Sound Connections
The Kimberley Indonesia Project
Sound Connections, funded by the Australia Indonesia Institute, fosters collaboration between Kimberley Aboriginal musicians and Indonesian music practitioners and academics to build a strong foundation for long-term cultural exchange programs between Indonesian and northern Australian artists.
As well as facilitating the creation of new music works and performances, the Kimberley Indonesia Project develops greater cultural understanding and supports the development of individual and institutional relationships that ensures the work from this project will continue to grow across time and regions.
Project History
20 – 27 November 2018
Phase One of the project saw Indonesian ethnomusicologist/composer/performer Nyak Ina Raseuki (Ubiet) travelling with Tura Artistic Director Tos Mahoney to Broome and the communities on the Dampier Peninsula furthering existing, and developing new, collaborations with artists and organisations.
This project, funded by the Australian Indonesian Institute, built a strong foundation for long-term cultural exchange programs between Indonesian and northern Australian artists.
Ubiet and Mahoney met and collaborated with musicians and artists in Broome including Stephen, Bart and Naomi Pigram as well as Baamba Albert & others.
Ubiet met with members of Broome’s Indonesian, Malay and Philippine communities, as the longer-term project includes tying all of these cultural influences on Broome’s history into one project.
Ubiet’s work in the past five years has focused on community projects in remote communities in Indonesia and she remarked: “This was a wonderful opportunity for cross cultural sharing of knowledge and understanding, leading to exciting new creative processes and outcomes.”
Whilst in Broome, Ubiet (vocals) and Tos Mahoney (flute) performed as guests with Stephen and Naomi Pigram at Pigram's Live - Raindancin' at the Broome Convention centre as well as with the emerging artists at Mango Jammin at Goolarri Media.
17 – 27 August 2019
The next phase of the project saw three Aboriginal musicians Stephen Pigram, Mick Manolis and Mark Atkins travel to Indonesia to collaborate with Ubiet as well as Indonesia instrumentalists Shafur Bachtiar and Dimawan Krisnowo Adji. A week long intensive collaboration in Yokyakarta was followed with showcase presentations in Yokyakarta and Jakarta.
Ubiet’s work in the past six years has focused on community projects in remote communities across Indonesia. Whilst working with Stephen Pigram and other artists in Broome last year she discovered streams of connections between Indonesian and Kimberley cultures. Those connections will be expanded and developed in the upcoming collaborations between the artists.
Whilst in Yogyakarta the project was based at the Tembi Art Centre where the artists presented a showcase of their collaborations on the 23 August, 2019.
The artists then travelled to Jakarta for a special performance/presentation at the Australian Embassy on Mon 26 August.
The Kimberley Indonesia Project was supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Indonesia Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Nyak Ina Raseuki (Ubiet)
Nyak Ina Raseuki, better known as Ubiet, is an Indonesian composer, performer, ethnomusicologist.
Ubiet was born in Jakarta and was raised in Aceh, North Sumatra. Her interest in vocal music started when, as a teenager, she joined several popular music groups in Aceh and Jakarta as lead singer. Ubiet moved back to Jakarta in the early 1980s, and attended The Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ) to major in music-voice. As she gradually discovered other possibilities in voice, her focus became drawn to vocal music and its different singing styles and traditions. Ubiet has earned a Master of Music and a Ph.D. degree in ethnomusicology from University of Wisconsin-Madison-U.S.A (1993, 2009), and then lecturing at Graduate School at IKJ.
Despite her academic commitments, Ubiet maintains and nurtures collaborative relationships with several composers, as well as popular and traditional musicians, in a multitude of performances and recordings. She has performed nationally and internationally. Ubiet’s encounters with vocal music with concentration on voice embellishment are what led her to meet composer Tony Prabowo with whom and another five traditional Minang musicians she established a “new music” group, The New Jakarta Ensemble—they released a CD entitled Commonality(Siam Record, New York, 1999).
Dimawan Krisnowo Adji
Dimawan was born in Yogyakarta in 1970. From 1986-1990 he studied cello at the High School for Music in Yogyakarta and continued to the Indonesian Arts Institute of Yogyakarta. Dimawan is one of the founders of Sa’Unine String Orchestra of Yogyakarta. He has played for Twilite Orchestra from 1993-2002, and Nusantara Chamber Orchestra, Orkes Simfoni Jakarta as Principal Cellist.
In the past years, Dimawan has been interested in Indonesian archipelago music blending with his cello, and has collaborated with many artists across a multitude of artforms. In 2007 he joined Kroncong Tenggara to perform in Australia, Germany, Singapore as well as in Indonesia and worked with choreographers as a composer for dance inlcuding SALT, choreographed by Eko Supriyanto performed in Indonesia, Belgium, Germany, and Australia. Dimawan is currently collaborating with Ubiet on ‘Nyanyi Nusa-Nusa’ interpreting song of the Eastern of Indonesia.
Shafur Bachtiar
Shafur Bachtiar is a traditional musician from Penyengat Island, Riau Province in South Sumatra. A specialist in the Malay gendang (frame drum), Bachtiar is a graduate of the Indonesian Art Institute, Yogyakarta, majoring in ethnomusicology. Bachtiar is a skilled percussionist, playing the Burano and Darbuka amongst others. He has been engaged in a number of collaborations, recordings and performances and is a member of UDISHA TRIO with members Nyak Ina 'Ubiet' Raseuki and Dimawan Krisnowo Adji.
Stephen Pigram
Stephen Pigram is a renowned Indigenous musician from the pearling town of Broome, Western Australia. As a singer/songwriter he has been central to the continuation and development of Broome Creole music – the unique music style that draws on both the traditional Aboriginal music of Broome and the Dampier Peninsula and the many international cultures that have been a part of Broome culture.
As the quintessential musician Stephen performs vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, ukulele and dulcimer with his idiosyncratic and poetic lyrics reflecting Kimberley life, culture and politics.
Stephen and his brothers are part of the well-known folk/rock septet The Pigram Brothers. Stephen and his brother Alan Pigram were the first indigenous artists to be inducted into the West Australian Music Industry’s Hall of Fame.
Mark Atkins
Acknowledged as one of Australia’s finest didjeridu players, Mark Atkins is also recognised internationally for his collaborative projects with some of the world’s leading composers and musicians. A descendant of Western Australia’s Yamitji people, as well as of Irish/Australian heritage, Mark is known not only for his masterly playing, but also as a storyteller, composer, percussionist, visual artist and instrument maker. Mark has performed alongside and composed with artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Sinead O’Connor, Philip Glass, Donald Lunney, Ornette Coleman, Peter Sculthorpe, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Gondwana, Jenny Morris, John Williamson, James Morrison, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). He is a founding member of Black Arm Band.
Mick Manolis
Born in a sleepy pearling town of Broome known today as Rubibi by the original Yawuru inhabitants, Michael was born as Michael Manolis to a Greek father and Yawuru Filipino mother. Michael is a speaker of the Yawuru language and works with Nyamba Buru Yawuru, the native title holders in and around the Broome township, restoring Yawuru language for future generations.
Michael learnt guitar at the age of 14 when he attended the Christian Brothers College in the south west town of Albany, learning from the other Aboriginal boys who he boarded with. Michael went on to form the Broome band Kuckles in 1980 with Jimmy Chi, Garry Gower, Patrick Bin Amat and Stephen Pigram. Michael along with Jimmy Chi and his band members created the musical play “Bran Nue Dae” which has performed in every major Australian city and also the Cook islands for the 1994 Pacific islander festival.
