.....	Smithsonian Folkways Series Volume 11 to Volume 20 Covers, RealAudio sound files, and purchase links via amazon.com
	Volume 11 Melayu Music Of Sumatra And The Riau Islands Purchase info and RealAudio samples	Volume 12 Gongs And Vocal Music From Sumatra Purchase info and RealAudio samples
	Volume 11 With their Arabic vocal style, melody, lute instrumentation, and frame-drum rhythm, pieces in the zapin genre could be marvelous examples of Middle Eastern music rather than Melayu (or Malay) pieces. Islamic elements recede in theatrical musical forms mak yong and mendu, where interlocking metallophone figures and percussion meet wafting lead and unison vocals. The disc ends with three appealing performances in the ebullient ronggeng genre, which has a reputation for flirtation that gets out of hand as the female dancers flick sparks at male audience members. Ronggeng also benefits from a tug of war between local and European elements as the singer pops between minor- and major-key intonation. Volume 12 Melodic gong ensembles and male singing with percussion are found throughout Sumatra. Two of each are heard here: West Sumatran talempong (in two contrasting forms); kulintang from Lampung, at the southern end of the island; the choral didong songs of the Gayo in Aceh, and salawat dulang, competitive duet singing from West Sumatra that suprisingly uses popular songs as a vehicle for texts on points of Islamic doctrine.
	Volume 13 Kalimantan Strings Purchase info and RealAudio samples	Volume 14 Lombok, Kalimantan, Banyumas: Little-known Forms of Gamelan and Wayang Purchase info and RealAudio samples
	Volume 13 I expected the songs of the Dayak highlanders of Borneo to be jagged and intense, not delicate and reflective, though there is a high-altitude mountain-music quality to the material. "Three Dance Tunes" is a string-plucking medley for scallop-fretted sape Kayan lute which joins with bluesy female vocals on "Lupaak Avun" (Waves of Fog), a tune once used to ward off thunderstorm. More in the hoedown mood is "Karungut Saritan Nampui Kampang" with lute, rabap fiddles, and a scale-straddling vocal by Syaer Sua. Three songs by Muslim Kutai musicians trade the oriental shadings of the rest of the disc for a sound with probable roots in the Middle East, while two pieces by the Ot Danum people throw in a tapped-out glass bottle backbeat. By far the loveliest material is a trio of songs from East Kalimantan showcasing sampeq lute duets that call to mind intertwined mandolins from a parallel-universe Appalachia. Yee ha! Volume 14 Jemblung, an endangered all-vocal gamelan genre, features three males who mimic the dings and dongs of metallophones while the pesinden female vocalist bravely sings lead as gracefully as if she were backed by the finest Javanese orchestra. Maintaining her dignity isn't easy. The trio pantomimes hitting mallet instruments (along with one another) or grimaces and gyrates in imitation of the shimmering bronze keys. To make matters worse, they interject low jokes such as "Your gong's out of tune, dummy." Despite the burlesque of high culture, the vocal interplay remains as engaging as the most serious court gamelan recording, and the pesinden vocal carries me away with her otherworldly yearning. Also included is a neck-snapping, real-bronze-instrument 31:05 overture to a wayang shadow puppet play by the Kresna Group from southern Borneo.
	Volume 15 South Sulawesi Strings Purchase info and RealAudio samples	Volume 16 Music from the Southeast: Sumbawa, Sumba, Timor Purchase info and RealAudio samples
	Volume 15 This highly listenable disc includes several selections by the Bugis people, whose pirates were so feared by European traders when Indonesia was known as the Spice Islands that bratty children were threatened with the boogie man. A tightly knit trio of kacapi two-stringed lute players weave repetitive figures around one another on the opening cut followed by a soulful narrative song that's a kind of local variation of our grasshopper and ant fable. There are also a couple of brooding violin pieces, songs with a Popeye lead vocal cut from the same mold as Tuvan singing styles, plus a three-song kacapi medley by the Toraja people--whose spaceship-looking buildings are etched in my memory from the PBS Ring of Fire television series. Volume 16 This CD, in conjunction with Volume 8 and Volume 9, offers the first recorded survey of one of the least known and most musically surprising regions of Indonesia, the southeastern islands. Each of the three featured islands presents a unique sound, from voice and violin to funerary gong ensembles, to string bands of homemade guitars and violins. Many of the 15 tracks reveal foreign influences, both from colonization and American exposure. The inclusion of tracks from Timor is particularly welcome, as it helps put a face (and a voice) on an island that featured prominently in the news of 1999.
	Volume 17 Kalimantan: Dayak Ritual and Festival Music Purchase info and RealAudio samples	Volume 18 Sulawesi: Festivals, Funerals, and Work Purchase info and RealAudio samples
	Volume 17 This ambitious album presents music from seven Dayak groups of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Many selections are devoted to gong ensemble unlike either the large gamelan of Java and Bali or the interlocking gong ensembles of the southeastern region. Contrasting styles of choral singing are heard, as well as four rhythmically bewildering pieces for an ensemble of bamboo tubes struck together. The album closes with an unusual twenty-three minute overview  of the music from a three-day curing ritual among the Ot Danum of the Melawi River region in West Kalimantan. Volume 18 The celebrated Makasar genre pakarena features energetic drumming in sharp contrast to the slow, graceful movements of female dancers. Basing is the funeral music of the Kajang, performed by two female singers and two long flutes, or by the flutes alone. Choral singing in very different styles is heard from the Torja, from Uma-speakers of the mountainous Pipikoro region in Central Sulawesi, and in communal work songs of Minahasa. Also included is gong music for Mongondow weddings and spirited choral maengket singing from Minahasa with drums in celebration of the harvest.
	Volume 19 Music of Maluku: Halmahera, Bura, Kei Purchase info and RealAudio samples	Volume 20 Indonesian Guitars Purchase info and RealAudio samples
	Volume 19 The title points to little visited much less musically documented islands in the province just west of Indonesian New Guinea (aka Irian Jaya). A smooth lute and fiddle piece leads the way, and is joined by a pleasurable drumming song, children's chorus, metallophones composition, a delightful flute and gong song entry from Kei, and a lusty trio of Arabic-language devotional dabus recordings from Halmahera featuring male singers backed by frame drums and tambourine. I can't claim every note of this disc goes down like syrup, but it's one of the happier blends between the genteel and exotic in the entire Indonesia series. Volume 20 Disc opener "Kemayoran," compliments of the Mandar people' Grup Bamba Puang from South Sulawesi leans on an American-style folksy guitar to set a lovely throb until the entry of a hackle-raising singer that may suggest immediate surrender. But stick with this intriguing disc and you'll live through a wonderful oud-influenced piece by blind guitarist Sahilin from Palembang, South Sumatra, as well as the truly crazy ditty "Sungguh Terpaksa." The latter spotlights Bugis wildman La Podding pecking at an amplified kacapi lute in service of a parody of big city big star Rhoma Irama, featured in all his excessive Indopop dangdut glory on Music of Indonesia 3, Indonesian Popular Music. The aurally adventurous are invited to test and tickle themselves with Guitars. As always, profuse and entertaining liner notes guide the way.   Thanks to Smithsonian Folkways labels for the descriptions of volumes 7, 10, 12, 16, 17, and 18. All other descriptions are adapted from reviews by Bob Tarte that originally appeared in The Beat magazine and are Copyright 2000. The full text of these reviews can be accessed via the Asia index page.
	Music of Indonesia, Introduction Music of Indonesia, Volumes 1-10 Music of Indonesia, Volumes 11-20 Technobeat Central