When you hear the word Indonesia, the musical associations with the country directly come to mind. Gamelan, for instance, or more recently bands like the folk-metal instrument makers of Senyawa. This list can now be extended to include the name Delly Rollies. In the eighties, he released a whole series of albums, including »Mutiara Kata« from 1982, together with his Friends 82, namely Norman Rachman and Harry Sabar. The latter was probably responsible for the fact that on the record, whose style, including the vocals, is otherwise inspired by the reggae-pop of The Police, one number clearly stands out: »Licik«. Harry Sabar was in charge of the vocoder on this nine-minute piece. And this, together with a very leisurely driving funk groove, makes for a conceivably unrocky result that you would be unlikely to find with other bands in this form. The vocoder doesn’t sound like a cool robotic voice, in this case, but rather something more akin to screaming can be heard through the alienation. Indonesian producer Dea Barandana alias Dea has added a tribute version for this new release on the Amsterdam label Jiwa Jiwa, with a steady drum machine instead of drums, and he overall focused on the quieter moments. A slightly constrained version of the original, but respectful all the same.
Keith Hudson & Soul Syndicate
Nuh Skin Up Dub
Week-End