Search - Idjah Hadidjah :: Tonggeret

Tongerret showcases the sinuous, melismatic female vocals of Indonesia's Idjah Hadidjah, who performs songs spanning three genres of regional Sundanese popular music: the concert music styles kliningan and celempungan, and the dance music jaipongan. The latter style, adapted by renowned composer/choreographer Gugum Gumbira from the earlier, "disreputable," Ketuk Tilu tradition of Sundanese dance music, enjoyed immense popularity throughout Indonesia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, catapulting Idjah Hadidjah to national stardom. Although jaipongan music shares instrumentation (gongs and metallophones) and certain formal similarities with Indonesia's better-known gamelan (ceremonial percussion orchestra) tradition, its forceful drumming and erotic overtones give it a much more contemporary sound. The Kliningan and Celempungan selections, by contrast, are imbued with a dreamy, soft-focus quality, heightened by Hadidjah's richly ornamented vocalizing. --Dennis Rea