Juatra Putra & Putra Jaya Melati — The Sacred Entertainmen

This educational recording aims to document the unique form and psychic fury of traditional Javanese horse dances.  To quote the liner notes, "Kasenian réak is a genre of performative art from the Priangan area of West Java, organized during hajatans (life-cycle celebrations) and nowadays primarily held during weddings and circumcisions."   The style includes not only music but trance dancing and incredible feats involving bricks and blades.

Rather than include lo-fi field recordings, the label has selected quality recordings from two famed ensembles, one classic and one contemporary.  Juarta Putra, a group which was instrumental in popularizing réak, plays a more conservative traditional interpretation, while Putra Jaya Melati modernizes the style to some extent.

The audio fidelity is cleaner than one might expect given the circumstances: this music was clearly played outside, in a public place amidst a crowd of people, and a small number of microphones was used to capture rather large ensembles.  What this means is that the drums can be rather muffled and distant, but the horns, singing and other instruments have come through quite clearly.

Juarta Putra's opening track is a fierce, other-dimensional scream, startling me immediately with its racing tempo, urgent percussion and the mind-bending intensity of the droning, warbling horns in the background.  Truly, one can draw a parallel to dark, aggressively psychedelic rave music of the modern era, with a relentless pulse driving the listener into an altered state.  There is an amazing sense of frenzy in the first few minutes.  Following this, there's something of a halftime breakdown, smokey and comatose, certainly no less otherworldly.

Putra Jaya Melati's piece, described as more modern in the liner notes, still sounds like the faded ghost of a bygone era but carries a distinctly different tone than the first piece.  Lacking the aggressive strangeness of side A, this is more of a feel-good beat, an extended jam session with a welcoming pulse and positive energy.  Impassioned singing occasionally soars above the instruments, and instruments duck in and out as they please.

I greatly enjoy the sound of the horns played on both sides, a reedy, oboe-like timbre with an expressively strong, squiggly vibrato.  Their circular, scalar melodic figures are a common element to the style as played by both groups.

For most people, the album ends with those two  pieces, however, I am lucky enough to have received a 'bonus track' longer than the full length of main LP, a 71 minute additional piece by Juatra Putra titled "Dogcing", which continues in the fierce shamanic frenzy of side A.  The energy of this track is so incredible that I really wish it would be included in all versions of the album.  Indeed, with its extended runtime it reaches heights only hinted at by the main LP.  I find myself suddenly a rabid fan of Juatra Putra.

This recording is a fantastic document of something Western cultures rarely acknowledge.  It brings all the fascination and 'other-ness' that field recordings of traditional music can possess, but with uncommonly clear and ear-pleasing audio fidelity.  While I deeply enjoy both sides of the LP, I find myself preferring the more traditional group, Juatra Putra, for delivering an intensity and poise which has ushered in truly alien energy.  I would listen to many full albums of this group.