Jazz Gunung at Java Banana Bromo : The Report
Hong ulun basuki langgeng. This warm welcome greetings of Tengger tribe seemed to greet the presence of jazz event that held for the very first time at Mount Bromo area, Probolinggo, East Java. KUA ETNIKA , the music group from Yogyakarta led by the artiste Djaduk Ferianto featuring Trie Utami performed for the very first Jazz Gunung (Mountain Jazz) at Java Banana Bromo, Wonotoro village last Saturday, July 25, 2009.
How often do we have jazz event on the mountain? As far as we know, at least in Indonesia this was the first time. What an idea to present a jazz concert on 2000 meters high (6500 feet), with clear blue sky and cold weather, plus the beautiful scenery as the background. An event that blends with the nature in an open space, caressing the nature with music, particularly jazz. Imagine how wonderful it would be. And that was exactly what we had. Jazz Gunung was held through the idea and effort of Sigit Pramono, a self-taught photographer who is also known as a jazz lover. Jazz Gunung is one of the rebranding effort made by him to push Bromo tourism site. He wishes to let us know that Bromo has more to offer than only by its stunning sunrise. Held at the open field just beside Java Banana Lodge, with fantastic view of Mount Tengger on the background, located 2000 meters high , this was truly a very unique jazz event. Something that no one might ever think before. It was a perfect Back To Nature concept, especially when this gorgeous location was filled by the style of Kua Etnika that blends jazz and ethnic music together.
Kua Etnika is known as an open-minded, creative music group/community that presents traditional/ethnical music with modern approach in rich fusion. The group was formed in 1995 by three famous Indonesian artiste, Djaduk Ferianto, Butet Kartaredjasa and Purwanto. As a group, Kua Etnika established as a melting pot of many forms of art. Inspired by Javanese and Balinese ethnical backgrounds, Kua Etnika has a style that bridge the gap between traditional and modern art, between free and idealistic to pragmatic industrial exploration. Their east meet west concept is always fascinating. Their musical approach is appreciated widely, not only locally but also internationally. At Vienna Jazz Festival 3 weeks ago they stunned the audience when they performed in Wiener Rathaus/Arkandenhof, Vienna, Austria. Also appeared at that time a senior female jazz vocalist with great ability in ethnic touch, Trie Utami. Lucky for us, she joined Kua Etnika once again in Jazz Gunung.
The event started with traditional music groups and C26 Jazz Community from Surabaya. Kua Etnika then came with the interesting formation consisted of musicians from Yogyakarta, Solo and Bali. Butet Kartaredjasa was the MC for this event. He is a famous artiste from Indonesia. He warmed everyone with his jokes, including the way he joked descibing the audience as “Jamaah Al-Jazziyah”
Kua Etnika opened their performance with “Donald”, a composition by Purwanto picturing the beauty of one particular river in Hungary, a place they visited when they were on European tour while ago. Trie Utami came in holding two myrrh incense sticks (a kind of incense stem, in Indonesian it’s called dupa). She grabbed people’s attention by creating mystical nuance all around the venue. After greeting everyone and shared their valuable experience performing at Vienna Jazz Festival just a couple of weeks ago, Trie Utami and Djaduk Ferianto joked to each other on stage to break the ice. They soon delivered “Gandean” with Trie Utami on vocal. This is a song describing a China Town in Yogyakarta written by Indra Gunawan.
The third number was an instrumental number entitled “Bromo”, a song dedicated to Tengger people by Djaduk. According to Djaduk, he just made this song 2 days before the event. So it was one of three songs that were composed at the Pananjakan height. In this song, Djaduk’s flute dominated the composition in jazz fusion style. He was like Dave Valentine.
The next song was “Nirwana” , another song composed at the Pananjakan.This song was inspired by the moment of sunrise right at the beautiful dawn of Pananjakan. Djaduk explained the scenery he saw, when the sunlight started to appear, but it was still dark at the bottom. Above him he saw many clouds, and for him it was like heavenly gods. “Nirwana” (Nirvana) is a composition rooted in swing but came together with Balinese gamelan (percussion). Sometimes Djaduk let some voices out blending with the music. It was cool. Then we saw the collaboration between Kua Etnika and traditional musicians from Wonotoro village, the village where this event was held. Wearing the traditional Tengger clothes, they blended harmoniously with Kua Etnika’s music. From this collaboration we felt Kua Etnika’s desire to never stop exploring the musical asthetics from just about anywhere. An interesting twist came next. They brought “Mission Impossible Theme Song” in their own unique style. Djaduk played around with many sounds using various traditional and modern instruments, from Sundanese Kendang (double-headed drums), Bonang (collection of small bronze gongs used in Javanese gamelan), Reong (the traditional instrument used in Balinese gamelan), other set of Balinese gamelan, bass, drums, keyboard and many more. Djaduk even used the sound came from wooden toy gun on this number. It was really amazing, it was very entertaining!
The nuance got warmer when Trie Utami was back again singing “Matahari” (The Sun), the last song created at Pananjakan. Trie Utami’s vocal blended harmoniously with the saxophone. Followed by “Kupu Tarung” (Butterfly Fight), an awesome composition that blends every instruments on stage together with great improvisations. It was delicious, just like a fine blend of cappucino to me. “Mademenan”, a song composed by Sukayana from Bali appeared right before Kua Etnika left the stage.
Thank God Kua Etnika didn’t want to end their show yet! Kua Etnika came back on stage for encore, bringing two songs as requested by the audience. The sensation created of this Jazz Gunung was really amazing, for Bromo people and even some local and foreign tourists who happened to be there. Music is an universal language that really can unite everyone in harmony. Trie Utami came back with a song heavily dipped in latin, but delivered in Banyuwangi traditional Ronggeng style, including her stunning vocal improvisation. In this song she asked everyone to come forward and dance together. The night became hot with all the audience and musicians gathered and danced together with a twisting composition a la Kua Etnika of a famous dangdut song, “Kucing Garong”.
With the successful first Jazz Gunung, we are sure there will be another edition of it in the future. Jazz Gunung event is planned as an event that comes twice a year. Besides as a form of appreciation towards ethnic jazz, this event wishes to give a fresh new color to Indonesian tourism. Hopefully this kind of event could offer some new interesting attraction to the tourists. Jazz Gunung will continue on different mountains like Mount Merapi, Mount Dieng and others. An absolutely unique event that praise the beauty of the nature with jazz blends with ethnic musics. It was a brilliant idea, and we are always more than happy to support it. Salute to everybody behind this event!
See more pictures:
Reporter: Apey Idris
Photographer: JazzLoVa
Editor: Riandy Kurniawan
Popularity: 3% [?]
Loading ...
[...] That’s why from him we got several surprising jazz events in the most unlikely places, like Jazz Gunung (Mountain Jazz) at Java Banana Bromo, 2000 m height an the mountain last July, and of course this series of Ngayogjazz. The results [...]