Xylophonist takes center stage on Salihara annual jazz event

Arief Winanda (left) and members of Pamuncak Mudo at Jazz Buzz Salihara 2017

Arief Winanda, who is currently preoccupied with the development of urban art discipline in Institut Kesenian Jakarta (IKJ), has wit and, at times, cracking humor, in his show on Saturday night as part of Jazz Buzz Salihara 2017, an annual two-week event aiming at promoting alternative forms contrary of mainstream music. 

The percussionist and xylophonist not only perform for his self-satisfaction, he diligently shared the work and knowledge of each piece to the attentive audience who otherwise would not have known the history of boogey, a popular genre in the 1940s marking the wake of American depression era, or another piece that was inspired by the dynamics found in the sound of wind.

It is also interesting to know that Marimba, originating from Central America, and now is the national instrument of Guatemala, initially applied only in light dance background diatonic music. But now original pieces came out of it, and frequently played at the center stage with more chromatic alternatives.  

The concert began with the minimalist, rigid 4/4 Rhtyhm Song, a classic repertoire of 1984 by composer Paul Smedback, who took his postgraduate music degree Itacha College master's degree in music, specializing in Marimba. 

The following repertoire has more freedom in the rhythm. Upon brief introduction that sound are everywhere, and even in silence comes an inspiration to create a xylophone melody, Arief played Wind Sketch, by Japanese composer Keiko Abe. She is an important figure behind the early development of Yamaha Marimba product design in 1963. 

Arief also presented Gitano by the Mexican immigrant Alice Gomez, an intense piece of work that describes the gypsies and the hostility against them in the US. 

And then came the moment where Arief started to introduce pianist Angelica Liviana and other fellow musicians in Pamuncak Mudo in the last three dance-inspired pieces: Scottish composer Richard Michael's Boogey, the dance composition in Spyrogyra's Morning Dance and the eerily uplifting Dancing Tears by Dewa Budjana. This partly explains why the one hour concert was titled welt tanzen or the world of dance.