Born in Denpasar, Bali, I Wayan Sadra built his career in Surakarta, Central Java. Sadra is a contemporary musician with various forms of music, including an ensemble and meditative music.
His music is beyond the “order” so that it is not often called ordinary music. The label “Not Ordinary Music” was later used by Sadra to name his program, held every two months at the Art House of Surakarta Cultural Park (TBS) in Surakarta or Solo.
“This program is not to show off. Not Ordinary Music is [held] to provide room for those who are interested in exploring music,” Sadra said on the verandah of the Art House.
Not Ordinary Music is a forum designed for musicians who want to present their works that don’t fit into the category of mainstream music. Musicians are free to present their creative music. Some of them use paint cans, mineral water bottles and coins to produce sounds, some combine gamelan with piano. No problem. A free discussion is held after the concert.
“Regardless of the form, I always base my work on local music, especially gamelan. This can’t change,” said the musician who was a curator of the Solo International Ethnic Music in 2007.
Sadra learned to play gamelan when he was a child. In his home kampong, Kaja, almost all of his neighbors were gamelan players.
Upon his graduation from junior high school, he went to the Bali Traditional Music Conservatorium.
Sadra left Bali after he met choreographer Sardono W. Kusuma in 1974. That was when he performed his work as an illustration for Dongeng dari Dirah (Dirah’s Tale), a dance drama created by Sardono. In the same year, along with Sardono and choreographer Hajar Satoto, he performed the dance drama around Europe for four months.
“Mas Don [Sardono W. Kusumo] made me think outside the square. I used to think that traditional Balinese music was the most perfect. He opened my mind,” said
