Welcome Back Bdg World Jazz Festival!

[Uncluster/EventReview]---Sebagai introduksi untuk perhelatan Bdg World Jazz Festival (BWJF) edisi kedua November nanti, Jendela Ide—yang menjadi penggagas utama event internasional ini—bekerja sama dengan Kedutaan Besar India, JNICC-ICCR dan Bumi Sangkuriang Cultural Appreciation Community menggelar pre-event (juga kedua) pada Selasa malam, 27 Juli 2010 kemarin. BWJF kini tengah beranjak menjadi sebuah ikon budaya Kota Bandung. Tak sekadar sebuah ikon, Bdg World Jazz Festival jelas memiliki nilai yang lebih dan tak bisa dibandingkan dengan festival-festival jazz lain di Tanah Air.

Situs Indiejazz.com menulis bahwa World Jazz adalah genre terkini dari musik jazz, alias genre jazz termuda. Meski para ahli musik kadang menyebut jazz lahir di Amerika, tak bisa dipungkiri, bahwa di kelahirannya, jazz sudah dipengaruhi ritme musik Afrika (perkusif) dan ritme musik dari budaya bangsa lain. Itu bisa dibuktikan, di mana Dizzy Gilespie, Tito Puente dan musisi jazz terkemuka masa itu telah memasukkan elemen musik Afro-Kuba ke dalam aransemen mereka, lalu tak lama kemudian Jobim dan Getz mempopulerkan samba Brasil. Ruh dari musik ritual budaya Timur juga telah memengaruhi musisi jazz era 60-an, misalnya John Coltrane yang memasukkan gaya improvisasi dan ekspresi ekstase (luapan gairah) ritmik India ke dalam konteks jazz. Di era 70-an, semangat kebangkitan nasionalisme bangsa kulit hitam mendorong Wayne Shorter, Pharaoh Sanders dan sejumlah musisi lain memanfaatkan instrumen Afrika dan pola poliritmiknya dalam jazz. Jadi dalam konteks iklim jazz kontemporer, World jazz (jazz dunia) adalah musik jazz yang memiliki satu sifat penting; selalu memanfaatkan elemen tradisional di luar bangsa Barat (AS?) demi memperluas cakupan dan memperkuat musik jazz itu sendiri, meski mungkin kandungan etnik itu tak terlalu signifikan. Dengan bukti adanya kandungan tradisi budaya nonBarat dalam jazz sejak kelahirannya, maka bisa disimpulkan musik jenis ini tak bisa dikatakan hanya “milik” Barat/ AS, musik ini sesungguhnya “dimiliki” seluruh warga dunia, that’s world jazz!

Pentas BWJF 2010 Pre-Event (setelah yang pertama digelar 27 Mei lalu) semalam dibuka dengan pemandangan sakralnya ritual tradisi Sunda oleh duo Raraga Puja, Yudi Taruma di Swara (kecapi & vokal) dan Wawan Bagja Kurniawan (tarawangsa & suling). Raraga adalah tubuh dari ‘puja’, yang diistilahkan dalam leaflet BWJF sebagai kekuatan, yang menjadi roh atau tenaga dalam manusia. Sebelum menyuguhkan musiknya, duo ini bahkan mengharuskan tapa dengan kedua tangan terkatup, dan keheningan pun tercipta di panggung. Terlebih mereka juga menaruh kelapa muda dan kemenyan/ dupa berasap pada nyiru (nampan bambu) di sana, dan tentunya meruapkan aroma mistis ke seluruh sudut ruangan. Hanya satu tembang berdurasi sekira 20 menit yang mereka suguhkan, namun itu sudah cukup membangun suasana world jazz! Tembang yang tak sempat penulis tanyakan titelnya itu dibuka dengan petikan halus, syahdu nan mistis dari kecapi, repetisi sangat lambat cycle 3-5 nada, dan baru di menit kelima Yudi bersenandung (lirik Basa Sunda tentunya!). Liriknya berisikan nasehat, petuah bijak dan permohonan kepada Maha Pencipta. Yudi memainkan sekaligus dua kecapi; satu sebagai ‘bas’ (rhythm section) dan yang lain berfungsi sebagai akord, melodi dari lagu itu. Sementara tarawangsa (instrumen musik gesek berdawai ganda, mirip rebab) dimainkan Wawan dengan begitu halus, dan lebih banyak menjadi latar bunyi dominan kecapi dan nyanyian Yudi. Penampilan duo ini, yang terus duduk bersila, bak lebih menjadi upacara doa pembukaan (keselamatan?) menjelang BWJF yang multietnik. Atmosfer lokal Sunda juga akan tampil nanti di BWJF 2010 melalui figur legendaris Ceu Euis Komariah yang akan berkolaborasi dengan kelompok indie Tanah Air, Discuss.

