Djakarta Artmosphere: The Report
It’s been an amazing year so far. As I predicted earlier at the dawn of 2009, this year becomes the year of jazz revival in Indonesia. I predicted there would be more events as jazz got more power to capture the interest of music lovers, and that’s what exactly going on. The thing that excite me is, not only we got much more events than the previous years, but we also got many events that have such a unique concept. One of the most recent just happened last Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the UpperRoom, Annex Buliding called Djakarta Artmosphere: Arts for a Better Indonesia.
If you notice the art words, you’d guess that there’s something more than just a concert behind it. And that was what the organizers meant to. Djakarta Artmosphere ended up as an outstanding and unique event that spoke loud of art in general. The performers came from various different genres, the artists were from different generations, and not only that, this event also provided photography exhibition too. Musics and paintings, both are undoubtedly specific forms of art. Joining these two would give something new to the attendance, and I’d say it was a very creative move.
Jakarta is the biggest and also the capital city of Indonesia. It’s the place that holds millions of lives who came from different backgrounds and cultures, which are always giving something to create something new in many segments of life, including art. All these different cultures and backgrounds are living under the same roof, under one atmosphere. How would the art shaped today in Jakarta? That’s the question, and that’s what we got with this event. In here, differences are not meant for hating each other, but all presented in egalitaire concept, believing in equality of all people, in which all are wise enough to respect the difference. That’s why we saw different styles of pictures, and different genres of music that night. And we are very happy to see that jazz, as a part of world’s culture was included to give its contribution in this event.
Located at the 9th floor parking space, we were greeted by the food stalls on the way to the next floor, where the mini stage stoods tall. The first band to start the show was “Angsa dan Serigala”. This is a retro style group both in musicality and dress. They used some instruments that you won’t often found in a modern band such as xylophone, pianica and violin. The next performer was “Tembang Pribumi” that appeared with Balinese traditional bandana and batik. They also decorated the stage with some Wayang Kulit equipments. They were energic on stage and successfully captured big applause from the crowds. Continued with the duo that are famous among the indie fans, Endah n Rhesa. Things got hotter when the heavy rocker group Anda with the Joints came on stage, followed by series of cool heavy blues courtesy of Gugun and the BlueShelter entertained the audiences who sat on the floor. Another indie rock band Grips appeared, and that was the end of performances at Mini Stage.
The crowds knew that the main event would start really soon. Everyone queued to enter the hall that had already prepared nicely with lovely stagelights and cool sound system. There were photographs attached on the wall from the first entrance to the main hall. Sarah Sechan and Soleh Solihun were the MCs for tonight. It was time to see very interesting and rare set of collaborations, the combination of artists that you’d never think of. After a short introduction they presented SORE to the stage.
SORE is a fast-rising indie band with unique concept. It’s always difficult to fit them in any specific genre. Their music style is something in between The Beatles, Morrissey, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Interpol, Gino Vannelli, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, Masaru Satoh, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Procol Harum, America, Paul Simon, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Ludwig van Beethoven, Krzysztof Komeda, Michael Franks, Keenan Nasution, Yockie Suryoprayogo, and Gil Evans. Pop with absaurd-electic touch with some obscure Indonesiana of the 70’s. The personnel of SORE (in English means “late afternoon”) are Awan Garnida (bass,vocal), Ade Firza Paloh (guitar, vocal), Gusti Pramudya (drums, vocal), Reza Dwiputranto (guitar, vocal), Mondo Gascaro (piano, keyboard, vocal), Dono Firman (keyboard, synthesizer).
They started with their own song “Bogor Biru” and then brought one famous song written by Ebiet G Ade, “Menjaring Matahari.” After this song, the legendary Ebiet G Ade arrived on stage and got huge applause. He said “just behind me stands the new generation that we all have to support.” And Ebiet was right. These are the generation that has their time right now to give something for the better future of our music.
