LOCAL band Salammusik recently released its long-anticipated third studio album, Riwayat.
Initially slated for release last year, Riwayat finally dropped late July to tie in with the band’s nationwide tour.
The 10-member band comprises Ashraaf Salam A. Azlan a.k.a. Acap (lead vocals), Dyana Shamsuddin and Yaya Naqia (vocals), AhmadBulya Abdillah J a.k.a. Bulya or Boy (maschine, vocals, and guitar), Hibri Arsad (keyboard), Mohd Irhas a.k.a. Payung (trumpets), Jazmi Jamaluddin and Aabid Aafiat (saxophone), Kristopher Chong (bass), and Kevin Theng (drums).
Riwayat, which translates to ‘history’, digs into our country’s past, unearthing an arresting blend of contemporary and traditional music through songs like Tiada Rasa Sebaris Kata (Unimaginable Words), Utusan Kasih (A Message of Love), and Debar Lembut (Gentle Pulses).
According to Acap, who also wrote most of the songs, Salammusik has more to show with this ambitious project, which includes a full-fledged hardcover book of Malay and transcribed-English literary works.
“Initially, what we wanted to do was to write a whole story book for the album [but] we underestimated writing a book ‘punya’ process,” said Acap in an interview together with bandmate Payung and songwriter Muhammad Jabir ‘Jay Tan’ Atan, just before the band’s recent performance at The Bee Publika.
Available only in hardcopy on its official website, the 11-track Riwayat is intended to be listened from beginning to end.
Besides the mixing, one of the hardest parts while working on the album, said Acap, was trying to bridge classic and modern sounds.
Riwayat opens with the iconic recording of Tunku Abdul Rahman declaring independence and contains vibey, vintage-looking black and white photographs of the band.
Flip to the end of the album, and you will even find a little book of chords for the songs.
Calling for more support for our music industry, Payung said: “Do come to our shows and get the physical album [and] people can see what we did in this book and in our songs. They can listen back to our music – our irama music, our traditional and modern music.”
Riwayat’s album sleeve also contains lyrics as well as quotes from Malaysian prime ministers, and contributions by local poet and rapper Vix Sayla.
It tells a narrative that the band hopes listeners can digest, as well as blazes a trail for the experimentation of the type of genre the band is trying to put forward.
Acap said: “Because this is a mixture of traditional and modern sounds, it can be very tricky because we don’t want it to sound like a sample; you know, like in hip hop [where] they will put a sample there and then put a beat over it – we try to avoid that. Everything is recorded and we tried making it as organic and natural as possible.”
While he knows music is universal, Acap added: “I prefer to say something that is really rooted [within] our culture as well”.
Songwriter Jay also gave some insight into the songs he penned on the album, such as Cengkaman Beracun (The Poisoned Grip), and Kalam Bangsa (Divine Word of the People), as well as Salammusik’s latest single Di Tengah Malam (In the Middle of the Night), which he co-wrote with band member Boy.
Jay, Acap and Payung all agreed that the song, to which Boy lent his distinct hip-hop and reggae flavour, was “very Boy”.
Unlike the songs in Riwayat which are all written in proper Malay, Acap said Di Tengah Malam “is a bit rojak”, with a modern slang.
Boy came up with the song after one of Salammusik’s rehearsals. He played it through the speakers for a songwriting session with Acap and Jay providing the lyrics.
Jay added: “Sometimes, people, you know, can’t sleep and we talk about issues [that keep us awake].”
Humming the song with the words ‘di tengah malam’, on loop, the members began throwing lyrics at each other. It became a form of music therapy where Acap “expressed a lot of feelings to this guy (Jay)” about problems falling asleep.
Referencing a line in the song – ‘buka jendela dengan bulan aku bicara’ – Jay said: “Before that, we were talking and he (Acap) told me: ‘Eh, aku dekat Amsterdam selalu borak dengan bulan’, so I got the idea from him.”
As for the complete Riwayat project, Acap said: “To understand it more, I guess we just have to wait because I think it’s an ongoing project.
“There are a lot of things we that we plan to do that I dare not say – but we hope it will come out as a musical one day, a musical theatre.”
