SAMBASUNDA has been called the “coolest band to come out of Indonesia,” and you can catch them in a rare U.S. performance on July 23 at the Music Without Borders festival at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park in Chicago.

The acclaimed Indonesian 17-piece ensemble from Western Java updates the lilting sounds of Sundanese gamelan music with an infusion of Brazilian samba, among many other influences. The Chicago Tribune raves: “SambaSunda is a stunning, genre-defying Indonesian orchestra that draws upon an enormous battery of instruments, influences and cultural sources. African percussion and European violins, bamboo flutes and Balinese gongs, Sundanese barrel drums and Latin American timbales produce an alluring, other-worldly sound.”

SambaSunda is led by composer and musican Ismet Ruchimat, who started his career in 1989 in Gugum Gumbira’s famous Jugala Orchestra. SambaSunda has more than seven local releases to its credit and a sound that Mack Hagood of Far Eastern Audio Review calls “a batik woven from the sounds of the Middle East, the Indonesian archipelago and … a hint of Indian film music.” In other words, world music on crack!

Viewers should expect an exciting theatrical performance that’s also a feast for the eyes, from the performer’s colorful robes to the metalophones and tuned bronze bowls on the stage. The Chicago performance is free—and not to be missed! •