GURUH GIPSY

What an unusual album this is! It is a mixture of ELP-inspired progressive rock and Balinese traditional music. Sometimes the blend is clumsy but most of the time it's excellent and worth your time.

The album was put together in the mid 1970s by Guruh Sukarnoputra, the son of Indonesia's first president Sukarno. He teamed up with members of the group Gipsy to do this one-off album.

It features vocalist/bassist Chrisye and brothers Gaury (guitar) and Keenan (drums) Nasution as well as the talented keyboardists Abadi Soesman and Roni Harahap. Chrisye became a solo star in Indonesia a few years after this album came out.,

The first track Indonesia Mahardikka blends the pomp of nationalist sentiments along with loads of Keith Emerson like synth leads! Gamelan and angklong surface from time to time but mainly it's the Western music that dominates the fusion on this 15 minute track. The guitar solo reminds me of Mick Rogers' playing on MMEB albums.

Another high point is Chopin Larung with its haunting mixture of Western classical piano and Eastern themes.

I also like the frenzied, often hard-rocking Geger Gelgel and Barong Gundah which sees the music get really complex as a deep bass groove interlocks with dynamic, almost confusing gamelan runs.

Indeed it's not easy listening and I get a bit bored when the Balinese orchestra dominates on Janger 1897 Saka and Smaradhana.

All told a fantastic album that should intrigue anyone with prog curiosity. It seems a pity Guruh gave up on music to focus on dance. He then entered parliament and served for over 20 years!

I rate it alongside Giant's Giant On The Move as Indonesia's best prog album.

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