East Meets West, With a Punch

Soundscapes Ensemble Modern
Conductor: Franck Ollu
Composers: Ris Banbos, M. Arham Aryadi, Joko Winarno, Taufik A. Adam, Gema Swaratyagita, I Dewa Ketut Alit, Stevie Jonathan Sutanto, and Gatot Danar Sulistyanto

Frankfurt's Ensemble Modern musicians, clad in pink, purple and neon green, may not be your typical concert hall scenery of classically trained musicians at work. And there 's nothing typical about Soundscapes, with an intro that made the audience look around in an initial bewilderment followed by evident glee. The ensemble musicians stomped rhythmically toward their seats before the saluang (a traditional woodwind instrument), played by the night's first composer Ris Banbos, made a subdued entrance from the opposite end of the stage. The pieces performed at Soundscapes, the grand finale of the three-month long German Fest, ranged from the avant-garde to the contemporary classical, merging Western, Indonesian and non-traditional musical instruments with visual and performative elements.