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Sambasunda Sounds

"The drum is beaten for the simpleton, the angkling is played for the lunatic"

The Sambasunda rehearsal started at 6pm and went on late into the night, without a break. I arrived at ASTI- Akademi Seni Tradisional Indonesia in the dark, with only a vague idea where the practice would be held. My ears picked up at the sound of drum beats echoing through the dark, deserted campus. The music drew me up to the third floor of a building at the back of the quadrangle, where I snuck into the room and squeezed myself into the corner by the door - surrounded by djembe, kendang, tambourines and drums of many kinds. Sambasunda were practicing their finale - a spectacular percussion display.

Passionate, exciting and inspiring - hands moving too fast for the eyes to see. Achi playing djembe puts every ounce of his spirit and energy into his playing - a wild and expressive player. Other famous and beautiful drummers include Ismet - the founder and leader of Sambasunda, Efiq, Gun Gun, Jaenudin and Efendi on suling.

The next piece was a fusion of drumming and Balinese gamelan - gong, 8 saron, flute, drums and tambourine - the frenetic beat of dynamic speed gamelan flowed into a smooth melody which was then overwhelmed by the powering beat of the thundrous jungle djembes. After that the next piece began with a gentle saron gending, before the djembe and kendang started beating out a syncopated rhythm with all 15 musicians joining in with chanting and calls echoing the saron melody, - creating a full, fulsome deeply satisfying sound.

Next sparkling, clear, rippling saron sounds and beneath the fluttering, tinkling tune, the deep gong notes resonate, punctuated by a variety of wind sounds from the flute and trumpet.

Watching a performance is great and exciting, but for getting inside the music there's nothing like being at the rehearsal.

its a pleasure just to watch
his pleasure
in playing
hands pounding
shoulders rocking
hair flying
you can hear his passion
by watching him move
a young percussion star
the music
a living breathing
art
that never stops to ask
itself why-
it just is-
a part of all of us
it is in our blood
to move to the beat
of hands on skins
images come to mind
tigers prowling the jungle
warriors dance
deep rivers flow and
wild trees are whipped by
a hurricane of
sound

The next night the small hall is packed, standing room only, invitation only - no charge. The evening commences with an unusual and beautiful Topeng Klana from Cikruhan. The woman dancer is decorated with long flowing scarves and tassles, she then produces a deep red mask and soon becomes the spirit of the topeng. Her performance - an angular dynamic warrior.

The next dance performance is very different in character - graceful, sensual and feminine in sparkling robes of red and green, the woman dancer moving with a beautiful, swaying movement like martial arts with wide, sweeping arm movements and spirals, rolling hips, shoulders and arms.

Sambasunda's performance begins with a wild djembe introduction, followed by the clash of the gamelan pounding like waves on rocks beneath a cliff. Wild thrashing gamelan Bali sounds mixed with Sundanese Degung.

The night's performance involves 16 musicians including congas, violin, rebana and gamelan - the sounds running over like a waterfall. In the next song,the drums take off careening madly - these guys are hot, hot, hot - then the gamelan crashes in - Ismet playing a drum so fast, a stick flies out of his hand. The djembe players nearly fly off their seats - they are clearly so happy and excited by the music that they can hardly find enough ways to express it. The sound just keeps getting bigger, better, fuller and stronger.

Some of the audience get up and start enjoying themselves with a free style joged.

The group sound a call with scattered drum beats and the drummers become dancers while the dancers become wilder, its like a marketplace of sounds winding up to the grand finale of percussion, drums, djembe and kendang. Four kendang players in the front, four djembe players standing behind with the trompet, tambourines, congas, snare drums and rebanas playing melody rhythms.

Finally, after dancing with their drums, the djembe players take off and take over. No amplification is needed for this band to take the roof off.

Sambasunda at
Alliance Francaise
Bandung, West Java.
Feb 2001 by J. Shelley
indoartsalliance@hotmail.com
Member - AIAA

Samabsunda are a fabulous Indonesian traditional-contemporary music group based in Bandung, West Java. Their activities include recording and performing as well as preserving traditional music. Although most of their activities are based around music, they are often involved with other performing art forms such as dance and theatre as well.

The name Sambasunda started to be used by the group in 1998. Prior to that the group started out in 1990 under the name "Prawa", then in 1997 changed their name to CBMW. This name was used until the release of the "Rhythmical in Sundanese People" Album, which included a song called Sambasunda. Finding that this name suited them, the group have used it ever since.

Sambasunda have participated in many and varied musical events within Indonesia and overseas including being awarded the Best Performance of Multicultural Music at the Asian Music Festival in Colombo Sri Lanka in 1999. The group have also released a number of recordings over the years, including Rhythmical in Sundanese People, Gebyar Bali Jaipong, Sunda Bali- Millenium Ritual, Takbir and Shalawat and Magic Skins of Drums. For more information check out their website.

Sambasunda Website: http://surf.to/sambasunda