Artist : Sarimanouk
Album : Sarimanouk
Released Date : May 26, 2010
Label : Demajors Independent Music Industry

It is always amazing to see how jazz grows and evolves over the years. As it is known that there are dozens of jazz sub genres nowadays and they are getting more and more following the dynamic music development like a trend. But for the jazz aficionados like us, we sometimes miss the era when jazz was born, when jazz was brought back to its root. We miss the “let loose” style, the freedom of exploration, crazy improvisation that would make you happily say, this is jazz. It was the time when big cats like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, or even Miles Davis dominated the jazz scene with their amazing natural born talents in total freedom. Sometimes it could sound so complex until some of us couldn’t understand the song anymore. But even so, you can’t argue with their braveness to go beyond limit in presenting their ideas straight from their hearts. They dared to go boldly exploring every melody freely. That was the time when modern jazz was born, the style that still inspires many jazz musicians until today, including the group named Sarimanouk.

You may wonder what Sarimanouk means. The name was taken from the name of a ship used by many immigrants from Indonesia to sail all the way to Madagascar. It seems this name came from Balinese mythology, “Manuk” which referred to the description of Bali sacred bird. This band took Sarimanouk as its name to remind us about this interesting piece of history, and also as a symbol representing two countries, Indonesia and Madagascar. F.A Talafaral (sax/piano), the frontman of this group, is the native Malagasy son. He established a quartet in 2008 together with other members from Indonesia: Sandy Winarta (drum), Julian Abraham Marantika (piano/keyboard/accordeon) and Donny Sundjoyo (double bass). With this unique composition, the band surely has big opportunities to find the best music blends that can unite various ideas in one voice, one sound, all through the original compositions that deeply rooted on modern jazz concept.

Let’s see some profiles of the personnel.

Talafaral

Try pronouncing this: Ramiandriosa Faralahiherivolannirina Andrianolazaina. If that’s too difficult, you can just call him Talafaral. Tala is his nick name, and Faral is a part of his name. He was born in a musically talented family, and started playing piano since in his early age in Madagascar. After graduating high school, he switched to saxophone as his main weapon. He’s been going through 15 years of experience, and has tasted many international music projects such as “Mifandamoro” (1993), “Harmattan”, “Burkina Faso”, “Groove Suppa” (India, 2005), and “Potomac JAzz Project ‘The Scenic Rute’” (2007). He is going to leave for India really soon, but as he said once to us, he will still keep on coming back and forth to keep the band alive. One thing for sure, he’s wild, dangerous and unpredictable when holding his saxophone.

Donny Sundjoyo

Yudo Nugroho Doni Sundjoyo, that’s the full name of this amazing young bassist. He has decided to focus on music since he was still 15 years of age. Having great jazz bassists as his teacher, Bintang Indrianto and Indro Hardjodikoro, he emerged as a newcomer on the jazz scene by joining the workshop “Jazz and Anda”, presented by Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah in Jakarta right at the turn of the millennium. He entered Institut Musik Daya for Preparatory and Degree Program where he learned to master contra bass through Karoline Hoefler, Partick Olary and Peter Scherr. He gained his Bachelor Degree majoring in performance at the age of 25. He’s still young, yet he is full of experience. He and Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah performed in Daya Orchestra as the conductor., He also played with Joe Rosenberg Trio, Idang Rasjidi in his famous “Live at Four Season” album, participated at the 15th Annual International Association School of Jazz (IASJ) in Krakow, joined the Aksan Sjuman Trio, Bobb Quartet, Opustre Big Band, six Element, Tao Kombo Collective Messkeepers besides being a personnel of Sarimanouk. He’s highly capable on guarding the rhythm, but that’s not all, because he also knows how to run the melody with his contra bass beautifully. He’s an all round bassist with full passion, you’ll know it by only looking at his face in every gig he’s in.

Julian Abraham Marantika

He started learning classical piano from Getih Indra Sunaryo when he was still 14 years old. After learning music theory and saxophone from the legendary Benny Likumahuwa, he went on learning the jazz piano from Riza Arshad and Krisna Balagita. He joined Institut Musik Daya and some of his lecturers were Tjuk Nyak Deviana Daudsjah, Ivonne Atmojo, Masako Hamamura, Sri Aksana Sjuman, Marc Isaac and Jelita Megawati Heru. He graduated in 2007 holding Bachelor of Music in Performance. Julian has tasted some of the prestigious stages including Java Jazz Festival 2007 and 2008, Pasar Jazz 2006 and Serambi Jazz to name a few. Some of his projects including the Aksara Record compilation “Jazz Masa Kini”, joining Ricky Lionardi Big Band, in New Conservative Trio where he presents his own compositions and “Dunia Mereka” OST in 2005. He’s also active as a lecturer besides playing.

