me & my music obsessions

This is me writing about music versatility in my room with all lights turned off and the only illumination that helps is the light coming from my laptop screen; while listening to a song sang by one of the infamous indo bands.

When I listen to any sounds of music (which I like of course..duh!), I would feel that as if someone has brought me entering into another world. Seolah-olah dibuai dgn jiwa yang dibawa dalam lagu itu. Im into genres like – contemporary music (soul r&b, pop, ballads, jazz, soft rock) & of course TRADITIONAL music. And when i say traditional, i meant a very traditional one. uuuhh..aarrrr...hiiihiiihiihii...aaahhhh.. (cam sial jer aku type bunyi hantu nih...). Though some of my frens do find that my passion on traditional songs is kinda weird, but slowly they absorbed the idea of me liking this music so much. The most common statement that they would shout at me "kau biar betul ja, minat lagu-lagu mcm tu???...eerrggh...". And i would reply with a long smile.. "beetuuuul...ngeh..ngeh..ngeh...”.

I used to be someone who only listens to English song as I was influeced by my siblings which practically being brought up listening only to English songs. We did listen to malay’s but there were limited choice of songs. Until when I was in my varsity years, I got to know the Gamelan music. Something interesting so I thought. At that point of time I still had limited malay song choices. Bile kawan dengar lagu-lagu melayu nih, aku pun dengar. Kawan suke, aku pun suke jugak. Main ikut-ikut… bile ingat-ingat balik, kelakar ek..? hehe. And now, when im working in a company that has 99% of malay ethnicity, my spectrum of songs have widen reflectively. In fact, my current fave DJs are the “hangat” fm morning crew u know…haaa!! ;p.

Its true that malaysia's heritage, music and dances vary widely and are all influenced by one or more of malaysia's cultural components. Much of Malaysian music and dance has evolved over a period of time. Nevertheless, I am boldly admitting that I listen more of indo music rather than ours. No offence but hey, their melodies & lyrics are literally better, aren’t they..? Maybe its also because their passion in musical is pure and not for money/being glamour (some of them may go for that material la..which not me to deny at all). When u have something genuine that coming straight from your heart, it can be seen through your production. Partly why me being bias with their musical talents, simply because deep down in me, i am truly fascinated with Indonesian acculturations, needless-to-say rich of historical cultures, lavish and beautiful languages, thousands of ethnicities; of what I found them as an extraordinaire, phenomenal, colorful & unparalleled (some call it as bizarre) demeanors of its people.... ;D

Anyhoo, this is not what im trying to emphasize here. Not my main agenda...huhu. Lets go back to how i first got myself involved with the gamelan thingy.

Basically, traditional malay music is centered on the gamelan. The gamelan used to provide the music for the palace/formal occasions. Its a combination of unique and also darn expensive + heavy gamelan sets (we were strictly warned to be extra careful in handling those instruments especially when we have to bring them ourselves for far-distance performances). Dengan gemersik dan paluan yang dihasilkan tarian kayu pemukul Bonang Baron, quite-complicated-to-play Bonang Penerus, Sarong Baron, Sarong Pekin, the xylophone-like Gambang, the huge Kenong, Gong, Kempul and of course the leader among all – Gendang, the combined resonances are very much irresistible. The overall sound is unusual, very beautiful and ironically has a kind of "hypnotic" effect.

Between the “vintage” Javanese gamelan songs and me, there is some sort like a connection. A soft spot I must say. Every time I listened to the soothing rhythm, it seems that the piece of music is so brilliant, ubiquitious, euphoric and exclusive as well. I just love it so much that its hard for me to pick a word which describe this music best.

Even though we have 2 more years to reach 2010 so to speak, end-user like me still hardly find gamelan cds at our music stores. Kalau ade pun, harga must be RM60 and above, which I would consider not worth buying. I did google on free mp3 downloads for Javanese/Balinese/"Malaynese" (hihi..) gamelan songs but it would end up with empty results - as in the song is undownloadable before u pay). Perhaps anyone who might knowing any reliable infos related to gamelan songs, or maybe having the same interests, kindly revert to me if u don’t mind sharing.. ;)

kena practice tgh panas pun happy je kan.. pelik! haha..

playing for a merdeka event...

a show we did in Penang... kaki aku dah kebas giler mase nih..

uuiishh..khusyuk giler the gamelanians practising for FSU nite

here comes the real event....huhu

our senior' s batch graduation ceremony

p/s: calling for mek nija, ayu, k.iza, liza, pardip, azeem, ziman..... jom main lagi wei! kali ni kat istana budaya plak!