Garin Nugroho's Cinematic Music Performance, Samsara Cine-Concert Packs Traditional Balinese Performances with Flair

Samsara Cine-Concert (Bambang E Ros/VOI)

JAKARTA - Gamelan orchestration with a tweet from song developers that accompanies Samsara's black-and-white silent film into a magical form felt in Graha Bhakti Budaya's room, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta on Friday, December 13 at the start of a performance titled Samsara Cine-Concert.

Music and ethnomusicology composers Wayan Sudirana, Kasimyn and Ikhsan Syahrul Alim from the Gabber Modus Operandi music group were gamified by director Garin Nugroho as a music arranger in films and cinema-concert events which took place from December 13-15, 2024.

Wayan Sudiana himself is a music composer who graduated from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and has studied Balinese ancient music a lot, and various world music traditions, from Korea, Ghana, and India, as well as western classical music.

Meanwhile Kasimyn and Ikhsan Syahrul Alim from Gabber Modus Operandi themselves present digital electronic music ingredients from the crossover of several music genres. They have collaborated with international musician Bjork on the Fossora album in 2022.

The mix of digital electronic music as well as contemporary dances and masks combined with gamelan orchestras, traditional dances, masks, and puppets, as well as the many elements of traditional performances from the island of Bali are neatly packaged in this performance which is fully supported by the Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation.

Cine-Concert Samsara is a combination of the black-and-white silent film by director Garin Nugroho, starring actors Ario Bayu and Juliet Widyasari Burnett and stage art. To witness Samsara's cinema-concert in Jakarta, Monday connoisseurs can buy tickets ranging from 375 thousand rupiah to 1.2 million rupiah.

Samsara production was also strengthened by well-known Indonesian and Balinese artists and dancers, including Gus Bang Sada, Siko Setyanto, Dance Maestro I Ketut Arini, Cok Sawitri, Aryani Willems, choreographer Ida Ayu Wayan Arya Satyani, and other dancers from the Bumi Bajra Community, Bali.

Before appearing in Jakarta, the stage version of Samsara was staged for the first time at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore on May 10, 2024, and on August 16, 2024 at the Indonesia Bertur (Intur) 2024 event which was held at Peninsula Island, Nusa Dua, Bali, and at the JAFF19 event in Yogyakarta on December 5, 2024.

Samsara which means 'born again' is a unique project that combines performing arts and cinemas to take place in Bali in the 30s. Tells the story of a man from a poor family who is rejected by his application by the rich parents of his loved ones.

He entered into a supernatural agreement with the Monkey King and performed a dark ritual to get wealth. But in the process, the ritual actually condemns his wife and children to suffer.

Gita Fara as producer of Samsara's joke-concert said that at the end of the cities of Yogyakarta and Jakarta it would be a sweet closure. Because after the performance in Jakarta, Samsara's cine-concert is scheduled to tour abroad.

This was admitted by Gita during a media conference after Samsara's performance on Friday (12/12/2024) at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Jakarta.

"We started Samsara's international cine-concert tour from February, the plan is for Perth, Australia. But after the city of Perth, there will definitely be another international tour," concluded Gita Fara.

Perth City, Australia will be the first country to hold Samsara's cinema-concert on February 21, 2025 at 20.00 AWST.