Ebiet G Ade is a legendary musician, singer and songwriter that is famously known as someone who always inspired by the nature and social problems. His ballad style suits him as an icon, plus his unique voice character that will be recognized right away when one hears him sing. His songs are all poetic and prestented in the tradition of folk. The collaboration between SORE and Ebiet started this rare combination between artists across generation, from different era and background, still they could join together in harmony. Ebiet started with solo guitar playing his own song “Jakarta”. Not the song that we used to hear from him, but nonetheless this song was perfectly suit the theme of this event. “Jakarta” is a social critic song that speaks about the darker side of Jakarta. It’s a city that might not be that friendly for some people, as what Ebiet felt when he first came to Jakarta.
Then one of 4 series of the classic “Camelia” was played. It was “Camelia II”, appeared in really nice re-arrangement. The touch of SORE made the song sounded like Deep Purple’s. The last song of their collaboration was another classic “Berita Kepada Kawan”. When their session reached the end, all gasped and agreed that it was such a collaboration that you would never dreamed of.
The next pairing was just as surprising as the first one. White Shoes and the Couples Company (WSATCC) is a very interesting band that has a crossover retro style. With 7 personnel Aprilia Apsari (vocal and finger snaps), Rio Farabi (acoustic guitar and vocal), Saleh Husein (electric guitar and vocal), Ricky Surya Virgana (contra bass, cello, bass,vocal), Aprimela Prawidyanti (piano, viola, synth, keyboards, vocal) and John Navid (drums and vibes), they are clearly influenced by the Indonesian movie soundtrack from the 70’s and also inspired by the acoustic spirit of the jazz scene in 30’s. Not only those, but they are also present their style in classic strings arrangements, retro disco beat, easy listening, acoustic ballads and also some sounds from vintage keyboard toys that were made in the ’70’s.
The intro described their style of music, and it was cool. WSATCC brought their own songs,“Windu” and the famous one that became a radio hits “Aksi Kucing”. Then they called the senior jazz guitarist on stage. It was the legendary Oele Pattiselano. Oele Pattiselano is one of the most influential legendary jazz musician. He’s started it all 40 years ago and still active until now. 4 decades career has shaped him as a remarkable guitarist with sharp instinct and intuition plus a very clear taste of jazz that comes from every tune he played with his guitar. If you wonder whether they could collaborate nicely or not, the answer is yes. It was stunning and beautiful. WSATCC and Oele played another WSATCC original song called “Kapiten”. Then Oele played the intro of a song that is very familiar to Indonesian. It was “Sabda Alam”, one of the masterpiece from Indonesia’s famous composer Ismail Marzuki. Right after the intro, WSATCC colored it fully with their style. The arrangement were made in retro ’70s disco style.
Fariz RM is one of the very popular singer representing the second half of the 70’s and still continued on being famous through the 80’s. He is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He’s mostly famous with his pop jazzy style and also one of the trendsetter for the 80’s rare genre in Indonesia called ‘Creative Pop’.. Not only singing, he’s also capable to play many instruments. From keyboards, guitar, bass, to percussions and drums, he can play them all nicely. All through his career that still goes on until now he has released no less than 20 solo albums, 72 collaborations, 18 soundtracks and made 27 albums as a producer. Many of his songs becomes an all time classics such as “Barcelona”, “Nada Kasih”, “Susie Bhelel”, and many more. The crowds gave big hands when Fariz appeared on stage. After setting his keyboard for a while, he was ready to start!
Fariz RM and WSATCC presented his all time famous hits “Selangkah Ke Seberang”. The cheerful retro scene of jazz funk/disco in the late 70’s or early 80’s was presented nicely. It was really fine as I started remembering the moment when this style was very popular among youngsters back then. Fariz RM hadn’t lost his touch on keyboard. He was on fire with his fingers, also sang the song together with Aprilia. They continued to burn the stage with another composition written by WSATCC themselves, entitled “Senja Menggila”. “WSATCC is my favorite, because I’ve been wishing to go back to that certain era, but I never made it..they went on and succeed with it.” Fariz said. And then came the wonderful surprise. Oele Pattiselano came back on stage and together they all brought the classic “Barcelona”. The crowds popped, danced and sang together. Imagine the song appeared with the original writer and performer, then got the signature of Oele Pattiselano and WSATCC. What a superb collaboration. Great one!
