Smithsonian Folkways
spent the last decade of the 20th century exploring the Indonesian archipelago and recording music there for its 20-volume
Music of Indonesia
series. The music in this series simply overwhelms with its scope and diversity. Much of it enchants and seduces the listener with the romance of a tropical paradise. Some of it challenges the ear with starkly alien sounds -- cragged, old voices and dissonant tuning systems -- or inexplicable associations, like the West Flores vocal tradition that bears an uncanny resemblance to the famed female choirs of Bulgaria.
This is serious musicology, and sometimes the music is not easily accessible to the casual listener. Series architect
Phillip Yampolsky
has taken pains to avoid the familiar and break new ground with every volume of the series. So in all these hours of music, there is none of the Javanese and Balinese court gamelan music that has been almost exclusively the content of prior Indonesian music releases.
The series is well organized, and the fact that each volume is sold separately lets each listener find the appropriate path through the Indonesian musical maze, as well as the appropriate pace. The more time spent with the
series, the more the listener will likely find to appreciate in it. ~ Banning Eyre