Ismail Noer Surendra · 17.06.25 · News

Bahasa Indonesia · Deutsch

The Eid of noise lovers in Yogyakarta was in full swing from Friday, May 9 to Sunday, May 11, 2025. The noise lovers gathered around the Tugu area to celebrate noise in the Jogja Noise Bombing (JNB) Fest 2025. Not only from Yogyakarta, some performers from outside the city and abroad participated in this event.

On the first day, several spots on the sidewalk of Margo Utomo street became the arena for the opening event that has become a mandatory JNB tradition: the noise bombing. Despite the rain that drenched Yogyakarta that afternoon, the spirit of the noise activists who performed was not dampened at all. 5 performers from Indonesia, Germany, Singapore and Hungary intervened and responded to the homogeneity of noise in that tourist area. The audience crowded around and listened intently to the noise created.

For a more focused noise music experience, visitors can attend the noise gigs held every night during the festival at deCORED coffee & eatery. From 8pm until close to midnight, noise lovers can expect to be beaten to a pulp by noise music. Noise gigs is the highlight of JNB Fest and features 21 performers from various countries that have been curated by Ignatia Nilu and Tesla Manaf. This year they wanted to give a special spotlight to performers from different regions of the global south.

VRTX Compound Space became the main gathering place for participants and visitors to the festival, as there were various programs held throughout the three days. Jogja Noise Bombing’s archival exhibition entitled 13th Year of Noiseperation, which shows the history of JNB Fest since more than a decade ago, opened with a performance of unplugged improvised music curated by Kombo Improvisation Lab.

On Saturday afternoon Rully Shabara led an electronic music workshop based on his creation, the Xhabarabot Voice Machine (XVM). That day participants were introduced to the basic functions and workings of the XVM. The following day, the participants took turns to perform a short performance presentation using the XVM.

JNB Fest 2025 had two discussion programs. The first was held on Saturday afternoon with the topic “Negotiation and Relevance: Between Sound and Public Space.” The discussion was led by Indra Menus (Jogja Noise Bombing), Septi OJK (Tuesday Louder), Daniel Bagas (Kelana Swara Ambarukmo), and moderated by Sora Gia. In this discussion, they discussed how these music event activists run their activities regularly. This discussion is quite interesting to follow because it discusses how these actors often make crowds in public spaces.

The second discussion was held on Sunday and was titled “Read, Listen, Talk – Noise as Sound Aspiration.” This discussion reflected on what noise is, as well as introducing it to new (and old) audiences. The speakers came from various backgrounds such as Andreas Siagian (Instrumentasia), Gatot Danar Sulistyanto (Art Music Today, Rekam Bergerak), Krisna Widhiatama (Soda Dosa), and were moderated by Hilman Fathoni. The different perspectives offered a gradation that explained why noise is always relevant.

The various programs above were interspersed with ambient music performances that were integrated with the existing space.

JNB Fest 2025 has featured more than 30 performers selected from open registration. 113 projects from 28 countries, including Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas. The festival also collaborates with Europe-based art and music platform SHAPE+, bringing international artists to the Jogja stage. In addition, JNB also collaborates with various local communities such as Ambient Evening, BRRRZ Studio, KOMBO, and Tuesday Louder.

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The spirit of noise music activists in Jogja Noise Bombing is undeniable. Every year there is always a buzz that makes this festival a shame to miss. Guests from abroad come to visit, which certainly has an impact on the sustainability of experimental music activists. Everyone learns from each other and networks to be able to continue the breath of creativity from art activists.

In JNB Fest 2025, we are not just enjoying noisy music performances. There were discussions, workshops and archival exhibitions that made attendees realize the importance of making something else. Talking continuously about the development of noise music from year to year keeps the spirit alive. And it’s not all about the performances.

In the archive exhibition, we get to know the development of JNB’s journey from year to year. In their notes, JNB revealed that as a community, they realized how important archives are in shaping the narrative of a collective’s identity from time to time. In this exhibition, it is hoped that there will be interaction to discuss the development of noise music from a local and global scale.

The main themes exhibited in the archive exhibition are documentation of bombing sessions, documentation of JNB festivals every year, all physical releases by JNB’s record label division (Noise Bombing Records) and clippings of publications that have recorded JNB over the years.

In addition to the static displays mentioned above, JNB will also present a moving image display at the exhibition. The moving images are documentations of JNB’s activities over the past 13 years, either on their own or in the form of encounters with similar communities in Yogyakarta.

The chairman of JNB Fest 2025, Hilman Fathoni, revealed that this year’s program is designed to reflect on JNB’s practices through discussion forums. Because there will be a learning process together with the audience.

“This year we intend to reflect on our activities as well as reintroduce what noise is, and perhaps what the Jogja Noise Bombing community is. So that’s why this time we made an exhibition while celebrating 12.5 years or 13 years of Jogja Noise Bombing Fest by showing our festival archives. Then the archives of our small events are also followed by various reading materials related to Jogja Noise Bombing,” said Hilman in the after movie video on JNB’s official Youtube channel.

Hilman revealed that the running of JNB Fest 2025 was done in collaboration with many parties. For the bombing performance, they worked with the Tuesday Louder collective and the Hewani music group to provide the sound system. As the opening act, they also worked with the Kombo collective to select the performers for the event. In the workshop, they also collaborated with half of Senyawa, Rully Shabara.

“He has an instrument program, maybe not merely related to electronic music instruments, but essentially software-based music instruments, software-based and can be played in the browser. And Rully has indeed said it, has reached a stage that can then be shared and played by many people. That’s why we want to welcome him in a local session so that people can learn about it and maybe participate in developing the instrument,” said Hilman.

In the discussion session, Hilman revealed, it was divided into two. The first was about the negotiation and relevance between sound and public space and the second was about noise as sound aspiration. In the first discussion, according to Hilman, they tried to reflect on JNB’s practice of presenting noisy music in public places. For the second discussion, Hilman explained that they wanted to reflect on what noise is. In the discussion, JNB wanted to discuss why noise music is played, why it is still played, and also why it is still relevant today.

Regarding the performers, Hilman said that JNB thought of several considerations. This time, JNB Fest considered performers from Southeast Asia, South Asia, South America, and Africa. In the selection curated by Tesla and Ignatia Nilu, the performers also took gender into consideration. “We try not to be inclusive, because that might be one of the things that is rather difficult to achieve ideally, but how then the composition can become more balanced,” he added.

Jogja Noise Bombing is indeed a destination for experimental music lovers from various regions to gather. From JNB Fest, it was also seen that many performers continued to perform in several other places around Java Island. There were other gigs that featured performers who had played at JNB Fest performing in Solo, Pacitan, Pasuruan, and Jakarta. The moment of JNB Fest seemed to be a place to find the wandering work of each artist.

Not finished on May 11, JNB was observed still holding workshops and mini showcases on Thursday, May 15 at Lifepatch. Seeing that, it seems like this event has become difficult to stop. It’s like the birth of an idea that keeps coming up. They are ready to realize the idea in a way that is difficult to explain. All limitations were overcome with the realization of works that were not simple.

Like the experimental notion of unfinished creation, that spirit seems to inspire its adherents. They are never done with presenting their work to the public. JNB Fest may be a spark, but creation is something that should be infinite. The noise generated at JNB Fest 2025 seems to have traveled far.

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