Krakatau: Based on tradition, but performing the global

“Based on tradition, but performing the global” is an interview quote from Pra Budidharma, the Bassist and Co-founder of Krakatau, referenced in “Dance to Your Roots”: Genre Fusions in the Music of Indonesia’s Krakatau (Harnish and Wallach 2013, 121).

In the mid-1980s Dwiki Dharmawan, a keyboardist and music school graduate, and Pra Budidharma, a bassist who had just returned from the United States, both had an interest in jazz music and started the band Krakataua (in reference to Krakatoa, a famous Volcano that resides on an island in Indonesia). While just starting out as a jazz-pop combination, that was very similar to music you could hear on the radio. While Jazz was a large influence coming from the western music market with a significant amount of white washing, when members of Krakatau discovered that jazz originally came from African American communities, they felt inspired to call on their own roots of traditional Sundanese Gamelan Music and invited trained musicians from the music school in Bandung to play with them. The gamelan-jazz fusion was very much against mainstream music but the members of Krakatau sought to follow their artistic vision and risk the loss of fans. They never experienced a mainstream hit as an ethno-fusion group but members have found great success through individual works, and continue to collaborate and tour as Krakatau through to the present day.

Photo found in “Dance to Your Roots”: Genre Fusions in the Music of Indonesia’s Krakatau

What’s in the sound?

The members of Krakatau have some degree of difficulty defining their music as any particular style, because they believe that their music is a result of the acculturation of their different musical backgrounds. While some members have a history of western musical training, and others the history of Gamelan, they all meet to create a sound that mixes elements of a traditional practice with a progressive and modern sound.

Since western jazz and gamelan music do not share common scale systems, Dwiki Dharmawan began to program his keyboards and synths into alternate pitches that match indonesian scales, and Pra Budidharma began to experiment with a fret-less bass so that he could achieve pitches outside of the western scale system. The microtonality would match western instrument timbres to the pitches of Indonesian metallophones such as the Saron and Bonang. With the addition of these Indonesian instruments as well as a the Rehab, and Kendang, Krakatau is using instruments that all relate to Sundanese Gamelan, and while they can use instruments and techniques to mimic other Gamelan styles, it’s important to know that the identity of Krakatau is one that aligns with Sundanese Gamelan, and they most often play with a s’lendro scale. 

Their songs are typically about six minutes long, and any piece can range from majority jazz-focused to Gamelan-focused, or a combination of the two. Their songs typically include a few different sections, each with different instrument solos either by a western or Indonesian instrument. In concert they will extend the length of each section to allow for elaborate improvised solos. And their ability to showcase traditional Sundanese flavor in tandem with Jazz techniques makes them stand out within the Jazz-fusion scene.

A Performance video:

Listen more to Krakatau: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7uZfcxpEAZlkjvSJ6BxAK9?si=C0Kyp9ThS-e_9AdNuPdj8Q

Performing Global

While Krakatau took a hit in their local fanbase with their decision to transfer to jazz fusion, they remain content with their fanbase abroad. For their limited local fanbase, they hope that they can send a message to younger generations that it’s not important to play into the mainstream media and that you should follow your own interests. They also hope to talk about humanity and other important topics, and in the past have shown their compassion by forming a charity concert when a tsunami struck in 2004 and killed over 200,000 people. They’ve had the opportunity to perform all over the world including Ohio’s own Bowling Green, where they were able to spread the good representation of Indonesian music even in a post 9/11 world of extreme Islamophobia in the United States. Their fusion music can be a bridge of inclusivity and help to sustain traditional arts in a society that prefers modern pop music. 

Bibliography

Harnish, David, and Jeremy Wallach. “‘Dance to Your Roots’: Genre Fusions in the Music of Indonesia’s Krakatau.” Asian Music 44, no. 2 (2013): 115–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24256935.
Journal Article

Khoiri, Agniya. 2017. “The Longing That Returns to Unite Krakatau .” Entertainment. CNN Indonesia. June 4, 2017. https://www.cnnindonesia.com/hiburan/20170604133850-227-219312/rindu-yang-kembali-menyatukan-krakatau.
Webpage

Romero, Angel. 2018. “Artist Profiles: Krakatau | World Music Central.” World Music Central | Your Connection to Traditional and Contemporary World Music, Including Folk, Roots, Global Music, Ethno and Crosscultural Fusions. August 19, 2018. https://worldmusiccentral.org/2018/08/19/artist-profiles-krakatau/.
Blog Post

Titon, Jeff Todd, Timothy J. Cooley, David Locke, David P. McAllester, and Anne K. Rasmussen. 2016. Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World’s Peoples, Shorter Version. 6th ed. Cengage Learning.
Book

Wallach, Jeremy, and Esther Clinton. “History, Modernity, and Music Genre in Indonesia: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Asian Music 44, no. 2 (2013): 3–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24256931.
Journal Article