Rituals Of Gorontalo EP

orn and raised in Indonesia, Omar Joesoef built this EP with samples of old records of ethnic music that he has found in an abandoned radio station on Java island. Named Lokananta, it is one of the first radios setting up in Indonesia in the 50’s. The recordings in Omar’s EP come from rituals and meditative chants of one of the last tribes still living in the ancient way, completely disconnected from the modern world.

Chants of Gorontalo opening track is named after a province of Indonesia located on the island of Sulawesi. Over there lives the Dayak tribe who still follows its ancient traditional way of life. They practice rituals to communicate with their ancestors using chants and meditation. This first track is about a prayer for harvests, fertility and prosperity. Dayak is a very intimate and enclosed tribe, keeping themselves away from modern society. These recordings of them singing found by Omar in Lokananta radio station are very rare and special. Lokananta is also the first record label of Indonesia, releasing recordings of wayang performances, speeches, Javanese orchestra. It is a great source of inspiration for Joesoef’s work.

Morning World track is a reading of a Java old story about a mythical creature called Gatot Kaca. Searching old records in his storage room, Omar accidentally found somewhat of a scripture in ancient Javanese. The meaning of it came from his family. The script was released by Kraton, an ancient Javanese royal palace, and was passed down on Omar’s mother’s side of the family. The story is a simplified folklore called Wayang, a traditional form of puppet theatre play from Java island. Omar found a Latin version of the script and asked his friend Sasha Alatas to read it in the way he used to hear it at Wayang plays when he was a kid. To complete the track, Omar made some minor manipulations of the voice and added a few samples of Lokananta records such as bird sounds and environmental soundscape.

“It’s the Heat in the Room” track conveys a strong and powerful energy with consistent heavy bassline, snappy snare, groovy percussion ensemble and vocal samples of the Dayak tribe. The song emulates the adrenalin rush one might feel in the middle of a night hunt. Some of the sounds chosen reminds of the echoes that may be experienced in a dark cave when a single stone breaks on the floor.