Exclusive Interview with Tohpati
tohpati, tohpati big band, interview, tribute to ismail marzuki
Tohpati, without a doubt, is one of the most important musician Indonesia has today. He has started to play guitar ever since he was still in junior school. Inspired by many different genres, from progressive rock like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Yes to various jazz style, range from Mezzoforte, Casiopea, Spyrogyra and many more, he collected them all into a style that will never stuck only in one genre. I can say he’s there in almost all kinds of music. Yes, he’s known as one of the top list jazz guitarist today, but he often show his taste in other fields, like rock, easy listening, soft acoustic songs even light country style. He can do them all and always deliver the best of him in every single style he does.
Tohpati has involved in many groups over his career. The early stage of his career was filled as a member of Splash Band, then he started to gain wider attention when he formed Halmahera back in 1988. He appeared often on TV, including a famous quiz show for teenagers at that time, Gita Remaja. Later on, he joined the contemporary jazz group, SimakDialog, along with Riza Arshad and former Halmahera buddy, Indro Hardjodikoro. The journey continued on with forming Trisum with other two guitar gods of Indonesia, Dewa Budjana and Balawan. Alongside the band, he also productively made his own solo album. There are three released albums: Tohpati (1988), Serampang Samba (2002) and It’s Time (2008). Hopefully in this year we will have a new solo album. Surprise, surprise, we’ll get a song (or more) featuring Yellowjackets.
Besides the bands and solos, he’s also active as music director and composer in many events. Just couple of days ago he was in charge composing the whole repertoir for “INDONESIA BIGBAND CONCERT plays Indonesian Classics – “A Tribute to Ismail Marzuki”, an event made by GELAR, an organization that always care about the arts and cultures of Indonesia. It was an amazing work, gathering cross-generation and cross-genres musicians together in form of the glorious big band. Here’s the interview with Tohpati.
First of all, congratulations. Your compositions are just unbelievable. It’s hard to imagine how you could make different compositions for each artists. You created broadway style for Andien, then rocky blues style for Baim, motown-ish for Rio Febrian, a little samba for Rieka Roeslan, soft bossa for Kris Biantoro, and amazingly all blends harmoniously in big band. How on earth could that be?
Thank you. I already knew them, so I know what they style was like. I think it’s very important for them to enjoy what they brought on stage, so I tried to accomodate each and every style they had and put it in the form of big band.
How did you get involved with the concert?
Well, Ratih (Kumoratih Kushardjanto, one of GELAR member) is my wife’s friend..haha.. Actually the concert was planned from long time ago, but there were problems here and there. But I’m glad we could make it happen at last. I’ve been wanting to make a big band concept for Ismail Marzuki for quite sometimes, ever since I performed at the celebration of National Hero Day in Surabaya. So, when I met Ratih, we discussed about this, and well.. it was just perfect.
Was it difficult to compose the songs for big band?
Well… not really.. the rhythm section was easy, because I’ve known them all, we used to play together. But for the brass sections, yeah, it was a bit difficult. This is my second big band, I had to know them first, adjusting and stuffs like that.
Were there any difficulties in the making? For example, was it difficult to find Ismail Marzuki’s songs?
Not at all. I had no trouble with finding the songs. The difficulties came actually on this: how to make a longer duration from songs that were made really short. You know, most of Ismail Marzuki’s songs are in simple lyrics and short, we can sing it from the start till the end in only 2 minutes, even 1 minutes or so. But in concert, the duration usually goes around 5 minutes. So, that was the challenge, how to longer the duration.
What about the artists selection? Did you choose them?
No, it was up to GELAR. But yes, they asked advice on who I thought would be best for the concert. There were some artists we selected that couldn’t make it, so we had to find the replacement.
I think what GELAR made was really important. Somebody has to take this step, so that the legendary composers like Ismail Marzuki will always be remembered. What do you think?
I think, as long as the composers has great works, we have to bring them up. They contributed a lot in the music world, they made a really big deal with their contributions in our music history. Great composers created timeless songs, you know how difficult it is to make timeless songs, and for that we have to respect them by making this kind of event.
You are known joining many bands all through your career. Name some like Halmahera, SimakDialog, Trisum and so on.. which one do you like the most?
They all are different, I enjoyed playing in all of the bands. But if you ask what I like the most, well.. of course playing in my solo albums.(laugh). Because then you can decide everything according to yourself. In groups, no matter how close you are, there will always be different ideas.
Speaking about Halmahera, you and another Halmahera personnel, Indro, seems to perform together in many occasions until now. Can you tell me why?
Yeah, I like playing together with him. We fit to each other. We already know each other so well, that sometimes we don’t need to plan anything, we just play. In the music world like this, I have to say friendship is really needed. You already know each other’s style, each other’s feels and so on. It makes things easier.
I heard that you are in the making of new album. And I heard that there will be Yellowjackets featured in the album. Is that true?
Yes, that’s true. Actually before they came to Indonesia (Yellowjackets performed on last JakJazz 2008 together with Tohpati) I had some discussions with Jimmy Haslip. At first I was thinking of having one of Yellowjackets for the album, but then Jimmy offered the whole band. And it was great, because the price was reasonable, I even considered it cheap for a band with quality like Yellowjacket.
How was the process?
They sent me two songs, and they asked me to play both and decided whether I like it or not. And man…. the songs were difficult! I asked them the part, they sent me, and when they heard my play, they got surprised. So, just the next day after their performance at JakJazz 2008, we rushed to record the song. It was done really in a rush, I had to find an available studio that day, because they didn’t have much time to stay in Indonesia. We made it. So, for now we have made one song together. I’m still looking for a chance to make another one, but we’ll see..
When will the album be done?
I really hope soon.. The gap between the second and third album was kind of long, so I want to release this one closer to the last album.
One last question, you have played so many styles. From progressive jazz, fusion, pop, easy listening even a little soft country. Which one do you like the most?
I love all kinds of songs. I can feel rock too, I like rock, I also like pop. I never feel forced to do other than jazz, because I love them all. But yes, in guitar I concentrate more to jazz. But I do have to play other genres as well. You know, musicians like Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, John Scofield or Miles Davis were never stopped in one genre. They have played in many styles. We have to be like that to grow better. You’ll never be able to learn if you only stay in one box.
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Novan Yahya Renatal , Praditya Nova
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