Artist : Shadow Puppets
Album : Extended Play
Released Date : July 3, 2010
Label : Shadow Puppets Music

The Indonesia’s jazz movement is marching on. It’s really interesting to see the rapid development of jazz in Indonesian music scene lately. We see more and more events and many young musicians with their fresh ideas in high energy and passion, and certainly we start getting more and more jazz albums that dare to go boldly against the trend. They go on to send what they feel inside straight from their hearts and hopefully everything will be delivered and felt by the listeners. For some, it’s like giving an alternative thing into the music choices, but for others it’s the chance to explore their every passion to what they really love and believe in. Whether it’s simple or complex, no matter which part of jazz they play, it’s something honest from their feelings. And as the result, we now have jazz albums that give something not only nice to listen to but also nice to be felt wholeheartedly.

In such case we have a group, Shadow Puppets, which was formed not long ago. Shadow Puppets is the English words for “Wayang Kulit”, the flat leather puppets came from the Javanese puppetry traditions which cast shadows on to a screen. It was a unique name to choose based on the personnel’s wish to have an easy to remember name internationally but still representing Indonesia. This group consists of four musicians with different backgrounds united with the same vision, to explore their passion in jazz. The personnel are Irsa Destiwi (piano), Robert Mulyarahardja (guitar), Indrawan Tjhin (bass), and Yusuf Shandy Satya (drum). Eversince they were formed, they have successfully performed in many stages, including at the Salihara several weeks ago when they also released a mini EP titled “Extended Play”.

It all began when they attended Henning Sieverts‘ workshop held by Serambi Jazz back in October 2009. Many musicians attended the workshop, but these four musicians soon connected to each other and a cool band was formed soon after. Irsa Destiwi, a cheerful lovely girl, came from classical background. Many achievements have colored up her career such as being the winner of YPM Award for most outstanding performance on piano and for theory, the 3rd winner of Jazzeed Djamin Award, a music rearrangement of Ismail Marzuki. She made a big leap by joining the multi-national group led by Lewis Pragasam, the Bali Lounge 2. Irsa made another turn by teaming up with Lea Simanjuntak in Bandanaira, a group that bring the heroic anthems of Indonesia during the war time in jazz. Irsa is still young, but no doubt she’s a promising pianist that will surely be big real soon.

Robert Mulyarahardja is the new generation guitarist who graduated from Berklee College of Music. He has a cool style reflected in his compositions. He’s a stylish guitarist with complete skills and also has the ability in making compositions. Robert is definitely one of the jazz musicians from the new generation that will be big in the near future if he keeps on pursuing his career consistently.

Indrawan Tjhin, one of the busiest newcomers in local jazz scene was graduated from Koninklijk Conservatory of Den Haag. He has the dream to refresh our awareness to see the beauty of the root, the traditional jazz standard. “Actually there are still many original jazz standard groups, but they are usually not as popular as fusion bands, especially to this generation.” Indrawan once said. “I hope they can see more of the root, the traditional jazz. Even if they have interest in straight ahead or modern jazz, at least the instrument settings and style could go more into acoustic oriented.” His passion in straight ahead jazz can also be clearly seen, and that goes with all the efforts he’s been giving ever since his return to Indonesia. Indrawan is a bassist that dares to bring his bass step in the front and also expressive in every gig he’s in. It’s always been wonderful to listening to his play as well as watching his action.

Last but not least, we have Yusuf Shandy Satya. He’s still studying at Institut Musik Daya having the stylish drummer, Aksan Sjuman, as his major teacher. Shandy was originally from Yogyakarta and started as a pop/funk session player. Later he’s active in jazz community in Yogyakarta and started building his passion into jazz. Even when he started as a pop/funk drummer, his jazz pattern is authentic and sharp. Shandy is simply the perfect one to join the group.

Having diverse personnel background, the music style of Shadow Puppets appears to be different. They are united under the roof of jazz, but the presentation appears in many different forms. Shadow Puppets’ Extended Play features 4 songs in various tastes and nuances, but all rooted in the original jazz tradition in stunning play and total freedom. “We keep the ‘nothing to loose’ mentality from the beginning.” Indrawan said. “What’s important is that we want to try to play music as wide as possible and see what we can come out with that.” he continued. With the various tastes and characters embedded in this group, certainly they can bring many variations in their musicality. Just through four songs we can see how bold the group goes across the boundaries in stunning improvisations. What’s great about it is that the songs don’t sound difficult at all to enjoy. Shadow Puppets’ “Extended Play” is a worth album to have if you want to visit the original jazz tradition that we might have missed for a long time and to see what jazz can come out with.

The album starts with “Errands to Run”,written by Irsa Destiwi. This song is interesting since it’s a complex rhythmical composition, but it isn’t difficult at all to listen. Irsa seems to see the errands from the bright side as reflected in the composition. Again it’s complex, but it’s calm and joyful to listen to. No matter who we are, we still have errands to run. It’s a part of life that we must do to be better in life. Another interesting thing in this song is the “trading” that we don’t hear often anymore. The trading is like a question and answer session between the instruments, usually between drum and the rest. Shadow Puppets gives a “trading four” in this track. The 16-bar tune was split into dialogues of 4 bars each between the drums and the rest of the ensemble. How lovely it is to have this traditional style of jazz back again in an album. You will fall in love with this song right from the start.

The next one is “Monkisms”, composed by Robert Mulyarahardja. His “cool guy” character is reflected nicely in the song that heavily influenced by Thelonious Monk. It appears in the traditional bebop served with medium swing. It’s an 11-minute sheer pleasure in steady boppin’ and bluesy rhythm. The eclectic “Yusuf Hamdani” is a composition in more modern style in fast clock-ticking beat. Yusuf Hamdani is based on a character in Jalaludin Rumi’s book of poem and became the source of inspiration by Robert. The album ends with Irsa’s composition “Those 5 Days”. Her classical background can be felt in this melodious and landscapic composition. Irsa wrote it when she attended Florian Ross‘ workshop at GoetheHaus for 5 days. Irsa shows the beauty of melodies that she can bring with this song, and imagine how wonderful it is to listen for 11 minutes long.

It’s been a long time not to hear the traditional forms of jazz in original tradition, and Shadow Puppets brought the joy of it once again on the surface. As Indrawan said actually they already have 14 original compositions, hopefully there will be a longer album soon to come. We have to appreciate their efforts to produce this album all by themselves, that’s the spirit we have to praise. But one good thing of it is that they can go on in total freedom exploring their feelings, translating them into harmonious melodies and send it out for us to feel. As what we already mentioned before about the rapid growing of jazz movement in Indonesia, Shadow Puppets’ “Extended Play” proves it in the recording world. This is the mesmerizing scene of how fast jazz has been rising progressively in Indonesia. Shadow Puppets has opened up the door that we have been waiting for such a long time. Hopefully it will be followed by many other fresh jazz musicians soon.

Shadow Puppets are:
Irsa Destiwi (piano)
Robert Mulyarahardja (guitar)
Indrawan Tjhin (bass)
Yusuf Shandy Satya (drum)

Tracklisting:
Errands to Run
Monkisms
Yusuf Hamdani
Those Five Days

You can order the album at Jazzuality.com! Buy Shadow Puppets’ “Extended Play” only Rp 25.000 (exclude shipping price) and listen to the sample here: http://jazzuality.com/store/

Order by sms  from the Shadow Puppets:
Shandy :+62 81281813767
email: shadowpuppetsquartet@gmail.com

Visit Shadow Puppets’ official myspace

Reviewed by: Riandy Kurniawan
Proofreader: Alhenri Wijaya

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