Name: Dewa Budjana
Occupation: Guitarist, composer, producer, improviser
Nationality: Indonesian
Current release: MoonJune Records is currently celebrating Dewa Budjana's 60th birthday. All his albums are available from the MoonJune bandcamp account, both in physical and digital formats.

If you enjoyed this Dewa Budjana interview and would like to stay up to date with his music and projects, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Inspiration comes spontaneously.

Sometimes a melodic theme emerges in my head which can then be developed into one composition.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Melodic or rhythmical ideas are followed by looking for chord harmonization. Usually everything can be formed standardly by making forms such as Intro - Verse - Pre Chorus and Chorus.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Without any preparation, I often find ideas on flights and immediately write them down in notation form in Sibelius on my laptop. Or sometimes when I'm driving, I record it directly on my cellphone's voice notes

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I always start the morning with meditation, simple breathing exercises and prayer. Then, coffee …

Of course the smell of incense is very good for my mood.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I practice, repeat, practice again, repeat - and I keep trying until I get it the way I like it.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

It happens both ways, depends on so many different factors.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

I always record ideas on my phone or on my computer, then I put them in Sibelius, and I play around until I find what I like.

Then, I practice those ideas to see how they sound.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Sometimes it's like that. But I always like to control my ideas to be loyal to what I have come up with.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

There are bound to be lots of new ideas emerging.

This is actually interesting for exploration. It’s exciting, I welcome all ideas that can come up to my mind.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

The spiritual influence from my Hindu faith is very strong in my music.

Because spirit cannot be measured and cannot be seen, that's where the surprises come from.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

For music that will be played live, I will let go of the basic concept and really enjoy the exploration of the musicians who respond to my writing - because that's real collaboration.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

The process of production and post-production is very important. Also having a producer will create a lot of new things without prediction.

To me, the mixing is the most important thing to finalize the recorded music. When I am recording, I like just to play and I leave all to the recording engineer. I always like to choose experienced recording engineers.

I was lucky that I have always worked with great recording, mixing and mastering engineers, therefore, they had a major role. Somehow they always got me what I envisioned for my music.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?
 
After the album release, I keep enjoying the final product of my music for a while, then I move on to the next album and so on and on.

I will often go back to my old recordings. But I prefer to move into the direction of the future.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Writing and recording music includes feelings, sense for space and time. Every tune is different, but my spiritual approach is always the same, the one that belongs to me.

I feel comfortable when I can fully express my feelings, and transmit them to others. If they are accepted and appreciated by others, that makes me happy and fulfilled.