Search - Various Artists :: Music Of Indonesia 11: Melayu Music Of Sumatra And The Riau Islands

In the continuing growing collection of music from Indonesia presented by Smithsonian Folkways, this volume is a standout. It focuses on a number of artists on the Malay Peninsula (where Singapore is located) and parts of Sumatra. The Islamic music called Zapin, performed with oud and voice, has a heavy Arabic influence, rich and formal in its delivery. Ronggeng offers a more raucous sound, using tuned drums and accompanied by fiddle and other small string and wind instruments. The album is rounded out with some short excerpts from two formal theatrical styles, Mak Yong and Mendu, that are revealing but frustratingly brief and incomplete. --Louis Gibson