By preserve our traditional music, we also preserve our culture
— Rayhan Sudrajat

About

Muhammad Rayhan Sudrajat (b. 1990) is a researcher, educator, vocal coach, composer and content creator. He is also an Integrated Arts lecturer at Bandung's Universitas Katolik Parahyangan in West Java, teaching Sound Arts. His work with a local non-government organisation and a local school has been concentrated on empowering and developing several Dayak ethnic groups in Central Kalimantan since completing his Master's degree in Ethnomusicology & Musicology at Monash University in 2020.

Rayhan organised the first festival in Central Kalimantan, Festival Kampung Buntoi, which fosters exchange between rural villages and urban Indonesian performers and artists. Among all the representatives from the Asia-Pacific region for OneBeat Fellow 2017, a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, he was the only representative from Indonesia in 2017. This program allowed him to showcase Indonesian culture and music in the United States for almost six weeks.

In addition to being an academic scholar, he is a professional musician. He performs traditional Indonesian music from different parts of the country and collaborates with musicians from America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Despite its extraordinary value, he believes that he can blend traditional music with other genres of music to make a unique mixture of combinations. As part of his commitment to bringing traditional folk songs to a broader, younger audience, Rayhan sees traditional music as a form of cultural preservation and a tool for connecting global cultures.