Indonesia has always been a crossroads of travel and trade as already witnessed from Marco Polo in his Milione; but what in particular distinguishes this country of a thousand islands is the richness of its diverse artistic expressions and in particular its music and theater. Already in the bas-reliefs of Borobudur, the majestic Buddhist temple that dates back to the 8th century, there are depictions of musicians and musical instruments still found in gamelan orchestras, in which instruments to percussion, gongs and xylophones above all, predominate.

The gamelan orchestra is at the center of every musical form in Indonesia, accompanying dance and religious rituals as well as civil ceremonies. The hypnotic sounds of this music have also fascinated Western composers, particularly Claude Debussy, who discovered it through a Balinese group's performance at the Paris World's Fair in 1899.

For this concert, which will have its European premiere performance in Spoleto's Piazza del Duomo, Indonesia's most celebrated music composer Rahayu Supanggah will conduct an ensemble of nine performers with traditional instruments, on whose sound textures six dancers from from Palembang, the city to south Sumatra that was the seat of the Court of Srivijaya, a southern Sumatran kingdom that thrived from the 8th to the 13th century, will perform at the opening and closing of the concert.

Dances and music by Gending Sriwijaya still testify to a culture that respects brotherhood and friendship among human beings and celebrates the special the relationship with the divine, to alluded to by the word Sakti, a Sanskrit term for cosmic force.

To quote the musicologist Diego Carpitella, who has been attentive to the relationship between traditional world musics and European cultured music, this concert on the stage of a square symbolic of Western classical culture is meant to testify to the definitive shift from exotic curiosity to the enjoyment of musical forms of absolute originality that are now part of our now completely cross-cultural soundtrack.

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RAHAYU SUPANGGAH

Known for his role in the international project Realizing Rama and for the musical scores from he composed for Opera Jawa and Robert Wilson's show I La Galigo, Rahayu Supanggah is considered one of the pioneers of contemporary music in Indonesia. A professor of ethnomusicology and composition, he is also an internationally renowned musician, composer, performer and curator, constantly experimenting and creating new musical genres. He has collaborated with the likes of Robert Wilson, Sergio Leone and the Kronos Quartet.

His award-winning compositions-which range from from concert music, to stage music for dance and theater, to film scores-reflect the traditional Javanese Karawitan style, bringing to life to a contemporary musical genre rooted in the traditional music of various regions of Indonesia and Asia.

Rahayu Supanggah is one of the artists called to to represent Indonesia in the National Pavilion at the latest Venice Biennale.

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