistic dreamy interludes like that of the electric sitar. Many traditional instruments and an uplifting chorus of backing vocals are also prominant. An enormously diverse range of sounds reflecting and honouring, in a spirit of gratidute and celebration, the diversity of Indonesia's archipelago.The lyrics at times merge between Indonesian and English, which seems to open your senses to the sounds and rythms of the language itself as opposed to it's merely intellectual meaning, so the emotional quality of the music is intensified. This is also explored in "Dongeng Batu" through the soundscapes of rain, running water, thunder and elements of the environment that also reflect something much deeper than words. Having described the music so far as both ancient and modernistic, I must also say it has that dimention of timelessness, which I really love in music and also film, it somehow frees your imagination. Perhaps hearing a language I can't understand supports this sensation. This Album for me was great because it seemed to subtly express essenses of Indonesian music and culture in a new, unique and also personal way.Archipelagongs by Ubiet
Reviewed by Tom Mullins, Byron Bay