After a long break due to the corona and changing circumstances, I am back again creating some music. I present to you my first single "Yang Sulit Diramal" for this year. This is the first track from a series of themes which I hope to tell you in relation to our experience of the pandemic. The title it self means something which is difficult to forecast or predict. This is the theme of the early phases of the pandemic. At the time, some were confident that the pandemic would not severly impact our lives and some were fearful for their lives and future. Intellectuals made their predictions, but the reality did not conform to these predictions. What we are left with is a state of uncertainty and loss of control. I hope the music here delivers this message.
This is a collaborative project where I wrote the composition and it is played by the young guitarist Jelang Bagaskara. Thank you also Peter at fisellamusicproduction for managing the recordings and sound engineering. The awesome art work was created by Saiful Bachri.

Yang Sulit Diramal

This song describes the spread of the corona delta variant and the chaos it created. The title "Lepas Kendali" literally translates to out of control. I am playing with Jelang Bagaskara and, here we were experimenting with different themes and sounds.  Hope you like our work.

Lepas Kendali

Hi folks, I'm proud to announce the release of my latest single "Dijemput." Dijemput means to be picked up and in Indonesia we like to say "dijemput maut" or picked up by death when someone dies. This song is about death during the corona pandemic. It describes feelings of distress, uncertainty, abrupt change, slow and continuous deterioration, fear and sadness. I posted the initial idea on instagram while the delta variant was taking many lives around the world. The day I posted this melody was also the day my cousin passed away because of corona. This melody reminds me of him, the continuous sounds of ambulance sirens passing the streets, desperate search for oxygen tanks, and daily news reports of death.
This piece was months work with the team at Fisella Music Production. Thanks to Jelang Bagaskara for playing the piece and Peter Devries for managing the recording, mixing, and mastering. Thank you to Arso (@saltocat.id) for the artwork.

Dijemput

A song about peace and calm. Inspired by the calm streets during the pandemic.

Jalanan yang sepi

Jalanan Yang Sepi

This composition express the stress of meeting certain deadlines and the costs we incur along the way.

Race against time

Racing Against Time

Lagu ini tentang guru. Terinspirasi dari Istri saya saat menjadi Pengajar Muda di sebuah desa pesisir Papua.
Alhamdulillah setelah bertahun-tahun di kepala, sekarang sudah hampir selesai. Ini masih rekaman kasar, harus diperbaiki tapi yang penting not dan aransemen sudah oke.


The Teacher Complete Final Draft

a song about my two year old girl.

Picture credit: Cahya Wulandari

Si Kecil - The Wee One

Vocal: Charles Ogunbode Guitars: Haidar B Thontowi,. Recorded in 20 East Shore Pittenweem, Scotland, 2016.

Photo credit: Arief Nugraha

She Will Be Loved-Maroon 5 (Cover)

This song is about escaping. You make a decision to escape. You come across many different encounters, and learn more about yourself by how you respond to each unique and challenging encounter. You understand you cannot always hide the ills that you wish to conceal. In the journey, you ask yourself why you made the decision to escape, and question whether it was necessary to leave stability, organization, certainty. You grapple with this process of questioning and eventually realize that it was the right choice. Even though you sometimes argue otherwise at least you decided to take the risk. You see the world in a different light and you learn to accept who you are.

Photo Credit: Cahya Wulandari

Kabur Mabur (Escape and ascend)

I started composing this track after running through the rain with my daughter. In this piece I tried experimenting with a  combination of finger picking and harmonics to emulate rain drops. Any comments and feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

Photo credits: Cahya Wulandari

Hujan (Rain)

This is a short and fun song that I have been working on these past few months. It is also the first song I wrote using a ukulele. Most of the main melodies use a ukulele while the bass and rhythm sections use a classical guitar. I hope you have fun listening to it.

Photo credits: Cahya Wulandari

That Cheeky Smile Of Yours

This is a track that I have been working on for quite some time. After a series of arranging and re-arranging, jamming with mates, and contemplating while washing dishes, this is what I came up with. In this song I try to experiment using different time signatures. As you notice the recording is quite rough and tempo is all over the place. Despite this, I hope you will appreciate this ambiguous piece, a piece I'll leave you to interpret. 
I would like to thank Endy Cartesiuz and Ario Bintang for the jam session which inspired some ideas and my little daughter for the artwork. Enjoy!

Ora Cetha (Ambiguous)

I dedicate this song to a close friend who had to leave this world early in his life.

Photo credits: Cahya. You can check out a collection of her incredible stills at https://www.instagram.com/pinkdandelion7/ and please follow if you like her work.

At Peace

In this track I tried to compose a song which is slower than my usual tempo. This one is at 60 bpm and I have found that writing slow instrumentals is actually quite challenging. The theme I present in this song is about the therapeutic quality of touch. I try to describe the experience of the emotional relief and comfort when touching someone you love. Perhaps this can be a hug, a kiss, or a light playful pinch. Whatever it is, these forms of touching can produce a feeling of warmth and comfort that I feel is quite healing especially having experienced something distressing. Anyway I hope you enjoy the track! 

Credits to Cahya for the smashing photo of my guitar. You can see her work on her instagram page at pinkdandelion7.

Sentuhan Yang Menyembuhkan (Healing touch)

This is about the experience of a being in a turbulent flight. The flight experience is characterized by repeated episodes of light, mild, and strong bumps occurring between some calm. So here it is, hope you can enjoy it!

Turbulence, Please Stay Seated!

Song in progress

This page is space for my musical ideas. I spent considerable time learning classical guitar but am influenced by different musical genres. Most recordings use a nylon classical guitar and the songs are arranged for multiple acoustic guitar players. The recordings I have included in this page are mostly rough ideas that I may further develop before entering the recording studio. So I welcome your comments and advice.

I would like to thank all of you who have listened, liked, reposted and commented on my music.  Knowing that my music brings some positive experience to you means a lot, and it encourages me to put more time in my music.

Buls On Danotes

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