PREMIERE 'Ngelmu Tirakat 9' Sanjonas
Listen to 'Ngelmu Tirakat 9' by Sanjonas taken from "Ngelmu Tirakat" out on October 15th via RAMPAK G
Tirakat in the context of Indonesia and especially Java, is a spiritual and cultural practice of self-discipline, restraint, and intentional endurance. It connects with Islamic mysticism, ascetic traditions, and older animist-Hindu-Buddhist influences. It's not simply about "suffering" or "fasting", but more about inner clarity and deeper purpose.
Ngelmu Tirakat acts as a distillation of what he absorbed over the years: The sounds he grew up with, A question surrounding why he make music, What it means to inherit as half Indo-Chinese identity in this sonic landscape, The silent voyage in this clout world, how hope and dreams nurture in the resilience.
The album is Sanjonas' second full-length release, Deconstructing Gqom, UK Funky, Marawis, Lion Dance and Club Music — channeled through muted FM synthesized of regional instruments on its center. A mixture of traditional and global rhythm.
For Sanjonas it is a vow he made for his life. A nadzar. A commitment carried through uncertainty, crisis, love or any circumstance may come in the future.