Nusantara Beat Set for Australian Debut, Chart-Topping Success
Amsterdam-based band Nusantara Beat is scheduled to bring its psychedelic interpretation of traditional Indonesian music to Australia for the first time in March. The group, which topped the Transglobal World Music Chart in January, will perform at the WOMADelaide world music, art, and dance festival in South Australia.
Exploring Heritage Through Sound
All members of Nusantara Beat share Indonesian ancestry. Guitarist Jordy Sanger stated that the band decided to explore their heritage through music, combining psychedelic influences with traditional Indonesian sounds and instruments.
Sanger described psychedelic music as a creative space for sonic exploration and connecting different harmonic realms, which they integrate with traditional Indonesian musical elements.
The band utilizes instruments such as gamelan gangsa, kecapi, kendang, ceng-cengs, and gongs, with some sampled and others played live. This results in a rhythmic sound that merges Western electric guitar with Indonesian folk.
A Journey of Discovery and Influence
Sanger discussed his personal journey of discovering his Indonesian roots, a curiosity that developed in his late 20s. He noted the integral role of live music in Indonesian culture, observing that many Indonesian-descended individuals in the Netherlands play guitar.
The band has explored 1960s and 1970s Indonesian pop music and studied the compositional aspects of traditional Indonesian music and Sunda pop.
Nusantara Beat's achievement of reaching number one on the Transglobal World Music Chart, which bases its choices on artistic merit, was described as