Metamorphosis is a story that is always interesting to watch. The change of a caterpillar into a butterfly is a fascinating story. As well as the level of changes that humans compose in thousands of fiction: Mermaids turn into humans, the tragic tale of Tumang, who turns into a dog and is killed by Sangkuriang to be handed over to Dayang Sumbi, and the famous story of Cinderella who transforms from an ordinary girl into a beautiful princess.
In this mortal world, metamorphosis or change is a necessity. In any case. Including in the world of music. Throughout the history of civilisation, music has permanently changed, including the musicians or humans who create and play that music. The story of this metamorphosis in music is no less exciting to watch.
This metamorphosis is sometimes very extreme. Cross from one side to the other. For example, we can see this example in how John Cage, a well-known classical music composer, transforms into an avant-garde musician who brings silence to his repertoire. Or domestically, how did Rhoma Irama, a musician very fond of rock music a la Deep Purple, change and transform his music with OM Soneta into dangdut full of da’wah teachings?
We can see another example of this metamorphosis in the music world from Tesla Manaf. Tracing back a few years ago, Tesla Manaf thrived as a jazz musician. His guitar playing has amazed many people—including senior musicians. Tesla became the new darling on the Indonesian jazz scene. Many people hurled exorbitant praise for Tesla, who had previously studied classical music for the past 10 years.
When it got that much attention in the jazz scene, Tesla should have just stayed in that comfort and safety zone. With his talent and dedication, Tesla will remain famous in the jazz scene for decades. Tesla should have kept strumming and strumming his guitar in jazz. After all, isn’t fame one of the things people look for when playing music?
However, Tesla Manaf underwent a metamorphosis as well. Instead of sticking around in the jazz world that made him a name, Tesla chose to cross over to the other extreme. He decided to hang up the guitar, changed his name to the moniker KUNTARI, and worked in a wild wilderness called experimental music.
It took great courage to cross this far. Hanging up the guitar and early retirement from jazz and instead working on experimental music meant that Tesla had to start from scratch again. He has to compose new music that needs to be more jazzy. He has to approach and try to socialise again with the community and the experimental music scene. Anyway, this is a new beginning.
The story of Tesla Manaf’s metamorphosis into KUNTARI is exciting because Tesla, with all his talent and dedication, managed to make the change beautifully. Black Shirt Attracts More Feather, KUNTARI’s first experimental album released in 2020, became the opening way for KUNTARI to explore the world of experimentation—followed by Last Boy Picked in 2021 and Larynx in 2022. KUNTARI’s metamorphosis is complete.
At Black Shirt Attracts More Feather, KUNTARI plays electronic music. The sounds present there are syntheses, and the form of the music can be attached to noise, drone, and avant-garde music. Meanwhile, in Last Boy Picked, KUNTARI offers a new formula: the mix and match of various electronic instruments and the percussive beat of various idiophones and membranophones.
So Larynx, released in 2022, is an album equal to three dollars with Last Boy Picked. The Larynx presents the beat of an idiophone drum set with various accessories wrapped in ambience, from electronic devices, cornets/trumpets and guitars. Yes, Tesla played the guitar that had previously been suspended. However, now he plays it unconventionally.
Listening to the Larynx we are like listening to the sound of a wild animal calling its partner to perform a sex ritual. We can also imagine a fictional world of magical creatures like fairies or buto ijo giants. The Larynx sounds so beautiful beyond measure.
If we think of music as a language, the Larynx has made KUNTARI a munsyi (a language expert). Very capable connoisseurs speak the language of music.
The way KUNTARI speaks in the Larynx is exceptional. He also presents ambience and noise arrangements. KUNTARI intelligently incorporates ancient tribal sounds with the rhythmic pattern of hadrah kuntul music, famous in the Banyuwangi area. Not only that, but he also included a percussive row of Balinese-Chinese sar ping/barong sai. Listening to this percussive element will remind us of the clamour of gong kebyar or Balinese gong gede. Magnificent and mystical because in Bali, these rhythmic patterns are indeed an accompaniment for worship activities.
KUNTARI doesn’t want to bother thinking about the tone scale. For him, the most important thing about the music at Larynx is the percussive elements of the drum set and percussion played by his comrade Rio Abror, as well as the combination with the dark ambience that sounds tense.
Listening to the Larynx makes us wonder why a Tesla Manaf has to leave jazz, which is materially more pleasing to the ear, and then transform into KUNTARI with wild experimental music. What’s the trigger?
Maybe Tesla was bored. Yes, in the world of experimental and avant-garde music, boredom is common. Usually, the musician was already well-established in music that was—let’s say—conventional. However, over time, the musician will get bored and feel stuck. At that point, the musician usually leaves traditional music, which he thinks is boring. Then, get out of the pack and experiment. This is done to obtain artistic and aesthetic satisfaction.
In Liner Notes for Larynx‘s album, Rully Shabara from Senyawa stated that KUNTARI’s experimental music is a dark tunnel that may have no end. Tesla Manaf alias KUNTARI certainly understands this dark tunnel’s existence very well. He realised that his journey might be endless. However, it seems that Tesla was ready for all the consequences he had to face in this dark alley.
Larynx, an album containing five repertoires with a duration of 44 minutes and 57 seconds, has proven itself a manifestation of the search for the uniqueness of music that KUNTARI has been pursuing. As well as witnessing the metamorphosis of KUNTARI. We can say goodbye to Tesla Manaf and welcome to KUNTARI.
Thank you, KUNTARI, for your fascinating musical exploration.
Artist: KUNTARI
Album: Larynx
Year: 2022
Label: Yes No Wave (Digital Version), Grimloc Records (CD Version)
Duration: 44 Minutes 57 Seconds.
Aris Setyawan 