The first international album from this Indonesian guitarist and songwriter and his fifth album overall. The Wikipedia article has a lot of info on him.
This album is indeed a reminder that we should check out the Indonesian scene a lot more. Thankfully, Moonjune Records is doing that job for us and this is another great find. What should we compare Dewa Budjana and this album with ? Guitarists like John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny is obvious references. Add a lot of local Indonesian folk music and jazz too + the likes of Weather Report and Return To Forever to the mix too = this album.
The music is very laid back with extensive use of acoustic guitars. I expected an all out electric guitar attack like on the first Mahavishnu Orchestra albums. I got a light breeze instead with music that breathe instead of rages. The quality of the material is not great either. I am also kind of missing the concept here. Maybe because I suspect this is more a compiliation album of his Indonesian releases than one studio session. I may be wrong, but this album sounds a bit fragmented. Actually, I am wrong here. This is a proper studio recording. It still feels a bit fragmented to a prog rock and metal listener like myself. I am not used to jazz yet.
When that is said, this is still a very good album which is opening my eyes to Dewa's music and makes me want more from him. I sincerely hope we get a lot more from him in the future. I also really like the album cover and would not mind having that on my wall. The album is streamed below.
3.5 points
The album
No, you were right. From album's description at store.jazzuality.com: "Giving the title Dawai in Paradise (Dawai in English means String), he introduced 3 new compositions along with 8 songs taken from his previous albums Nusa Damai (1997), Gitarku (2000), Samsara (2003) and Home (2005) in new arrangements."
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