Rapsodia Nusantara Wannabees

Not that I am over-optimistic about finishing the whole set of Rapsodia Nusantara (meaning : covering all the 34 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia), but those petitions, appeals, pleadings by (sometimes not so-) young pianists to make Rapsodia Nusantara easier to play (and for non-classical music listeners: easier to listen!) start to tickle my brain. I did write Rapsodia no. 26 (from the song "Tano Niha" from Nias Islands) which is not so difficult, but I guess people would miss the point of showing-off virtuosity if I'd make easy(-ier) Rapsies. ......................................................................................................................................... Therefore I start a new project, making shorter and easier works based on Indonesian folksongs for piano. In fact, I did already a few years ago, "Two Kaili Folksongs". At that time it was for a fundraising project for the victims of tsunami in Sulawesi, so I wanted it to be short and simple so that I could immediately finish and perform it, since I was just given a few days (practically only hours) to prepare it. And then there was the Prelude & Fugue on "Angso Duo", a folksong from Jambi, commissioned by an owner of a music school there a few years ago. ......................................................................................................................................... Last week on my flight from Jakarta to Bilbao, the plane was quite empty. There is this buzz on the Corona Virus, and people in Asia are taking it very seriously. So I wrote a polyphonic game (almost a fugue) on a theme from Ambon, "Gepe-gepe" on board after dinner was served and before I slept. Now, a few days after I landed, I made it into the final part of a kind of fantasy of about 4 minutes. I knew it's not gonna be another Rapsodia, since I have written several, quite difficult ones, based on Ambonese folksongs (no.3 based on "Rasa Sayange" and "Sarinande", no. 4 on "Buka Pintu", and no. 21 on "Goro-gorone"). So, I thought of making the "Kaili Folksongs" and this new Ambonese fantasy as the beginning of a new series of piano works. Now, do you have a suggestion for the title of the whole series? This will be quite "light" for me, mostly done as doodles in my travels like last week. I'm toying the title "Polifonia Nusantara" .... you think it's OK? The term polifonia is because usually they are ... well ... polyphonic, should they be fugues, canons, passacaglia, chaconne etc. Shortly speaking, those kinda music which are not composed anymore these days due to our degraded brains and incapability of listening to more than one melody at a time. ......................................................................................................................................... So let's do this. If I start composing a new piano work based on an Indonesian folksong, I'll keep my mind open. It might be a new Rapsodia, it might be a Polifonia (or whatever we decide to call them). But you can give up your hopes for having easy(-ier) Rapsodia Nusantara from me, ok? Number 26 will be the one and only easy one. It's perhaps the only one playable by the participants of the Junior Category of the Ananda Sukarlan Award.