Pengisi pentas kedua dan terakhir adalah Parindey (Ms. Anupriya Deotale & friends) dari India. Didukung para maestro musik India; Imran Khan (tabla), Arshad Khan (tabla), Ehsaan Ali (sarangi, gitar), Anand Srivastava (vokal), Fateh Ali (sitar) dan Samrat (drums), putri dari penyair terkemuka India, Dr. Chandrakant Deotale, Anupriya dikenal sebagai penggesek biola bergaya klasik terkemuka dari India Utara. Ia memiliki gaya bermain yang khas, dan dalam koridor fusion ia menggabungkan unsur “Gayaki” (gaya menyanyi/ cengkok India) dengan “Tantarakari” (pola ritmis instrumental), sebuah bentuk yang tak banyak dimainkan melalui biola, khususnya di sub kontinen Asia Selatan itu. Ia menggabungkan tradisi musik India-Nepal, Sarangi dengan biola, nuansa lembut-halus permainannya memunculkan imajinasi dengaran mistis tak terhingga. Atmosfer mistis penampilan Parindey ditunjukkan dengan bunyi dengung yang terus dipanteng sepanjang penampilan mereka, dan ini memang bagian dari gig-nya! Kebalikan dari tembang duo Raraga Puja, yang bernada dasar (root chord) minor (pentatonik), tembang-tembang dari Parindey didominasi akord mayor diatonik yang menandakan suasana hati riang, keceriaan (Parindey diperkuat drum dan gitar standar 6 senar), namun tetap terasa kental ritual tradisionalnya. Bukan sebuah hal mudah melebur bunyi alat musik kontemporer dan tradisional, mungkin saja disebabkan bunyinya yang tak terbiasa didengar. Dan Parindey menunjukkan, bahwa hasil dari persenyawaan itu adalah komposisi indah. Keempat tembang berdurasi panjang-panjang yang total dimainkan selama 1,5 jam itu (Prabhu-Ji, Lotus, Puriya-Dhanashri, dan Raga Jog) sama sekali tak terdengar monoton ataupun sulit dicerna, justru menghibur. Yang menjadi ciri khas tembang hasil persenyawaan karya Anupriya ini adalah; adanya durasi transformasi tempo (dari cepat ke lambat atau lembat ke cepat) yang cukup panjang, tapi tetap menyuguhkan ciri khas jazz; syncope yang menarik dan hentakan ritmis. Penampilan Parindey ditutup dengan diwarnai dialog instrumental drum dan tabla (gendang India) yang jenaka, membuat sekira 150-an apresiator tergelak. Arshad Khan (tabla) yang berperawakan gemuk pendek memainkan sinkop-sinkop yang direspon dengan gerakan verbal kocak sang dramer, Samrat.