If you think those two rare collaboration between different generations were enough, wait until you hear the next one. It was the time for Tika & the Dissidents to show what they got. Started with just using her name, Tika released her debut album “Frozen Love Songs” in 2005. Tika & the Dissidents was the most recent formation made by Tika, which has just launched the latest album “The Headless Songstress” went into the market. This independent group was built with some other skillful musicians. Among them were Susan Agiwitanto on bass, Okky Rahman Oktavian on drums, Luky Annash on piano, plus Nikita Dompas, the manager and completely skilled guitarist also acted as the playing musician for tonight. I’d say Tika is the most dangerous girl to look for. She is very smart in writing the lyrics. If you listen to “The Headless Songstress”, you will absolutely get the different atmosphere of music. It’s theatrical, it’s like a cabaret on Broadway, but it’s also dark, mysterious and sometimes scary. The critics she threw in the album are sometimes sarcastic and straight to the point. And that what makes Tika appears differently in the music scene.
After she delivered two songs from her latest album, she took Vina Panduwinata’s famous song entitled “Cinta”. Then came the surprise, I’d say it was very much the highlight of the show. Tika took another song of Vina, but she twisted it very far. It was “Di Dadaku ada Kamu”, that originally appeared as a cute pop jazzy song. Tika twisted it and brought it in such concept that you wouldn’t dare to dream. It was still theatrical, but she gave a psychotic concept on it, it was spooky, it was haunting, it was gothic, it was dark and scary. Yet, it was so imaginatively outstanding. It was like the darker side of Streophonic’s “Mad About You” or Portishead’s “Give Me The Reason” style, but with the appearance of Nikita Dompas, this song got some jazz flavor in it. What an arrangement that shocked everyone in the hall. Even the original singer, Vina Panduwinata the real Indonesian Diva gave her best compliment on that very brave attempt.
Vina said it when she entered the stage. Vina showed tonight that she was still great just like she ever was, She prooved that she could perfectly followed this gothic theatrical style of Tika without any problem. She even showed her ability to improvise in bluesy jazz. From the contrabass, saxophone and Nikita’s guitar Tika got the taste of jazz, but from the other personnels she carried the post rock/alternative style, often with roaring guitar and also some delightful touch of electronic. The last song they brought was “Surat Cinta” which was appeared as rockin’ cabaret. And what a perfect performance! It was really ultimate!
The last band performing was Efek Rumah Kaca, means Green House Effect in English. Efek Rumah Kaca is an alternative indie band. They brought two of their original songs, in which one of them got a real ballerina. Imagine a ballerina danced through rock song. Can you imagine that? Doel Sumbang arrived on stage. Doel Sumbang is a legendary Sundanese artiste that often made social critic songs. An excellent song writer that know how to present the social problems in many styles. Sometimes sarcastic, ironic but in other times funny and playful. He has made many songs both in Sundanese language and Indonesian. He started with a song written by Remy Sylado called “Martini”, a parody about a son who got a female-like name. The audiences laughed many times when this song was brought. After some songs in nice collaboration, the TNI AD Brass Band appeared on stage together with all the performers. They all brought the legendary tunes “Indonesia Pusaka”. Artists from different genres gave their improvisations, and it was fascinating, just like when we are listening to “We Are The World”.
Collaborating our own talents from different genres and eras, it was a night of twist and surprise. This could create ways to widely introduced the indie talents and deliver shows with unlimited creativity, and we’re also happy that jazz held big parts in it. Salute to the conceptors of this event, whoever behind this, I think they’re either crazy or unbelievably creative. Let’s hope next year would bring another Djakarta Artmosphere on our list of regular events. Bravo!!
See more pictures:
Reporter: Riandy Kurniawan, Daniel Irawan
Photographer: Reska
Popularity: 5% [?]
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NICE..
It’s different concept… brilliant idea. Bravo