07/07/2025
OUT NOW!
Epitaph continues Sandikala’s exploration of a compositional method where tempo progressively decelerates, inspired by Javanese gamelan. In gamelan, slowing tempo expands space between the balungan (core melody) while elaborating instruments grow denser—creating a paradoxical sense of time. Traditionally likened to a blooming flower, Sandikala instead imagines a flower that withers and rots.
This rotten flower becomes a symbol of critique. Epitaph rejects the glorification of tradition and turns instead to the wounds of history. In its center, a broken-radio-like collage features the fragmented voices of Wiji Thukul, Mahmoud Darwish, and Frantz Fanon—echoing like trauma, half-remembered and unresolved.
These sounds are framed by references to Lalermengeng, a traditional gending associated with death. Like a memory that haunts, it returns beyond control. The radio-static textures resemble a swarm of flies circling decay—history decomposing in sound.
The piece ends with a singular burst of noise, standing in stark contrast. This noise becomes a poetic figure: the Ratu Adil, a messianic force interrupting the relentless march of history. It is not clarity, but rupture; not redemption through reason, but the irrational hope of a future refusing definition. Noise is what remains when articulation fails.
Epitaph is available to stream and download at yesnowave.com.
Sandikala Ensemble is a Yogyakarta-based group dedicated to exploring experimental techniques and designing new gamelan instruments in order to expand the horizons of contemporary gamelan music. Founded in 2020 by Dion Nataraja and Yustiawan Paradigma Umar, the ensemble features musicians Roni Driyastoto, Mustika Garis Sejati, Suseno Setyo Wibowo, Muhamad Erdifadillah, and Muhammad Khoirur Roziqin. The ensemble has developed new instruments, including four genders with a 36-tone non-octave tuning system. More recently, Sandikala has added instruments designed by Dion Nataraja, including two gambang and two sets of gong kemodhong, crafted in Klaten by Karnadi Handoko and Siswo Pradangga.
