Bob Orlando

An eclectic mixture of Indonesia's countless styles of Pentjak Silat, as well as Chinese Kuntao, the fighting styles of the Indonesian archipelago arose through a history marked by violence, cultural clashes and oppressive foreign occupation. They were never intended for sport.

Today, the Indonesian fighting arts have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity simply because they are so devastatingly effective.

In his book, Bob Orlando gets to the heart of what makes these arts so formidable. Instead of simply giving the reader a set of techniques, Orlando places the movements in context to provide a deeper understanding of their self-defense applications. He defines and explores the underlying principles that make these movements work. In this book, he lends an unprecedented clarity to the often elusive arts of the Indonesian archipelago, making them more accessible than ever before to the serious, self-defense driven student. By plugging this information into your style, you can increase your own effectiveness.

Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals: The Brutal Arts of the Archipelago (Paladin Press) 1996, 180 pages, ISBN 0-87364-892-7
 

Softcover, Item# Bindonesian
Book -- $38   Retail: $39.95

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Comments about this book include:
The title is a little deceiving. This book doesn't really profile silat or kuntao. Rather, it is one of the best books on concepts that I've ever read. I'd place it up there with "Tao of Jeet Kune Do". The concepts of gyroscopic rotation, shearing, adhesion, etc. can be applied to any art, given a little imagination. While the reader will learn something on the history of Indonesian martial arts, it is really the underlying principle that recieve the most attention. One won't really learn HOW to do silat or kuntao, but will gain an understanding of WHY the practitioners of such arts do the things they do. There is nothing on weapons, which I thought was strange, and nothing on Kali, which I thought was Indonesian, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is one of the best books on martial arts principles out there. No matter whether one is looking for asthetics, self-defence, understanding the "arts", or sporting aspects of martial arts, there is something in this book for everyone. I'd recomend it to anyone serious about the martial arts, but those with a more casual attitude towards the arts may not find anything useful here. If I could only have five martial arts books, this would be one of them. -- Joseph M. Burtner, Kilmarnock, VA

This well-written, easy to read tome is a thinking martial artist's book. It is filled with sound principles and great explanations of why they work so effectively in actual combat. There's some techniques too, but that's not really the heart of this tome. Pentjak silat and kuntao are, at their core, functional fighting arts and Sifu Orlando is master of these brutal styles. He places rarely divulged applications in context, artfully explaining why and how they work. I wasn't too keen on his work 'Martial Arts in America' so I held off on buying this one for quite some time. Having finally gotten around to reading it I really wish I'd bought this one sooner. I am thoroughly impressed with this outstanding volume even at its rather steep price. Very highly recommended! -- Lawrence Kane , author of The Way of Kata and Martial Arts Instruction

Bob Orlando did a great job on this book. The contents of the book is primarily a blend of Kun Tao -Silat. I trained in the Indonesian Martial Arts some, by way of Hanshi Bruce Juchnik, who like Bob Orlando, studied the Indonesian Martial Arts from Willem de Thouars. Bob has also trained in many other martial arts. -- Guro Dennis Servaes

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