Search - Asmat Dream :: Asmat Dream: New Music Indonesia, Vol. 1 (Sunda)

Most people know the music of Indonesia from one of two sources: the myriad of field recordings of gamelan and other locally preserved classical and folk styles, or the Euro-American classical fusions of composers like Lou Harrison. But this series of recordings offers a look at a new, indigenous art music, composed by Indonesian artists and performers to expand their own experience. Harry Roseli's Asmat Dream is a wholly electronic work that, while based on common Sundanese traditions, is a howling mix of tape-looped crickets, vocal samples, and synthesizer programming. In "Diya," Dody Satya Ekagustdiman uses household objects and appliances (sandpaper, a motorcycle helmet) and multiple layers of voices to augment the more common strings, drums, and gongs of gamelan. Nano S. takes the most acoustic path to his discovery, creating a sublime "Galura" (based on Sundanese vocal music) with only two zithers and flute. Each work in this collection takes a new path to an age-old tradition, exposing old myths and creating new ones as they go. --Louis Gibson