Roots are essential; if we had no roots, how would we stand and grow? Roots in this case does not mean ethnic, traditional or “world” as the record labels use to differentiate the music that is not categorized as the Western-based music. What we mean by Roots arts is any art whereby people or individuals respond towards issues or subjects they encounter on the basis of their localities (historical, social, political, environmental, political, technological, and/or cultural contexts). Does that not make all music in the world Roots music? Mainly yes, but if we look a little deeper, there is a common practice in music that does not quite fall into this term. Western-based music has dominated the music scene worldwide for over 60 years. Massive numbers of people outside of the Western hemisphere, who never live, understand, or are even aware of the contexts, tend to favor such music and reproduce the music exactly using the same musical structure. The musicians and lyrics may be local, but the structure remains foreign. In this situation, the musicians do play Roots music, but the music (re)produced is not rooted in the individual.
Listen To The World
At the start, Sacred Bridge offered a series of recorded music containing genres from corners of the world. It was intended for FM radio stations all over Indonesia. In addition to the music, it also contained information and interviews with authorities in music-related subjects. Each session was a three-hour long material. This on-air program was supported by an off-air event organized periodically at the Zanzibar Lounge in South Jakarta. This program was named Dance to the World Beat. It featured dance music from cultures across the world.
SONY
Super Audio Compact Disc Project
Soon after the SACD technology was launched, the special division SACD Project of SONY in 2004 invited Sacred Bridge to take part in selecting and assisting the field recording. The process of selecting involved desk and field research, while the field work required adequate knowledge on music. The recording session also served as a music clinic in which the musicians had the chance to improve both composition and sound quality. A few years later SONY decided to change its approach in promoting the technology. Instead of directly conducting the artist selection and field recording, SONY offered the technology to, and focused its segment solely on music-recording studios. This decision ended the cooperation between SONY and Sacred Bridge Foundation.