Watch a video of the Indonesian duo perform at last year's Terraforma festival
From Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Senyawa are a duo consisting of singer Rully Shabara and instrumentalist Wukir Suryadi, who plays a self-modified zither aptly name the bambuwukir. The pair, who have been performing together for over five years, released their album Menjadi on Rabih Beaini's Morphine Records in 2015. Talking to Clive Bell in The Wire 372, Rully explains the meaning of the title: “It means literally ‘to become’ [...] It can have a very wide meaning: to transform or transcend into something else.
“What is difficult for me is music from third world countries,” he continues. “They often sing about politics or struggle in the country. We prefer not to. I want to sing about the beauty of nature, the beauty of the people living in it, and the relationship between humans and nature. So all our songs are about just that. And the spiritual aspect of that relationship, which I think is beautiful.”
Senyawa performed last year at Milan's sustainable music festival Terraforma. This year Terraforma will take place between 1–3 July at Villa Arconati. The line-up includes Biosphere, Charlemagne Palestine, Adrian Sherwood, Lee Gamble, Donato Dozzy, Healing Force Project, Francesco Cavaliere, Helena Hauff, Flanger and others. Terraforma 2015 was reviewed in The Wire 379. Subscribers can read that article via Exact Editions.
