Tresno Records is a new born record label that has arisen from the closure of Lil Pitch Records (2011-2016), which was fundamentally focused on urban music and which saw artists like Ether, Pinch, DJ Earl, The Host and Braille Funk (Colossius, UXO, Clap! Clap!) joining its ranks.
Tresno's first output is a truly rare document: The Sacred Drones of West Kalimantan is the result of field researches carried on by Ldgu, Tresno's architect, during the month of June 2015 in western Kalimantan (the indonesian name of Borneo) and more precisely in the areas of the river Mendalam and Danau Sentarum, Kapuas Hulu regency.
It involves two Dayak tribes, that of the Kayan and that of the Taman: you'll hear ancient chants, bronze percussions sending people into a state of trance, smokey dances that smell like swamp and somehow remind what Tom Waits was creating in his first years, the traditional lutes of Borneo (both the sape'/sapek/sapeq Kenyah and the Kayan ones are present, alongside Taman's belikan, which makes this record the very first source where it is listenable) and magic rituals: a deep glance cast over a wild portion of Indonesia which is still unknown even to the Indonesians themselves, let alone western world. An extremely detailed survey of one of the oldest drone musics of Asia.
The download of the album comes with a twenty-five pages booklet (including a photographic appendix) in which every aspect of Dayak's life and music is investigated, thus making the listener able to dive into this astonishing sonic universe. Mastered by Colossius at QuasiStudio, Florence.
The sales of this album will be allocated to the village of Datah Diaan.