In central Melbourne, an experimental music performance became a medium for Indonesian sound artist Rani Jambak to express concern over the environmental crisis unfolding in Sumatra. Through layered rhythmic and electronic soundscapes, she brought the realities of ecological disaster and human loss into an international arts space.

In December 2025, Rani performed at Inter.Sonix 06, an international curatorial program initiated by the non-profit arts organization Liquid Architecture (LA) in Naarm/Melbourne. Her performance, titled Sounds from Sumatra in Melbourne, went beyond sonic exploration to become a cultural intervention—transforming the concert stage into a site of testimony on environmental destruction and the failure of ecological protection in her homeland. read more

The fall of 2025 in Canada was marked by deep cultural resonance from Southeast Asia, carried by Indonesian sound artist, composer, and ecological activist Rani Jambak. Born in Medan with Minangkabau roots, Rani brought the voices of her homeland in West Sumatra to international stages.

Across her packed six-city Canadian tour, Rani not only showcased experimental electronic music, but also delivered strong philosophical and ecological statements.

At the center of this statement was her unique creation: Kincia Aia: A Living Heritage—a traditional Minangkabau waterwheel transformed into a musical instrument. This project became a bridge of dialogue, connecting ancestral wisdom of the Nusantara with global crises of the modern world. read more

Dalam lanskap seni kontemporer yang terus berkembang, kolaborasi lintas budaya dan disiplin menjadi kunci dalam menciptakan karya yang relevan dan bermakna. Salah satu representasi kuat dari semangat ini hadir dalam Simposium Internasional Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music 2025 di Bangkok, Thailand, melalui penampilan BEASTs of Wonderland yang menghadirkan karya multidisiplin dan imersif bertajuk PANJAGO: Body – Sound – Improvisation. Di antara para seniman dan akademisi yang terlibat, Rani Fitriana—yang dikenal juga sebagai Rani Jambak— PhD researcher projek Restituting, Reconnecting, Reimagining Sound Heritage (Re:Sound) mewakili Universitas Gadjah Mada dalam showcase dan sesi pleno yang berlangsung pada tanggal 20-23 Agustus 2025. read more

Restituting, Reconnecting, Reimagining Sound Heritage (Re:Sound)

Institutions : Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Funding Body : The Dutch Research Council (NWO)
Application Deadline : 5 May 2025
Start Date : 1 August 2025
Duration : 3 years (full-time)

Project Overview

Re:Sound renegotiates Eurocentric understandings, conceptions and curations of “heritage”. This Eurocentrism obscures the coloniality of the history that “heritage” is supposed to narrate and obstructs the access of source community stakeholders to their own “heritage”. There is no scholarly or curatorial model to decenter European agencies and diversify understandings of heritage (curation). Re:Sound bridges this knowledge gap by focusing on sonic heritage, in particular two colonial sound collections from Indonesia, now located in the Netherlands, The Jaap Kunst Collection at the University of Amsterdam, and the Philips Holland Omroep-Hollandse Indies radio broadcasts at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (NISV). read more