Banjar Teratai Capung
Tunggak Semi
Tunggak Semi is the third album from Indonesian musician and producer Bambang Pranoto. Originally released in 2000, its an exemplary slice of what has become his signature style, a dream-like meditation on aspects of nature, combining elements of accordion, acoustic guitar, flute and percussion. The compositions cross eastern and western notation to inhabit a world of their own, a world between worlds, where harmonies reflect the beauty and joy of nature.
Bambang had a rather atypical entry into music, and studied electronics and telecommunications, before he took advantage of the wave of computer software like Cubase and Protools in the 1990s that enabled him to set about recording his own compositions and soundscapes. After playing in groups, he developed his own approach to constructing his productions. He invites musicians to record interpretations of his themes, which he then pieces together in Protools like a jigsaw puzzle. The musicians have never even met! he chuckled on a Skype call.
Tunggak Semi refers to the giant trees that appear all over Bali, and their process of renewal and regeneration. If you cut the tree, and leave the roots, they will grow again. Everytime we cut, they grow again. Its limitless. This philosophy means theres always something new coming, whether an idea or music, anything. This approach has grown out of Bambangs studies into meditation, including Indian and Chinese scriptures, also Balinese and Indonesian religions. Music, like meditation, is a daily practice, and acceptance of the music and its ‘unfinishedness, forms a central part of the process.
We must not just think, but we must also feel, and we must accept that feeling, explains Bambang, and thats a step of opening ones mind to possibility. It seems in keeping with two of Bambangs musical inspirations, namely Ryuichi Sakamoto and Peter Gabriel, both known for their love of world folk music, and fusion of musical traditions. Thats mirrored in Bambangs own collage-like approach, recording elements and piecing them together to make something unimagined. While the acoustic sound palette for Tunggak Semi is rooted in live recordings, Bambang is not afraid to put the digital technology to good use.
We have to use the computer as a tool in the best way we can, Bambang says. Sometimes people say music is made by people, not by the computer, but its just another piece of equipment. What can we compose from this equipment? Its technology music!
Written and produced by Bambang Pranoto at interactive garden studio, Depok, Bogor between September and December 2001. 2025 version remastered by Wouter Brandenburg at Brandenburg Mastering.
| LP | Dopeness Galore: DG22001 | upcoming |
