js Although Dwiki Dharmawan has been a well known performer in Indonesia for over 30 years, he only recently received more international recognition in 2015 when he released “So Far So Close” on the MoonJune label, a label which gave him much more access to a western audience. That album was broad and ambitious in itself, but on Dharmawan’s new CD, “Pasar Klewer, Dwiki takes the idea of ambition to a whole new level with a sprawling cinematic soundscape that could be called the “Sgt Pepper” of Indonesian fusion. There is literally a ton of intricate music on these two CDs, and the number of styles that are fused on here take us on a trip around the world, and several times at that.

Exspansive cuts like the opening title track, and track three, “Tjampuhan”, are like Indonesian fusion symphonies that mix gamelin, free jazz, electric fusion, prog rock and movie soundtracks in multi-movement suites that build to energetic climaxes, only to subside and build again. Dwiki is an intense pianist with a very developed technique and a massive sound that can recall McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Vijay Iyer and Matthew Shipp. Master Indonesian musicians provide gamelin and traditional Indonesian instrumentation and vocals, while Mark Wingfield burns on electric guitar and Nicolas Meier on acoustic. Gilad Atzmon’s clarinet lends an oriental/East European slant to the international mix and Boris Salvoldelli brings his odd art rock vocals to a couple cuts, including a cover of Robert Wyatt’s “Forest”. Although there are plenty of high energy tracks on both CDs, on CD 2 Dharmawan includes a couple of ballads, including a Hank Marvin styled guitar instrumental of the afore-mentioned Robert Wyatt cover.

kev rowland Just a year on from his debut, Dwiki returned with an album that featured not only a totally different group of musicians, but a quite different approach. Instead of a whole series of keyboards, here Dwiki used just a piano. On bass, he brought in Yaron Stavi, who used an upright throughout the album (apart from one song on the second CD), while on drums he used Asaf Sirkis, so the rhythm section has a very different approach, style and sound. He didn’t bring back fellow Indonesians Tohpati and Dewa Budjana on guitars, instead using Mark Wingfield and Nicolas Meier. Add to that some Gamelan instruments plus clarinet and sax, and from the outset this is very different indeed.

It is not surprising therefore, as to just how different this album is from the previous. It is also a double CD, which gives the guys the chance to expand on their ideas (and amazingly was recorded in just two days). With this release Dharmawan wanted to try something different. "Indonesia is the place of 'ultimate diversity,'" the pianist says. "Here, the urban cultures accelerate the 'acculturation' process, which generates changes in cultural patterns and creates new forms of musical expression. ‘Pasar Klewer’ is the answer to my search for 'the difference,' and also a valuable answer to our modern crises and urban uprooting. The album's distinctive sound originates from an ancient Gamelan tonal system called Salendro, known in the Karawitan traditional music of the Sundanese, Javanese and Balinese. Based on the Gamelan tonal system, I also adapted, as my inspiration, other musical elements from all over the Indonesian archipelago, as well as the western diatonic system."

I do have to take his word for it, as all I know is that I haven’t heard anything quite like this before. This is world fusion on an epic scale, bringing jazz together with progressive tendencies, and then wrapping it up on a musical form that is quite different to western ears as he mixes it all up with styles from his home. There is a freedom and space within the music, that makes it feel live a living breathing entity, and very quickly the listener is immersed in a brand-new world. It is full of energy, full of life, and is an amazing musical experience