World Peace Orchestra

After a long wait, Indonesian musician Dwiki Dharmawan’s collaborative effort alongside a number of foreign and Indonesian musicians dubbed “World Peace Orchestra” (WPO) CD will soon be available in market to be enjoyed by music lovers in Indonesia on the second week of June. The launching of the WPO CD will be marked by a live WPO Concert to be held on 17 June 2009 at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ). The concert is supported by the Department of Culture and Tourism and arranged buy RN Presents/Omega Pacific also aims to participate in the “Vote Komodo Nation Park for the New7Wonders” campaign. Through the concert, the World Peace Orchestra would like to accumulate as many votes as possible to ensure that the Komodo Nation Park is included as one of the world’s seven wonders.

During the showcase scheduled for 17 June 2009 at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Dwiki Dharmawan and WPO will perform all pieces featured in the “World Peace Orchestra” album, released under label Omega Pacific Production (OPP) with Gita Wirjawan as executive producer. The album comprise of 12 compositions, including 3 folk songs from Flores such as “IE”, “Anaritin Teo” and “Benggong Banggong”, Kalimantan traditional songs “Paris Barantai” and Balinese traditional song “Janger”. At the launching night, Dwiki Dharmawan will also perform his collaborative effort with Nyoman Windha, titled “Gunungan”. The song is not included in the WPO album. Nevertheless, it remains a worthy treat indeed.

Musicians participating in the “World Peace Orchestra” concert are definitely impressive, a lineup inviting awe, comprising of Dewa Budjana, Dubai musician Kamal Musallam (guitar), Steve Thornton (percussion) and Lewis Pragasm (drums). They representing original line up of WPO, such as Walfredo Reyes Jr. (drums), Jimmy Haslip (bass), Russel Ferrante (keyboard), Michael Paulo (saxophone), Tollak Ollestad (harmonica), Andy Suzuki (saxophone/clarinet/flute), Guy Strazz (guitar), Rodrigo Galvao (percussion), Hugh Fraser (bass), Andrew Oh (flute) and Marc Antoine (acoustic guitar), as well as China Philharmonic Orchestra and Rich Breen the sound engineer will also not be coming. “They’ll lend their support from afar,” said Dwiki Dharmawan. Another original supporter of WPO, Roger Burn, a vibraphonist from the US, passed away earlier this year due to an illness he had been battling. The late Roger Burn was an admirer of Dwiki Dharmawan; it was also he that very much supported the WPO recording process in the US.

For Dwiki Dharmawan who for a long time has been infatuated with various unique genres of World Music, the album was a medium in which he poured his diverse artistic inspiration; it is a fruit bore from his multicultural journey. Dwiki Dharmawan refers to the album as a documentation of his musical interaction with musicians from various countries and also his fellow countrymen. The Indonesian musicians participating in the WPO album are Ivan Nestorman (vocal), Dira J.Sugandi (vocal), Indro Hardjodikoro (bass), Sandy Winarta (drums), Zainal Arifin (percussion), Korem Sihombing (taganing), Yoyon Darsono (beluk) and Nyoman Windha (jegog Bali).

“World Peace Orchestra” is truly a global album. In addition to the diverse musicians participating, the album was recorded in various cities, from Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Sydney to Beijing. The flavors of the music featured in the album have become a vivacious musical fusion. For example, there is a Flores song wed with the sounds of flute, taganing from Batak and Latin-flavored percussion. “To put it simple, let this album be Indonesia’s contribution to the music of the world,” Dwiki shared.

People World Peace Orchestra