Jazz for West Java : Charity Concert for Earthquake Survivors – The Report
Nobody ever wished for natural disaster, but we could do nothing when it happened out of nowhere. An earthquake as big as 7.3 Richter Scale has struck several districts of West Java on September 2, 2009. The earthquake could be felt in whole Java island even Bali. All of a sudden we were all shocked by the tragedy. Many people died, lots of families lost their members, thousands of houses were torn apart. Many of them also got severely injured. Buildings collapsed, dreams shattered, cry for help shouted from everybody suffered from the tragedy.
When terrible tragedy like this happen, it’s time for us to realize that we are all human made to help each other. We might not be the victim this time, but we could someday. We need to lend a hand to help those who need our immidiate help now, more than they ever did. We need to do something to ease their pain, help them with everything we could, stop the tears and show them that they are not alone facing this tragedy. We have to show them they still have us, all their brothers and sisters that will never let their future fade away. The jazz world and everybody living inside felt it, and knew they could contribute something to help all those who survived from the tragedy.
Jazz For West Java : Charity Concert for Earthquake Survivors was made only within a week after the tragedy. The event was made through the collaboration between Dewan Kesenian Jakarta, Simpay Wargi Urang, Wartajazz.com, Palang Merah Indonesia,Farabi Music and Indiejazz Inc. Just right after this idea came, they got huge immediate response from jazz greats from everywhere across generations. All wanted to participate, to contribute something for all the survivors with what they could do best. And yes, a big charity concert was finally made. This was another success jazz concert for charity after the previous Tsunami victims in Aceh and also Yogyakarta Earthquake several years ago.
Plenty of great jazz artists listed, and the attention from jazz lovers were huge. Graha Bakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, the venue was fully crowded last Sunday, September 13, 2009. It was a long run show, started at 4 pm and ended at 2 am, due to the heavy list of performers. There were 3 stages built for this concert. One stage was placed outside the hall, on the lobby called “Ngabuburit Stage”, and two were placed inside the hall, Stage A and B, sited just beside each other. The lobby stage were filled from 4 pm until the open fastin time by Bram, Aldhi, Gerald Trio, Tengku Ryo the Malay, Vodka, Erik Sondhy, Mahagenta and Notturno.
The time to break the fast was given, and the concert continued at 7 pm.
Project Sangkuriang. That’s what the commitee called this project. (Sangkuriang is a legend comes from West Java, Sundanese tribes in Indonesia, telling about the creation of lake Bandung, Mount Tangkuban Perahu, Burangrang and Bukit Tunggul). Chlorophyl opened stage A with two smooth jazz titles. 
Then SOL Project, an Indonesian group focusing on latin music came up with some Indonesian songs such as “Ku Tak Bisa”, “Aku Sedang Ingin Bercinta” and closed with one upbeat latin song. The audience were excited with their performance plus the dancers. Agam Hamzah came on stage, collaborating with his companion from Ligro Trio, Adi Dharmawan. It was a lovely collaboration between two friends that has known each other very well. The chairman of Komite Kemanusiaan Indonesia (Indonesian Humanity Commitee), the former Minister of Finance from 1993 to 1998, Mar’ie Muhammad was there. Din Syamsudin, the General Chairman of Muhammadyah and Adang Daradjatun from Simpay Wargi Urang were also there.
Rio Moreno Trio performed some great fusion jazz beautifully. This trio led by Rio Moreno, formerly the pianist of Cherokee band who is also teaching at Farabi Music School. Oppie Andaresta, a well known singer in Indonesia also participated with her new age style song entitled “Hitam ke Putih”, a song taken from her 2001 album with the same title. The concert became more and more interesting when Tompi and Friends appeared with Arabian tunes. As usual Tompi played around with his stunning voice technique and lip scatting, interactively blending with the music. It was really entertaining.
The legendary band who was formed in Bandung, Krakatau carried the show with their stunning ethnical elements embedded in jazz. It was even better with the fact that they also presented Ronggeng Dancer on the show. It was mystical, magical and unique. It’s been quite sometimes we haven’t seen Krakatau together on stage, no wonder the audience loved their performance on this charity event. Pra Budidharma was still stunning with his bass. Farhan, the MC for the event announced the donations and auctions. Among the auctions were: Dwiki Dharmawan’s own keyboard that already accompanied him on his gigs around the world, A painting titled “Assalamualaikum” by the legendary Sam Bimbo, Shoes and Harmonica owned by Tere, even the voice of Adang Daradjatun was among the auctions.