Sebagai ‘gong’ pembuka BWJF 2010, gelaran pre-event ini wajar saja kental nuansa ritual dan mistis tradisionalnya, mengingat world jazz akan (tetap) menampilkan warisan budaya musik dunia yang seharusnya wajib dilestarikan. Di sana melekat elemen budaya santun, persaudaraan dan pengagungan, serta penyembahan kepada Yang Maha Tinggi. Adakah ini sebuah respon bawah sadar atas mengglobalnya perilaku manusia yang mengalami dekadensi? Pun di dunia (=industri) musik? Manusia berupaya mencari cara menuju perbaikan hidupnya, melalui pintu apapun; dan salah satunya adalah pintu persaudaraan atas nama unversalitas musik. Dengan usia bumi yang makin menua, gejala global warming, serta alih-alih memanfaatkan komunikasi antarmanusia yang kian borderless dan tanpa hambatan untuk hal positif malah negatif, di mana kondisi ini memicu makin banyaknya chaos di dunia, maka sangat masuk akal jika world jazz dan world music kini menjadi alternatif “bahasa dunia”. Dan itu tercermin pada tema BWJF kali ini; sound though the dimension—suara yang melintasi segala jenis dimensi. Itu sangat boleh saja dan manusiawi; world music, world jazz is belong to all of us equally, people of the world! Welcome back Bdg World Jazz Festival! [teks:Rizkal Dicky Satriadi/foto: Opick]

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[Uncluster/EventReviews]----As an introduction approaching the second annual Bdg World Jazz Festival (BWJF) in November 2010, Jendela Ide—founder of this international event—in cooperation with Indian Embassy, JNICC-ICCR and the Bumi Sangkuriang Cultural Appreciation Community organizes the second pre-event, last Tuesday, 27 July 2010. BWJF is now transformed to be a cultural icon of Bandung City. It is not merely an icon, Bdg World Jazz Festival actually also has an added value which is incomparable with those of other jazz festivals in the country.

The Indiejazz.com proposes that the world music (=world jazz?) is the most recent newborn genre in jazz, alias the youngest genre in jazz. While musicologists sometimes point to jazz as the only major genre of music to be originated in America, it is indisputable that during its birth period, jazz was already influenced by non-Western music, in specific the vibrant rhythms of African music or from any other nations. Many jazz musicians have sought to make more explicit connections between jazz and the music of other cultures, dating back at least to the mid-50s, when Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente and other bandleaders started to blend Afro-Cuban music with jazz and big band traditions; not long after, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz popularized a smooth blend of smoky jazz and Brazilian bossa nova known as “jazz-samba. Eastern spirituality proved a huge influence to some of the great jazz musicians in the 60s (John Coltrane included), who incorporated the modal improvisatory style and ecstatic expression of Indian classical music into a jazz context. In the 70s, a growing spirit of black-nationalism found Wayne Shorter, Pharaoh Sanders and numerous others fusing African instruments and poly-rhythms with jazz. Therefore, in the current jazz climate, there are only a few boundaries left to explore when it comes to “world jazz.” Straightahead boppers continue to mine the glorious Afro-Cuban tradition, and innovative improvisers might play the Japanese shakuhachi or Australian didgeridoo during a free improvisation session; folk music from all over the world has been used as the basis of jazz compositions. So while the albums in the “world jazz” may seem to have little in common stylistically or culturally, they all share one important trait: they look beyond Western (US?) traditions for at least part of their inspiration, thus broadening and strengthening the music we call jazz. Therefore, this sort of music cannot be mentioned as the Western/US’s own property, this music is truly “owned” by all people of the world, that’s the world music, world jazz!

The second Pre-Event of BWJF 2010 (after the first pre-event was held on May 27) was commenced by the sacred Sundanese (West Java) traditional rite presented by the duo Raraga Puja, Yudi Taruma di Swara (kecapi/ Sundanese traditional multisnared-musicbox & vocal) and Wawan Bagja Kurniawan (tarawangsa/ a Sundanese double-snared upright violin & suling/ Sundanese bamboo flute). Raraga refers to the body of ‘puja’, which is mentioned in BWJF leaflet as a power, that becomes a spirit or insight power of human being. Prior to present their music, the duo even required themselves to do a ‘tapa’ (traditional invocation) with their both hands united, then an angelic serenity was arouse on the stage. In addition, they put a green coconut as well as a smoked ritual bowl/ kemenyan on a nyiru (Sundanese bamboo tray). So, as a result, mystical scents were hovered to all corners and lumbered up the ballroom. There was only one 20 minute-song they performed, however it has sufficiently developed an atmosphere of world jazz! The song (which unfortunately I didn’t ask the tittle to the duo) was initiated by mild, delicately gentle finger screw of kecapi’s snares, a repetition of very slow 3-5 notes cycle, and it was just at the 5th minute, Yudi was started a croon (surely in the Sundanese words!). The lyrics contain spiritual preach, wise admonition as well as wishes to The Almighty. Yudi plays two kecapi concurrently; one as the ‘bass’ (rhythm section) and the other being chords and arpeggio of the song. Meanwhile, tarawangsa was played by Wawan in such a subtle way, and it more than the background of eminent sounds of kecapi and Yudi’s singing. During the performance, the duo were just sat down on the floor with their legs crossed, and the performance was almost being an inaugural rite prayer approaching the multiethnics BWJF. The Sundanese nuances will be performed in the main event of BWJF 2010 via local legendary figure of Miss Euis Komariah, who will be collaborated with the Indonesian indie-jazz group, Discuss.

