Nursalim Yadi Anugerah and Abang Bunau

A life for the kadedek

As part of the accompanying programme to the exhibition "Sound Sources. Everything is music!", composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah and instrument builder Abang Bunau were guests in May 2024. The two travelled from Pontianak / Engkurai, West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia to Frankfurt. In two musical events, they gave the public an insight into their work on the traditional Kadedek mouth organ.

During Nursalim Yadi Anugerah’s and Abang Bunau's stay, there was also the opportunity to view the museum's Borneo collection together with Vanessa von Gliszczynski - curator of the Southeast Asia collection. This allowed us to discuss and supplement some of the missing information on the artefacts from West Kalimantan.  

Nursalim Yadi Anugerah is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. His works are sound experiments that deal with cultural practices, the knowledge and cosmologies of indigenous peoples and their interweaving with socio-cultural and ecological issues in Kalimantan. In his portrait concert on 16 May, Anugerah showed his work with the mouth organ Kadedek. Nursalim Yadi Anugerah has been working closely with Abang Bunau for several years. Together they are committed to the preservation of the kadedek and are looking for new ways to play the instrument. The composition Lawing (2020) is a musical exploration of deforestation in Kalimantan. The instruments are played via pumps in a kinetic installation and the sound is modulated in various ways. The piece was commissioned by the Salihara Arts Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia.  The premiere took place in Pontianak with the Balaan Tumaan Ensemble, which was founded in 2014. It featured six instruments with three players. Anugerah played three mouth organs in the Frankfurt performance. Afterwards, there was an extensive dialogue with the interested audience. Abang Bunau, whom Nursalim Yadi Anugerah regards as a teacher, introduced the concert with a demonstration of the traditional way of playing the kadedek and concluded by playing the telale' flute.

Abang Bunau is an instrument maker and multi-instrumentalist from Engkurai, West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. He learnt to build and play the kadedek and other traditional instruments - including mouth organs, jew's harps and flutes - as a child. He is considered to be the only one who can still build the kadedek. It is his declared aim to carry this unique mouth organ into the future.  The kadedek is mainly played for entertainment. During the artist talk on 19 May, Abang Bunau explained why the kadedek is so important to him and gave an insight into the history of the instrument. He also showed how the kadedek is made. Only raw materials from the immediate surroundings of Engkurai, i.e. West Kalimantan, are used: Bamboo, callebashs, apin (palm leaf ribs) and kelulut (a wax-resin mixture from stingless bees) as an adhesive. Abang Bunau also presented two other instruments that he can both build and play: The telale' flute and the tarontong Jew's harp. This event was also very well received by the large audience. In addition to atmospheric performances with joint singing and dancing, the musicians were able to answer many questions.

Three kadedeks by Abang Bunau and a video version of Nursalim Yadi Anugerah's composition Lawing can be seen and heard in the exhibition until 1 September 2024. Yadi also contributed to the playlists for the exhibition, which you can view and listen to here.

The Weltkulturen Museum would like to thank the Goethe-Institute Indonesia, which established contact with the artists and supported the project in many ways.