Extended Info about IRB

Irama Bahtera or IRB is a Gulintangan music group from Brunei, specializing in both the traditional and modern genres of local and international music. The group consists of members coming from different backgrounds. Each member was selected by the leader himself depending on their capability of understanding the composure of music and to the professionalism of handling musical instruments at their best.

Looking back, this group has been around since the year 2000. The members during that time were comprised of UBD students who were actively involved in the Gulintangan Club, inside and outside the parameter of UBD. Amongst them were Akey and Nora who are still active in the group until today. Several years in activity, the number of members had been unstable. Some left the group, following different paths and then replaced by new members of different ages and abiities.

Currently, IRB consists of 9 members, each playing different instruments and roles during performance. The performers include Akey (Leader), Nora (Assistant Leader), Awang, Anna, Aju, Rafie, Yazid, Aimi and Qays. It is quite rare in Brunei to find full time musicians especially those who are still in the midst of young age. Thus, among the members of IRB, 2 are actually teachers in high schools, 1 full-time banker, 1 part-time worker and the rest are students from UBD, Technical college and high school.

The instruments used in IRB are mainly the Gulintangan, bass guitar, accordion, flute, gendang, mini percussions, violin and the keyboard. Other than those, instruments collected by IRB from other countries like Angklung and Gendang Sunda, are also available. One member is not only capable of playing one type of instrument. Each one can shift to play a different instrument as they wish or play two instruments at the same time, depending on the song and situation. The sound systems are copyrighted under the management of IRB as a group and available during performance.

The songs played by IRB during performance were mostly traditional, some modern and also the mixture of both.Local songs are the favourites especially in local weddings and in tourism. Other than that, IRB also provides songs from abroad. Most of the songs are modified in terms of arrangement to suit the genre and instruments used in IRB as well as the current trends. The variation of one song helps to boost the original song so that different types of the same song can be used in different occasions. However, it should be noted that, not all songs can be modified at will due to copyright and heritage. This includes 'Lagu Wajib', songs which were historically used in Brunei wars. Other than that, IRB also has its own original songs which have successfully been recorded and there are more to come soon.

So far, IRB can be considered as one group of musicians playing different instruments. However, IRB is not only limited to that extent. Singing is another type of art recently introduced to the group to add versatility. Thus performance by IRB can go instrumental, with a singer or both.

IRB has been performing in events in all of the four districts of Brunei. The occasions include local weddings, ASEAN dinner events, tourism functions, culture exchanges, private functions and many more.

For the record of achievement, IRB became champion in 2006 and 2008 in the National Gulintangan Competition in conjunction with His Majesty's Birthday Celebration hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Not only that, IRB has successfully hosted the culture exchange programme partnering with the Lun Bawang Murut Organisation in Temburong in 2008. These highlighted events lend credence and popularity to IRB among Bruneians.

Posted and Edited again.... by Aimi IRB. (Last edition: 9th July 2009)