Seni Reak Juarta Putra (ID) + HVAD (DK)

Seni Reak Juarta Putra

It is intense and hungry, celebratory and fabulous when you get the opportunity to take part in the phenomenon of Seni Reak Juarta Putra. The Indonesian group performs an explosive, all-theatrical session with roots in the Sundanese culture from the western part of the island of Java in Indonesia. The ritual has existed for more than 100 years, originally rooted in local, family ceremonies, but has now developed into a musical phenomenon with several hundred performing groups.

The word reak is said to be a combination of the words eak-eakan and ngareuah-reuah, and means music that gets the attention of the people around – and there is a guarantee that Seni Reak Juarta Putra will demand your attention.

The trance is invoked through a wild and bodily dance with intense rhythmic accompaniment and wild physical manifestations that anchor the participants in a larger world space. Smoke, dance and thundering drums ensure an intense total experience – in this case in a unique collaboration with Danish musicians.

HVAD (DK)

HVAD (Hari Shankar Kishore, b. 1985) is a Danish electronic artist. Since the mid-2000s, he has been creating and performing electronic music under various aliases, developing a signature sound unlike anything else in Denmark. His music is innovative, wild, and ever-evolving, characterized by an abstract, warlike energy that seems to make the earth tremble. Underneath it all lies a hauntingly beautiful sense of paranoia. Drawing from modern situationism, HVAD crafts a unique and complex musical and visual universe that breaks down cultural boundaries and challenges prejudices.

HVAD incorporates elements such as self-carved lacquers, temple bells, taxi doors, dog barks, church choirs, street slang, and his own voice to express a contemporary cultural awareness that transcends multiculturalism, blurring the line between lived experience and art. HVAD has performed over 500 concerts worldwide, from SXSW in Texas to the Midi Electronic Music Festival in Suzhou, China.

After nearly seven years of hard work, Hari's sound has gained recognition from opinion leaders and visionaries worldwide: Aphex Twin played his tracks during their DJ set at Glastonbury, and Hari has performed at venues ranging from the legendary Berghain in Berlin to the Unsound festival in Krakow.

Danish news outlet Information writes:

“The human body is exposed in HVAD's work through traditional Indian instruments that rarely come to the forefront. Most of the time, the violin, sitar, swarmandal, esraj, and tanpura reside in the background, like droning and plaintive ghosts.

However, percussion instruments such as the tabla, dholak, and gong blend more clearly with the layered beats and timbres. These beats draw from older electronic equipment by manufacturers like Roland, Korg, Suiko, and Eventide — specifically the H3000 variant.

The sound of HVAD’s finger work on the buttons of electronic equipment and the drum skin of percussion instruments is intertwined, building a bridge between today’s acoustics and the timelessness of computer storage, between Indian tradition and Western electronica.”