Innisisri belongs to the avant garde of Indonesian musicians who introduced traditional Indonesian (percussion) instruments in contemporary (rock)music, like the Taganing a drum chime from the Batak people of North Sumatra or the Rebana Hadrah from Banyuwangi, East Java.
He got famous as drummer/percussionist in renowned Indonesian bands like Sirkus Barock, Swami, Dalbo and Kantata.
In this video documentation by Yusuf Munthaha Himen, Innisisri explains a little about his inspiration and motivation to explore the world of traditional Indonesian music (instruments).
In 1994 Innisisri started Rumah Kahanan (House of situations) to explore the richness of sounds of Indonesian traditional percussion instruments and music and fuse it within his contemporary music.
Through his work Innisisri influenced generations of Indonesian musicians. His music brought him and his (changing) group KAHANAN to perform throughout Indonesia from 1994 to 2008 and in Europe and Japan from 2000
For the album "Rhythms of the East" Innisisri was accompanied by by a group of traditional Banyuwangi musicians who were trained by Innisisri to play his contemporary interpretation of their traditional kuntulan music. The instruments they play are called rebana hadrah and are typical for the Banyuwangi region in East Java.
The concept was to inspire Western pop culture oriented youth everywhere not to forget the richness of their own cultural background and to make them aware of how both traditional and modern music can be blended to become something new, exciting and valuable.
Pada awal 90-an almarhum mas Innisisri membuat konsep musik Kahanan untuk menciptakan karya berdasarkan hasil eksplorasi perkusi etnis yang digelutinya dan dimainkan dengan gabungan/campuran alat perkusi tradisional Indonesia dan alat perkusi lain.
Ketika Tahun 1994 Innisisri mengeksplorasi musik perkusi Banyuwangi dia tertarik oleh seni hadrah kuntulan dimainkan dengan rebana khas Banyuwangi. Sedangkan irama yang digunakan hadrah kuntulan adalah irama silang (cross rhythm) dan poly rhythm atau irama banyak. Kekhasan lain dalam kesenian hadrah kuntulan ini ialah iramanya yang mempunyai karakter keras, agresif dan menyentak bahkan saat tampil, para pemain musiknya terlihat seolah bahu membahu menciptakan nada yang dinamis dan penuh semangat sehingga wajar kalau disebut musik cadas khas Banyuwangi bahkan sesekali kita harus menutup telinga karena saking begitu keras suaranya, ditambah para pemain jidornya yang kadang seperti kesurupan saat bermain. Lagu-lagunya pun tidak selalu Islami, namun juga banyak memasukkan lagu-lagu daerah dan kadang lagu pop yang sedang populer saat ini.
Dengan tema ‘Rhythm of the East’ Kahanan Innisisri menjadi booming dan menginspirasi sebagian musisi/seniman di Indonesia dalam karya2 mereka.
Kolaborasi Innisisri bersama seniman Banyuwangi ini sampai di Belanda tahun 2001.
(CD Rhythms from the East 2004)
