S03 E04: Uni Osing

LAUT LOUD (((~~~)))

LAUT LOUD (((~~~)))

Uni Osing makes music that is as challenging, uncompromising, and relentless as Banyuwangi.

Beyond the spectacle of their performance, though, lies an underlying tone of poignancy.

Banyuwangi, the far eastern tip of Java, has earned a reputation for fierceness. Hundreds of years ago, bandits, dissidents, and anyone else wanting to avoid the expanding Dutch colonialism fled to Banyuwangi's marshes and thick jungles.

Javanese kingdoms and the Dutch eventually reached the regions around Banyuwangi, but never truly conquered the people. The Blambangan, as they were once known, reinterpreted their overlord's histories, retained their unique dialect, and developed a local cultural practice, inspired but distinct from anywhere else in Java.

Even today, the residents of Java's far eastern tip are known as the Osing people -- a term literally meaning "The Naysayers."

The furious din of hadrah kuntulan is their rhythm of their resistance – a tradition preserved and interpreted here by local group Uni Osing. Songs of love, mantras recalling their ancestors, and elegant melodies of praise are accompanied by frantic interlocking drums and careening violins.

A month before this video was released, our crew received news that pak Buang, the violinist and elder statesman of the group, had passed away.

We feel honored that pak Buang and his group has entrusted us to document and release one of the last recordings of his performance during his lifetime.