You could loosely describe the Jawa Pitu Band as a 'world music', as we predominantly play dangdut — music from 1970s Indonesia which is a heady mix of Hindustani, Malay, Arabic and Western music. We play our own version of dangdut with additional inspiration from western jazz/groove and also Indonesian gamelan music. With 3 percussionists in the band, we also have have strong influences from African and Middle Eastern rhythms.

The Jawa Pitu Band lineup consists of
Yana Lestari — vocals

Pipin Jamison— vocals
Musa Kanda — gamelan saron, darbuka, riq
, gendang, gongs.
Ascelin Gordon — guitar, bansuri

Dzullah Mohd Pilus — drums, djembe, darbuka, tabla, naal, tambourine

Brett Johnson — fretless bass


To find out more about the Jawa Pitu Band, please check out the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/jawapitu for updates, and info on our upcoming gigs
https://soundcloud.com/jawapitu to listen to recordings of the band
https://youtube.com/jawapitu for live footage from gigs
https://www.instagram.com/jawapitu

Contact:ascelin@gmail.com

• Numerous gigs around Melbourne including at Open Studio, Bar Oussou, Bar Open, the Old Bar, Farouk’s Olive and many more.
• Cresfest 2023, Folk and roots festival, Creswick, Victoria
• Alun-Alun 2022, a night market-like event to commemorate Indonesian cultural heritage. (Friday 29th July 2022)
• Come Together Festival, Edendale Farm, Eltham (March 2021)
• The Village Festival, Edinburgh Gardens, North Fitzroy (October, 2019)
• Indonesia Raya Festival at Queensbridge Square, Melbourne CBD (August 2019)
• Warrandyte Music presents The Jawa Pitu Band, Warrandyte Mechanics Hall. Featured traditional Indonesian dance from Sanggar Lestari Melbourne (February 2018)
• The Village Festival, in North Fitzroy’s Edinburgh Gardens (October 2017)
• Nusantara Street Food Festival, Victroia Market (2017)
• Sydney Road Street Party (2016)
• Asylum Seeker Dinner Party 2016 (part of Brunswick Music Festival, 2016).
• Batman Night Market, Melbourne (2016)
• Folk Rhythm and Life Festival (2016, 2018)
• City of Stonnington Falvours world cuisine festival (2015)
• The Merlynston Festival (2014)
• The Moon Festival, Dandenong Market (2014)