Ligro – Dictionary 2
(MoonJune Records MJR047. CD Review by Chris Parker)

If the quantity and quality of the fusion bands MoonJune Records has documented in recent months is a reliable guide to musical trends in the country, Indonesia has embraced progressive and jazz-rock with all the enthusiasm demonstrated by the Finns for tango.

And like the Finns, Indonesians have taken an apparently ‘alien’ musical genre and subtly and intelligently customised it, incorporating into it local rhythms and sounds to produce intriguingly original and individual music.

Ligro, a power trio who cast their net far and wide to draw in influences ranging from Stravinsky and Bach to Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix, are a compact, fiercely interactive but subtle and considered unit, their rich varied themes in odd, tricksy time signatures sparking lengthy, hard-driving jams led by the wonderfully multi-textured guitar of Agam Hamzah, and propelled by one of the most powerful but sensitive rhythm sections this side of Dave Weckl and Tom Kennedy: thunderous drummer Gusti Hendy and virtuosic, astoundingly deft bassist Adi Darmawan.

‘Volcanic’, ‘bruising’, ‘hyperkinetic’ and ‘electrifying’ are the adjectives that pepper the accompanying press release, and they are by no means hyperbolic; Ligro, whether romping through anthemic flagwavers, creating drama with multi-hued space-rock or simply striking sparks off each other in exhilarating studio jams, are the real fusion deal and Dictionary 2 is a superb calling card.