Tracing The Kiprah Of Gilang Ramadhan In The Indonesian Traditional Music Candidate

Gilang Ramadhan while attending the launch of the "AMI ETHNIC" page from the Ministry of Education and Culture and YAMI in the Kemang area, South Jakarta, Wednesday (11/10/2023). (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Senior musician and observer of traditional music Gilang Ramadhan is known as one of the musicians who has often introduced traditional Indonesian music for decades as an effort to preserve Indonesian culture.

When met at the launch of the AMI ETHNIC page in the Kemang area, South Jakarta, Wednesday, Gilang Ramadhan said he had been fond of traditional music for a long time. He also went directly to regions in Indonesia to explore deeper traditional music in order to provide a new musical feel for the community.

"I'm trying to participate in helping the traditional music ecosystem, in other words we can enter modern management (from) downstream to upstream," said Gilang Ramadhan, the man who was born on May 30, 1963, quoting Antara.

Most recently, Gilang brought on a mission from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) to maintain and preserve traditional music in Indonesia. He is tasked with disseminating the Collective Management Institute (LMK) to the public as a form of commitment from the government and relevant stakeholders in protecting traditional Indonesian music.

Gilang also supports the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Anugerah Musik Indonesia Foundation (YAMI) which has just launched the AMI ETHNIC page, which is an information portal that presents various things about traditional musical instruments in Indonesia. With this page, he hopes that traditional music will be more successful in line with the increasingly prosperous artists and craftsmen of traditional Indonesian musical instruments.

"I want to maintain my culture (Indonesia) so that we can be even stronger in the cultural context that we have learned," said the husband of the champion Shahnaz Haque.

Now, in addition to carrying out duties from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Gilang also manages a number of his music studios Gilang Ramadhan Studio Band in several cities in Indonesia. Music studios are one of the bridges for him to teach the widest possible music to the public.

Gilang, singer Ivan airman, bass player Adi Darmawan and a number of other musicians also often appear together in the Komodo Project group, an Indonesian traditional music performance project. Through the Komodo Project, Gilang and his fellow musicians want to introduce authentic traditional music, while combining it with modern elements.

When appearing with the Komodo Project entity, Gilang will show his expertise in playing drums that have been modified with additional bonang from gamelan and several devices from other traditional musical instruments. Ivan total will play sasando, a traditional musical instrument from Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara.

He also actively discussed with music observers and music lecturers in Indonesia and abroad to find out the current situation around the development of traditional music. Through discussions, Gilang wants to introduce traditional Indonesian music as well as increase insights about music in general.

"I have a special group that contains music lecturers, some from abroad. We often discuss there," said Gilang.