M. Hario Efenur, AKA Uncu, is an Indonesian composer, body music performer, and instrumentalist based in Lasi, in the Sumatra island. A researcher and connoisseur of the culture of the Minangkabau ethnicity from West Sumatra. Hario has an outstanding catalog of work, ranging from acapella chants to clap music, body music, chamber ensembles, and even an 80s-inspired pop band. Hario founded the body music group Candasuara, which draws from Silek, a traditional martial art of the Minangkabau ethnicity, to create musical pieces of stunning beauty, mixing voice, body/cloth percussion, and clapping/stomping with fight and dance movements. He has performed in prestigious Indonesian events such as the International Gamelan Festival Solo and the International Ethnic Music Festival. In 2021, he was one of twelve composers selected by Lake Toba Traditional Music Festival, commissioned to research the ethnic music and rituals of the region around Toba Lake, which resulted in new music combining two different musical idioms, from Minangkabau and Karo. In 2019, he worked with Yuval Avital on Human Signs, a collaborative online work. Recently he performed with Rani Jambak to re-interpret the Minangkabau manuscript “Tambo Alam Minangkabau” into a musical performance at Resonant Pages, SOAS University of London. Additionally, Hario is a ukulele player and vocalist in Orkes Taman Bunga, a pop band seeking to make Sumatran folk culture accessible to a broader audience. Together, he and his wife run Rumah Gagas, a lab and creative space for contemporary and experimental performance.
M. Hario Efenur
