kev rowland

Tohpati Ario Hutomo (a.k.a. Bontot) is probably best known for his twenty-year tenure in the incredible simakDialog, but he launched his project Ethnomission back in 2010 with ‘Save The Planet’, and at long last he has brought the band back for a second venture. He of course provides all the guitars, and is joined by Demas Narawangsa (drums), Indro Hardjodikoro (bass), Endang Ramdan /(kendang – a type of two-headed drum used particularly in Gamelan ensembles) and Diki Suwarjiki (suling – a bamboo ring flute, also used in Gamelan ensembles). If that wasn’t enough, they are all joined on the opening track by the Czech Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michaela Ruzickova, which certainly adds a different feel to the overall piece.

With the instrumentation being used, it would be easy to imagine that this is a hard to listen to (to Western ears) romp through traditional Indonesian music, but that is a long way from reality. Tohpati is a guitarist with an incredibly clear sound, and while he is often at the core of what is taking place, he knows just when it is time to step to one side and let others take over. Indro is a revelation, with some stunning bass lines, and one can imagine Tohpati there with a huge smile on his face as he lets his bandmate take centre stage. There is a lot of Indonesian musical references and styles, of course, but this is fusion at its very truest, fusing not only jazz and melody but also Asia and the West in a way that is seamless, marvellous, and entrancing. There is only one thing to be done with an album as good as this. When you shake yourself back into the real world after the fifty-two minutes have flown by, have a good stretch, settle back, and put it on again.

js Indonesian guitar virtuoso Tohpati has several group names he works with, and many of those groups lean towards a Western jazz fusion sound, but its in his group known as Tohpati Ethnomission that Tohpati gets deeper into his Indonesian roots, and mixes those roots with the Western sounds of jazz fusion and hard rock. You might think that Gamelan, jazz, pastoral folk melodies and heavy metal guitar would make for an unlikely mix, but on “Mata Hati”, Tohpati and his Ethnomission crew pull it off and come up with some music that sounds like nobody else. Although fellow Indonesian fusion musicians such as Dewa Budjana and Dwiki Dharmawan have been working with large ensembles and multiple guest musicians, Tohpati keeps things simple on here with his core group of Indro Hardjodikoro on bass, Diki Suwarjiki on suling bamboo flute, Endang Ramdan on kendang percussion and Demas Narawangsa on drums. The Czech Symphony Orchestra guests on the opening track, but that is all.

The orchestrated “Jangar” opens the album sounding a lot like a dramatic South Asian movie soundtrack, despite the Indonesian melodies, the sound of this number may remind some of the well-known Indian ‘Bollywood’ soundtracks. Follow up “Tanah Emas” introduces Tohpati’s unlikely mix of ‘Gamelan’ type rhythmic figures and heavy guitar, but as mentioned earlier, this stuff really rocks in its own odd way. Other memorable tracks include the beautifully melodic “Mata Hati” and closing track “Amarah”, which features slashing metal guitars topped by a slow moving bamboo flute melody. Possibly the best track on the album though is “Reog”, which features a super funky hard rock guitar riff that Prince would have been proud to call his own.

There is lots of great fusion coming out of Indonesia these days, but with his use of insistent classical Indonesian rhythms, Tohpati has separated himself from the crowd on “Mata Hati”. Another Tohpati fusion group, Simak Dialog, deals with some similar material in their music, but Dialog’s more hippiefied rustic sound is quite different from Tohpati Ethnomission’s heavier sound. Did I forget to mention that Tohpati tears up the fretboards on this album on heavy distorted guitar, as well as more bluesy-jazzy Herndrix sounds and acoustic guitar as well.

progshine Tohpati Ethnomission's a group from Indonesia, yeah, Indonesia. And probably the first thing we have in mind when we think about this country is some kind of exhotic music, well, it's not that the exhotic don't make any part of the group's music, but it's not the main focus here, the 'thing' here is gather both together, exhotic and 'secular' music, like jazz/fusion, progressive rock and rock n roll. The mind behind the group is Tohpati (guitars), that is also part of simakDIALOG. In Save The Planet, first album of Tohpati Ethnomission he's with Indro Hardjodikoro (bass), Endang Ramdan (percussion), Demas Narawangsa (drums and percussion) that had only 16 years old on the time they recorded, Diki Suwarjiki (suling, a kind of flute) and Lestari (voice on track 2).

What we have in Save The Planet is quite good, in fact, more than good. Highlits like 'Selamatkan Bumi' and his 9 minutes long, 'Drama' (that reminds some King Crimson's Robert Fripp moments), 'Ethno Funk', 'Inspirasi Baru' (and the great bass solo), 'Perang Tanding' (moments that resembles some Frank Zappa) and 'Amarah' (and the various guitars), shows us that the band have A LOT of potential.

But unfortunatelly the group sometimes bet on calm and slow compositions, which I don't like, I don't think it fits their style.

But all in all Save The Planet worth the hearing! Specially when it comes to jazz rock/fusion lovers. The album have some irregularities but shows clearly the bright future Tohpati and his mates can have if they keep playing and writing like that. It's a waiting game, but in my opinion it'll worth.

js Last month must have been shred month at the MoonJune label. Just as Dewa Budjana’s new barn burning CD hit the shelves, we get equally furious fretboard assaults from Tohpati on his new CD, “Tribal Dance”. In a further coincidental similarity, Tohpati has recorded this in a trio format with an all-star veteran fusion rhythm section, in this case, Jimmy Haslip on bass and Chad Wackerman on drums. The end result is virtuoso interplay from three masters who favor the jazzy end of the fusion formula over the riff driven jazz-rock side of things. This music flows and swings with a light high-speed energy driven by a rhythm section that can’t sit still.

Tohpati easily ranks with the top guitarists today. He favors a slightly processed, but mostly natural distortion ala Jeff Beck or Oz Noy, but his rapid and precise technique puts him more with the jazz crowd. The songs on here are not just jams, but instead feature fairly elaborate structures and plenty of changeups for folks who favor that sort of fusion. This will probably be one of the better guitar driven fusion albums for 2014.

js Tohpati Bertiga is the latest fusion project from guitar virtuoso Tohpati Ario Hutomo. On the band’s first album, “Riot”, he teams with bassist Indro Hardjodikoro and drummer Adityo Wibowo to make a fierce hard jazz-rockin instrumental trio. Those who miss the early days of jazz rock, before cheezy guitar synth patches and digital effects smoothed out all the nice rough spots, will certainly enjoy Tohpati’s naturally distorted guitar sound and rare tasteful use of effects. Not only do the early days of jazz rock have an influence on this crew, but also the raw NYC punk jazz scene of the 80s as well. This trio also has a penchant for tightly wound compositions with frequent time signature changes which reveal an interest in math-metal and modern progressive rock. Putting all this together you end up with something similar to Tony Williams Lifetime crossed with mid-70s King Crimson live jams, Battles and Vernon Reid. Although bassist Indro easily holds his own in this powerful power trio, much of the interplay in this group comes down to the virtuoso skills of the drummer and guitarist. In this respect this band recalls other classic drum/guitar duos such as Mitchell/Hendrix, Blood Ulmer/Ronald Shannon Jackson, Fripp/Bill Bruford, McLauglin/Tony Williams, Holdsworth/Tony Williams and so on. Fans of intense guitar shredding will find a lot to enjoy here, Tohapti and his rhythm section are relentless.