Suling Pereret (B 886)

The pereret is a ancient kind of reedy trumpet/oboe instrument found on various islands in Indonesia. Apparently in the West Bali Jembrana district young single men will clime into trees at night and play enchanting serenades on their pererets to seduce maidens from the village for some amorous hookup. They probably wouldn't bother doing it if it didn't work! Here's a brief article in Indonesian that has more of an explanation. This tape captures an ensemble of pererets augmented with suling, a small gamelan, and some occasional singing. Even though they're from the West Bali Batuagung village, I don't know if there's much of a connection with the tree bound fellas described above and the music/musicians on this tape other than they come from the same region of the island. Regardless, the music is very cool and heavy - and, who knows, might very well cast a potent spell on some womenfolk. The pererets themselves saturate the sound in a wonderful way, creating blown out chords that rise from the driving percussion and gongs. Very nice!

(Suling Pereret (B 886).rar - 83MB)