Farhan continued on explaining that donations would be collected personally to the audience by EDC machine and cash. The donations were varied between IDR 500.000 to IDR 10 millions. Some also donated in dollars. The audience were very excited about it and happily gave their donations.
Yance Manusama and his wife performed next with a beautiful song carried with solo piano. After this lovely performance, one of the senior bassist Bintang Indrianto came on stage with some friends delivering famous Indonesian heroic song, “Indonesia Pusaka”, newly arranged in jazz and filled with Bintang’s awesome skill on bass. The artiste and poet Taufik Ismail came and read one poetry named “Bencana demi Bencana demi Bencana” (Disaster after Disaster after Disaster), a deep reflection in our stage of life.
One of the important figure behind this concert, Dwiki Dharmawan performed next with B3 (Widi, Nola and Cinthya), plus Maya Hasan with the red harp. After their performance, Andien continued with “Sekitar Kita”.
the jazz great Riza Arshad and senior guitarist Donny Suhendra came next playing dramatically with their unique jazz taste presented in stunning skill. This attempt followed by Dewa Budjana and Tohpati, two Indonesian guitar maestros showing their expertise. The crowds loved it. Audiensi Band carried the night away with some singers like Tere, Rio Febrian and also a very special appearance of Fariz RM singing “Senada”. This session also had Didiek SSS, the brother of the late saxophonist Embong Rahardjo playing his sax attractively. Another stunning appearance that brought memories came from Utha Likumahuwa, singing his signature song, “Esok Kan Masih Ada”. The crowds seemed to still remember the lyrics very well and sang along with him.
Idang Rasjidi and the New Generations appeared on stage. It wouldn’t be perfect without his appearance, so it was lovely to see Idang paying his contribution in Jazz For West Java. Along with Idang there were Sandy Winarta, Yance Manusama with the ever amazing Kemala Ayu on vocal. Just like what they showed at Cafe Halaman Bandung last July, again they brought some attractive jazz series with the unique improvisation in heavy vocal by Kemala Ayu. Totong Wicaksono the guitarist came next with one smooth jazz title.
It was time for KulKul to show what they got next. They created the different feel right away with their presence. The audience were served with Balinese ethnical music that fused in jazz harmonically. Didiet on the violin made the performance even more beautiful with his touch. Jilly Likumahuwa and her students participated too on this special show delivering soft brazilian bossa and upbeat samba. Rama and friends followed with two Papua traditional instrument, Tifa and played acoustically that night.
The night got hotter when Syaharani appeared on stage. She was there along with ESQIEF, also known as Syaharani and the Queenfireworks with their new song “Anytime”, a very soothing song that delivered perfectly through Syaharani’s beautiful voice. Donny Suhendra and Kristian Dharma were there too as usual, as a part of the Queenfireworks. For the last session we got Benny Likumahuwa and his son, the rising bassist Barry Likumahuwa and his project bringing Ismail Marzuki’s “Indonesia Pusaka” followed by Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” This special father and son collaboration showed a beautiful bond between them.
The time was 2 AM when the concert reached the end. What a long one night concert it was, filled with amazing parade of Indonesian Jazz artists. Their efforts successfully collected donations up to IDR 260 million plus US $ 1000. This would surely be beneficial for all the victims suffered by the earthquake tragedy. Dwiki Dharmawan, Adang Daradjatun, Mar’ie Muhammad and Din Syamsudin announced it together right in the middle of the stage. It was a huge success.
Our respect and salute to everybody who worked hard to make this charity concert became reality. From the planning, discussing and preparing everything, and I must say it was a well prepared event. The jazz world knew they could do something and they proved it by giving out their best through their performance. It doesn’t really matter what song they brought for the night, what important is they all deliver it right from their hearts, and that could be felt from the beginning to the end by each and every peformers of Jazz For West Java. We are all human made for each other, made to help and to love each other. This is a showcase of love, how beautiful it is when we are united. Bravo jazzers! You are all truly remarkable. Special thanks to the organizers who made this happen perfectly in just a short time, that was unbelievable! And also to every artists who were already participated in this charity concert. May what you’ve done could help to rebuild their dreams of a bright future, and mostly could place some smiles back again on their faces. Thank you once again for your tremendous efforts. God bless you all!
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Reporter and Photographer: JazzLoVa
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