SambaSunda Indonesian Music CDs

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SambaSunda is an ensemble from Sunda in Indonesia. The group plays traditional gamelan music with several modern twists -- most notably, the Brazilian samba of their name. The group is the highly individualistic brainchild of the visionary musician Ismet Ruchimat.

Ruchimat joined the famous Jugula Orchestra in 1989, and used the musical experience he gained there to form SambaSunda in the late 1990's. The group has released seven popular titles in their local market and every year edges closer to widespread international recognition.

At the heart of SambaSunda's music lie two traditional Sundanese styles:

Gamelan degung
An ever-changing array of drums, xylophones and gongs makes up this style, which is generally led by the bonang, an instrument featuring 14 small gongs.

Gamelan angklung
This type of gamelan orchestra features angklung instruments, which are hollow bamboo tubes on a frame that, when shaken vigorously, produce bright, wooden pops of different tones.

To these, SambaSunda adds many other ingredients into the mix, including kroncong (a kind of nationalistic soft-rock), jaipongan (a modern update of indigenous Sundanese music by local artist and scholar Gugum Gumbira), kebyar (a wild, incendiary gamelan style from Bali), and samba from Brazil. The group also specializes in vocals, from multi-voice chanting to inspired solo singing.

The first impression of SambaSunda's music is that of a headlong rush of music -- it seems driven and energetic. However, the paradox of the ensemble is that underneath everything, there ultimately lies a more relaxed, tranquil mood. Fitting these two concepts within the same music give the group a distinct, compelling sound, and the exuberance and coolness of the musicians makes SambaSunda a marvel of modern world music.

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SambaSunda CDs