Simakdialog - Demi Masa [CD]

This is the fifth album from Indonesian progressive jazz ensemble simakDialog. Led by keyboardist/composer Riza Arshad, the band also features guitarist Tohpati, bassist Adhitya Pratama, working alongside the twinned percussion thrust of Endang Ramdan and Erlan Suwardana who are specialists in traditional Sundanese kendang drumming. Arshad's compositional approach opens up from a jazz-rock palette, but his Fender Rhodes electric piano is clearly influenced by the crisp ring and shimmer of the Indonesian gamelan's array of gongs, metallophones and double-headed drums. The band has performed extensively in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Nepal. Tours, festival appearances and seminars on ethnic percussion/music heritage are planned for 2009 and 2010, with the support of the Indonesian government.