Northern Sumatra - Partopi Tao Group
Calabash Music is donating 100% of the proceeds from our share of download sales of this recording to the Sumatran Tsunami relief efforts.Northern Sumatra is crossed by the Bukit Barisan mountains with peaks of numerous volcanoes. The land has thick virgin forests, lush vegetation, rice fields, mountain streams, rivers, waterfalls and sandy beaches. Beautiful tropical panoramas, terraced rice fields, blue mountains, jungle covered hills, white sandy beaches, music, dance and folk arts. The people are hospitable and warm. North Sumatra developed complex traditions of instrumental music -- one of the very few societies in the world to use tuned drums to carry a melody. Combining these drums with gongs and an oboe-like instrument, their gondang sabangunan ensemble has a tense feel in which the melodic and rhythmic instruments seem to compete with one another. These surprising genres are virtually unknown outside of Indonesia.