The second and last performer of the pre-event was the Indian-group Parindey (Ms. Anupriya Deotale & friends). Accompanied by Indian traditional music maestroes; Imran Khan (tabla), Arshad Khan (tabla), Ehsaan Ali (sarangi, guitar), Anand Srivastava (vocal), Fateh Ali (sitar) and Samrat (drums), the daughter of one of Indian living renowned poets, Dr. Chandrakant Deotale, Anupriya has been acknowledged as the distinguished classical-style violist from North India. She has unique style of technique, in the corridor of fusion, she combines element of “Gayaki” (Indian-style vocal rendering) with “Tantarakari” (an instrumental rhytmic pattern), a form of musical blend which there are only a few who perform by violin, especially in the sub-continent. She also blend Indian-Nepal music tradition, Sarangi through her violin, her delicate-mild nuance style turns up limitless mystical hearing imagination. The mystical atmosphere of Parindey’s performance was indicated by the presence of unstopped humming sound during their performance, and the writer was amazed that this was the part of the gig! In contrary with that of the duo Raraga Puja’s song—which played in minor root chord (pentatonic), Parindey’s songs were dominated by diatonic major chords indicating the ecstasy and joyful mood, however the traditional rites were still deeply arouse. It is not a kind of easy matter to melt sounds of contemporary instrument with those of traditional, perhaps it is because the sounds are not accustomarily listened by some people. Nevertheless, Parindey demonstrated, that results of the mixture are the beautiful compositions. Four lengthy compositions in total 1.5 hours (Prabhu-Ji, Lotus, Puriya-Dhanashri, and Raga Jog) were absolutely not monotonous or even difficult to be heard, they were contrary entertaining. One distinctive feature of Anupriya’s songs is; the interval of tempo transformation (from fast to slow or slow to fast) was a quite long, but they still presented jazz character; interesting syncopes and rhythmic strokes. Parindey’s performance was ended after amusing-funny instrumental dialog between drum and tabla, making about 150 spectators laughing outloud. Arshad Khan (tabla) played Indian-style syncopes, which were replied by humorous drums-stroking style of Samrat.

Being the inaugural event of BWJF 2010, it is acceptable that this pre-event was intensed by spritual-ritual nuances, bearing in mind that the world jazz will (and always) present the world’s music-culture heritages, which shall be our commitment to conserve. There are elements of civility philosophies, fellowship, brotherhood and dignifying, as well as worships to The Divine One. Is this our subconscious response in opposition to globalization of human-being behavior decadence, nowadays? Likewise the area (=industry) of music itself? Human is striving of seeking suitable ways for their life’s improvement, through any kind of doors; and one of them is the fellowship/ brotherhood door on behalf of the universe of music. As the earth is getting older, global warming, instead of deploying the advanced borderless inter-human communication for any hopeful benefit, but for unconstructive reasons, in which such condition raises more and more deadly chaos in our mother earth, it is very plausible that world jazz and world music are now becoming alternative “world language”. It is reflected on the theme of the 2nd BWJF; Sound Through the Dimensions—a sound that crosses all kinds of dimensions. That is absolutely acceptable and a human nature; so the world music, world jazz is belong to all of us equally, people of the world! Welcome back Bdg World Jazz Festival! [Rizkal Dicky Satriadi]