Sandy Winarta

If asked who the busiest jazz musicians are today, his name must be one of them. Sandy is a pure Balinese talent. He actually started with piano and got some achievements as the best pianist in many Bali music festivals. Later he switched to drum as he registered himself at the Institute of Music in Sydney, Australia and graduated from there and got his Bachelor in Music Performance in 2006. Right after his return to his mainland he got involved in many kinds of concert, from small to big orchestra. He teamed up with the living legend Indra Lesmana and the popular and fast-rising bassist Barry Likumahuwa in Mostly Jazz, the event that marked the birth of Indonesia’s Jazz Movement. Just like the rest of the team, he’s an all-round player with complete skills. Besides being active as a stage musician, he’s also listed as the lecturer at Institut Music Daya Indonesia teaching music improvisation, and major jazz ensemble.

Now imagine when these four talented and highly experienced musicians team up as one, sitting on the same boat and having a musical journey together. The result is fantastic. Sarimanouk’s debut album is packed with nonstop, explorative and adventurous action from the beginning to the end. You’ll be surprised with many unpredictable twists and turns in every side, brought by this stunning quartet under the flag of Sarimanouk. It’s like building a song with each one’s perspective but ending into the same point. It feels like jamming and letting the music come out naturally. Sarimanouk is a symbol of the unity of their musical visions with a hope of presenting such music that would be able to speak universally. Sarimanouk is always progressive in their search of new mindset to bring music into the new height. And 9 songs contained in the album are ready to bring you to a wondrous journey back in time to taste the exact feeling of freedom when jazz revolution happened.

Right after you start listening to the first song, “Getting There” composed by Talafaral, you will know that they are serious. Served cool in average tempo, you will directly be brought to the revolutionary jazz scene in the 50′s. It’s intense, dynamic and free. “Time for Change” will continue the pattern to bring us into the scene even deeper. “Meno’s Mood” opens with Julian’s piano gloriously. Doni makes this song as a cool, calm and relax song. Doni and Talafaral take their turn interchangeably to play their instruments in the middle of the song. “Reunion 3″ composed by Julian Marantika appears in tasty syncopative melodies with excitement. Feel the joy of watching the plants grow on “Green House”. This song is inspirational and lively. “Reunion 5″ seems like picturing the far darker side unlike the previous version. If you like to go speeding, try “Request”. Again in this song Talafaral goes on running up and down with the melody, streaming fast to go boldly anywhere. The album reaches the end with “Little Bossa”. This time they show their ideas using the cool, exotic and gentle bossa as the layer for their melody exploration just like the rest. It’s really nice to have the bossa beat and piano texture while still picturing the classic modern jazz at the same time.

If you like to feel the explorative album, if you are into an adventurous album that can bring you through a journey back in time, if you love the miraculous scene of revolutionary jazz scene in the 50′s and early 60′s, you should have this album. Sarimanouk delivers a full action-packed album that gives surprises through their stunning “let-loose” improvisations. This is the example of how four highly creative talents board the same ship, unite their visions and styles into one stunning style courtesy of Sarimanouk. They can be wild and dangerous, they can be calm and gentle, but one thing for sure, the freedom of playing is on top of their agendas. Grab the album and let them bring you to the magical side of musical journey.

Sarimanouk are:
F.A. Talafaral
Julian Marantika
Dony Sundjoyo
Sandy Winarta

Tracklist:
Getting There (F.A. Talafaral)
Time For Change (F.A. Talafaral)
Meno’s Mood (Doni Sundjoyo)
Reunion 3 (Julian Marantika)
Green House (Sandy Winarta)
Reunion 5 (Julian Marantika)
Request (F.A. Talafaral)
Little Bossa (F.A. Talafaral)

Buy the CD at the nearest CD Stores in Indonesia or contact this email: joshua-simon@hotmail.com. You can also contact the label: Demajors Independent Music Industry to get their CD.

For more info, log on to Sarimanouk’s official myspace

Reviewed by : Riandy Kurniawan
Proofreader: Alhenri Wijaya

Popularity: 3% [?]