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Artist: Jugala All Stars
Category: Asia/Pacific
British Balkan group 3 Mustaphas 3 were a wonderfully surreal and talented outfit who helped open up the world fusion scene in the late 1980s. Since their demise all the members have found other areas for their musical talents - Lu Edmonds manages Yat-Kha and plays with Billy Bragg, Ben Mandelson organised Womex and is another of Billy Bragg's blokes, Kim Burton is currently working for the UN and Sabah Habas Mustapha (Colin Bass to his mum) has produced three albums of exceptional Indonesian pop with Javanese musicians the Jugala All Stars.
Mustapha is no dilettante when it comes to making contemporary Indonesian music: his first album Denpasar Moon launched over fifty cover versions of the title song. Although he received no royalty payments for these cover versions, Mustapha claims he was treated as such when introduced as the song's composer.
Mustapha records with top Sundanese musicians at the famous Jugala studios in Bandung, West Java. The Jugala All Stars are among a new generation of musicians working within their rich musical traditions to create contemporary Sundanese music. Leader Ismet Ruchimat, who plays the zither-like kacapi, is composer and arranger for the internationally known Jugala Orchestra (Sundanese pop-gamelan band) and has participated on a number of international recording projects.
Also featured are khendang drums, a selection of suling bamboo flutes, wistful violin melodies, shiny Jaipongan vocals and Sunda-style rap known as senggak. Sabah Habas Mustapha sings and plays both guitar and bass. Together they take Sundanese music forward in all directions.
Biography by Garth Cartwright, November 2001
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