Indonesian jazz fusion outfit simakDialog were formed in Jakarta in 1993 by Riza Arshad, a mainly self-taught keyboardist skilled in a variety of styles including jazz, prog rock, and global traditional musics, along with drummer/percussionist Arie Ayunir and electric bassist Indro Hardjodikoro. Tohpati Ario Hutomo, a classical and jazz guitarist, also joined simakDialog that year -- transforming the group from a trio to a quartet -- and like Arshad became a key member of the ensemble over the next two decades. While the influences of such jazz and fusion pioneers as Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, and Weather Report can be readily discerned in the music of simakDialog, the group's unique stylistic meld also draws from Indonesian gamelan music, and the Sundanese kendang, a two-headed drum used in gamelan ensembles, is a key component of simakDialog's sound. Lukisan, the group's debut album, arrived in 1995; the album featured Arshad on acoustic piano and synthesizers, Tohpati on electric and acoustic guitars, bassist Hardjodikoro, and drummer Ayunir, who played a conventional Gretsch drum set. However, Ayunir would depart simakDialog (in fact, departing Indonesia and immigrating to the United States), and the group's 1999 sophomore album, Baur, saw Arshad, Tohpati, and Hardjodikoro joined by Jalu D. Pratidina, Endang Ramdan, and Erlan Suwardana, all of whom played the kendang. Suwardana also played the kethuk, another gamelan ensemble instrument, as did an additional contributor to the album, Emy Tata, who also provided vocals. This lineup would remain unchanged for simakDialog's third album, Trance/Mission, released in 2002, although in actuality new electric fretless bassist Adhitya Pratama had joined the group as a replacement for Hardjodikoro the preceding year. With album releases and festival appearances thus far primarily centered in Indonesia, the ensemble's profile expanded when its 2006 album, Patahan, recorded live the previous year, was released internationally by the MoonJune label in 2007. The album featured simakDialog's core quartet lineup of Arshad (now playing Fender Rhodes in addition to acoustic piano and synthesizer), Tohpati, Ramdan, and Pratama joined by guests Tata (on various Indonesian percussion instruments and vocals/poetry), vocalist Nyak Ina Raseuki "Ubiet," and Marla Stukenberg (the latter, perhaps surprisingly, in a German-language poetry reading spoken simultaneously with a reading by Tata in Bahasa, the official language of Indonesia). The favorably received Patahan was followed by simakDialog's second MoonJune album, Demi Masa, released in 2009. In addition to Arshad, Tohpati, Ramdan, and Pratama, the core lineup now included a second kendang player and percussionist, Erlan Suwardana. As in previous albums, several guests were also featured, including -- once again -- longtime contributor Emy Tata. Four years later, simakDialog issued their third MoonJune album and sixth overall, the appropriately titled The 6th Story. The album, including metal percussionist Cucu Kurnia along with Arshad, Tohpati, Ramdan, Pratama, and Suwardana, was released in September 2013, the same month simakDialog (with Rudy Zulkarnaen featured on bass) embarked on a tour of the U.S. East Coast, including appearances at ProgDay in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Brooklyn's ShapeShifter Lab; Baltimore's Orion Studio; and the Made in Indonesia Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland. MoonJune released Live at Orion, a two-disc recording of the Orion Studio show, in January of 2015. Sadly, keyboardist and founding bandmember Riza Arshad died on January 13, 2017 at the age of 53. ~ Dave Lynch