Jazz Articles about Dewa Budjana

About Dewa Budjana

Liner Notes

Dewa Budjana may not be a household name outside of his native country, Indonesia, but with MoonJune Records picking up this exciting guitarist and composer, all that could be about to change. He's already garnered some serious attention with his first recording for the label, Dawai in Paradise, released earlier this year (2013), but at home, he's nothing short of a pop star. Lead guitarist and songwriter for the multi-platinum, million-selling Indonesian pop/rock group Gigi, the fifty year-old Budjana has ...

Liner Notes

Dewa Budjana: Surya Namaskar

by John Kelman
May 11, 2023

There was a time when artists were able to release albums on their own schedule rather than that of the record label. While most jazz artists release, at most, one album a year these days, for some there's an even longer gap between recordings. For the most part, the days when an artist like Miles Davis was releasing two, three, sometimes even four albums in the space of a single year are long gone. There are a number of reasons ...

Album Review

Daniel Dyonisius: Miles to Go

Read "Miles to Go" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
April 11, 2022

Indonesia had produced some fine guitarists over the years. Dewa Budjana is high on that list with the records he has under his belt as a leader. Here, Budjana guest stars on the first track of Miles To Go, the debut album by Daniel Dyonisius. The young guitarist comes out blazing with the eight minute plus “Freedom." The Dyonisius original (actually all but one are originals) creates just that, the freedom for the two guitarists to improvise with beautiful colors. ...

Album Review

Dewa Budjana: Naurora

Read "Naurora" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 1, 2021

Balinese guitarist Dewa Budjana's seventh album on Moonjune Records, Naurora, reveals--for those who have not heard him--a musician of seemingly unlimited talent and an artist in possession of an expansive vision. He has been called a “progressive fusion maestro" and, if he has to be labeled, that description feels right. Leading off with this disc's eleven-minute title tune, Budjana--who composed, arranged and produced the music here--lays down huge, rich soundscapes in the company of a bunch of forward-looking allstars, including ...

Album Review

Nicolas Meier/ Dewa Budjana Group: Flying Spirits

Read "Flying Spirits" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
January 13, 2021

As much as 2020 was a lemon, it was quite the fruitful year for jazz and fusion records. The vault had been closed, sealed, and bolted shut for the year, until a spirit swept the room. Under the heading of 'saving the best for last' or a 'hail Mary,' the magical journey of Flying Spirits (Blue Canoe, 2020) was in the air, in the ear, and enriching the mind. The record brought together virtuoso level guitarists, Nicolas Meier and Dewa ...

Album Review

Dewa Budjana and Tohpati: Janapati

Read "Janapati" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 20, 2020

Janapati combines the names of two of the best guitarists (jazz, rock, jazz-rock fusion, world, and any/every other music you've got) from Indonesia, Dewa Budjana and Tohpati Ario Hutomo (Tohpati). As leaders of their own bands or as contributors to other recordings, the two have appeared on more than fifty combined releases, many for the globetrotting MoonJune Records label, and they suggest in their joint liner notes: “Long enough friendship in music makes us more familiar with each other and ...

Album Review

Dewa Budjana: Mahandini

Read "Mahandini" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
January 25, 2019

After the extensive double album venture Zentuary (Favored Nations, 2016), Indonesian guitar virtuoso Dewa Budjana returns with a more condensed set of tunes that have a much heavier edge to them. Instead of featuring a multitude of different guests and recording over a longer period of time, as on its predecessor, Mahandini finds Budjana in interplay with a fixed trio comprised of Progressive Rock pioneers Jordan Rudess on keys and Marco Minnemann on drums, while Indian prodigy Mohini Dey--who's made ...