Just for your info. Northern Sumateran band (led by a couple of ethnomusicologists) Suarasama have had their sublime first album Fajar Di Atas Awan picked up for reissue by Drag City for release August 19, 2008.
To refresh your memories, these are the people who were featured on the final track of Smithsonian's Indonesian Guitars. While there is a slight, slight new-agey/ world musicy vibe that they have, the biggest strengths which set them apart is that A) they opt for mainly acoustic instruments; B) they have great taste; C) they draw on classical musics from around the world in the sense that there's a lot of space in the music which allows the intense gestural detail to be highlighted.
Another great thing is that they manage to sound inspired by Indian music and, to an extent Arab music as well (but how much is that just the Northern Sumateran thing?) but they are by no means dabblers making shallow music. This stuff is a mix of folksy rawness with understated classical virtuosity and a sprinkle of pop-sugar to sweeten things ever so slightly.
Here's a link to their website.
and here's their Drag City page:
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