J “Mo’ong” Santoso Pribadi

The Bangkok-born and Java-raised Johanes »Mo’ong« Santoso Pribadi is an experimental music composer and instrument builder. He started his studies in Western classical music but soon moved back to his roots to explore the wisdom of Javanese folklore, completing a Master’s in Music Composition at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Surakarta.

While Pribadi’s main area of study is »musik Nusantara,« or the music of Indonesia, he has worked within many different genres of music, and with multidisciplinary projects spanning modern dance, modern theater, contemporary puppet theater, installation art, and performance art. He has been hacking his knowledge of traditional music with crunchy electronics and unique DIY junk instruments made from found objects and trash. He is one half of Raja Kirik together with musician/composer Yennu Ariendra aka Y-DRA, exploring the musical, cultural, and political aspects of Indonesian trance dances. The duo has released two critically acclaimed albums so far, with Yes No Wave and Nyege Nyege Tapes respectively. Takkak Takkak is his latest duo project with the Berlin-based Japanese screwball producer Shigeru Ishihara (a.k.a. Dj Scotch Egg, WaqWaq Kingdom, DJ Scotch Rolex).

Mo’ong Pribadi currently lives and works in Vilnius.