Dwiki Dharmawan, Rumah Batu Review

Dwiki Dharmawan is back with another outstanding release on MoonJune records,  (meaning “the stone house” in Indonesian Bahasa language). The iconic keyboardist, composer, and producer, Dharmawan, brings sounds from jazz influences of tonal color and improvisation and then mixes it with his rich Indonesian cultural heritage, to create a sound that is unified and highly original. Having sounds that are both in the progressive jazz-vein and the world music vein, Rumah Batu delivers eight adventurous compositions with superlative performances. A wonderful cast of players have been compiled to bring the music a vastly international sound including: the enigmatic French virtuoso, of Vietnamese descent, Nguyên Lê, on guitar; legendary flamenco fretless bassist, Spain’s Carles Benavent; the extraordinary flutist, also from Indonesia, Sa’at Syah, and the proven progressive backbone of fellow Israeli-born, UK transplants, Yaron Stavi [on upright bass  (yes: the album features two bass players!) and supreme drummer, Asaf Sirkis. There are also multiple guest musicians and vocalist on Rumah Batu, the result is music that is of pure inspiration in its free transmission of feeling and emotions though the gift of music. Your very cells will dance with this album and that’s the short of it!