Ngayogjazz 2009 : The Report

Submitted by Riandy K on December 1, 2009 – 4:39 amNo Comment

We got special treat last Saturday, November 21, 2009 located at Taman Gabusan, Bantul, Yogyakarta. Ngayogjazz 2009 took place right there, a very special down to earth jazz celebration for everybody, led by the famous artiste Djaduk Ferianto. The theme “Jazz Basuki Mawa Beya” was taken from one Javanese idiom, means nothing’s useless on doing the effort, especially in playing and enjoying jazz.

Covering with quite dark clouds, the event started at Cokrowarsito stage by the performance of Jur@sik Brass Band feat the sensational little girl, Farah Di. This brassband that conducted by Agung Prasetyo brought some standard jazz repertoires and some popular songs rearranged in bigband formation. “Mack The Knife” and “Hey Jude” were brought gloriously, also Farah Di’s own song “Pesisir Pantai” and “Route 66″ by the strong vocal of Farah Di while the drizzling rain started to fall down from the sky.

Right after the event was opened officially by the regent of Bantul, our sight directly pointed to Basiyo stage, a stage especially set for local jazz community. 6 Jogja Jazz Communities that involved in Kompilasi Ngayogjazz 2009 project appeared one at a time. Funkyman, Das Smoothly, Mid Season, Living Room, Yovia PRoject, and Mr Dance and Jazz Legacy brought their original songs.

The day turned to dark, the dazzling rain still poured, but the audiences were still enjoying the show. From Komunitas Jazz Kemayoran (KJK) Jakarta we got Beben and His Friends ft Ade Oxa‘s presentation. They brought some stardard jazz such as “It Had to be You”. “Take the A Train”, “Boy From Ipanema”, “Cheek to Cheek”, “Body and Soul” and a very famous song of John Coltrane, “Mr. P.C”.

The night came, the rain became harder, but the jazz fans kept their enthusiasts to see more performers. At Condrolukito stage, 9 personnels of Sono-Seni Ensemble led by I Wayan Sadra had prepared to deliver their parts. They tried to bridge contemporary music with mainstreams like pop, rock and jazz. Full with experimental ethnics, very explorative. They included some nuances from Balinese pentatonic scales and Madura. Peni Chandrarini‘s unique vocal style captured the audiences’ emotion and made them stay right in the front of the stage.

Meanwhile, at Basiyo stage we got David Manuhutu, representing KlabJazz Bandung. This 17 year old boy delivered some instrumental compositions such as Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”, “Straight No Chaser”, his own composition “Rhytmico” and also “All Blues”. High quality play in great skill is brought perfectly by David. David has started to play since he was still 5 year old. He was supported fully by his parents, especially his father, the senior jazz musician Venche Manuhutu. Playing together with the virtuoso Bubi Chen, Oele Pattiselano, Riza Arshad and Nial Djuliarso and many other jazz musicians, both local and international has shaped him to be in such level that could rarely be achieved by any other boys at his age.

On the different stage, Albert Yap and BassGroove 100 from Malaysia entertained hundreds of audiences. Albert Yap (bass), Leonard Yeap (keyboard), Tom Anuar (drum), Ihzwan Omar (gitar), and Eddi Kismilardy (sax) played some standard jazz songs such as “Caravan”, “Afro Blue” and “Satin Doll”. They played these songs in groovy and funky style. After that we also got “High Five Funk” and “Wise is Nice”. The stage was then taken over by Philosophy, with Bintang Indrianto (bass), Arief Setyadi (sax) and Gerry Herb (drums). Together they gave out their songs including “Gambir” and “Table for Three”. Near the end of their session, Dewa Budjana came on stage as a special guest guitarist.

Basiyo stage was still on with jam session from local Jogja’s musicians like Donna and Friends, and a Bagus, blind pianist from Surabaya that brought “Fly Me To The Moon” and “Take Five”. We also got a special performance by the little boy Kenny who sang Grover Washington Jr’s “Just the Two of Us”. Fellows from Komunitas Blues also participated by the performance of Sister Morphin from Magelang.

The night got deeper and the weather went much colder, but the situation at the Kusbini stage got even warmer. ESQI:EF a.k.a Syaharani and the Queenfireworks was the one who made it that way. Syaharani, a female jazz icon of Indonesia came on stage together the band including Donny Suhendra (guitar), Ahmad Fareed “Didit” Saad (percussions). They brought “Summertime”, “Kiranya” and their brand new single “Anytime”. Some technical difficulties on the electricity occured when they played “Route 66″, and that forced them to end their session.

At the same stage as ESQI:EF, the show continued with Purwanto & Kua Etnika (Dani, Bonz, Bli Nyoman, Benny, Yudi and Indra). They changed the nuance right away by bringing out a mystical and magical style of compositions. “Vertigong”, “Terarus”, “Konstan” and “Sensualijazz”. Nice vocal by Anita Siswanto was loved dearly by all the audiences who kept staying right in front of the stage.

Then the time came for Gypsy style Guitarist from Austria, Harry Stojka and Claudius Jelinek. They explored Cokrowarsito stage really well. With the format of guitar duo, they brought some standard with the combination of Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass‘ classical guitar technique, fast swing and dixieland. The harmonious sounds that came dynamically from their acoustic guitars stunned the crowds. Their fingers danced so fast on the fret in steady rhythm. Classic songs like “Honeysuckle Rose” and “All of Me” got the new style of interpretation just like a brand new compositions on their hands.

The rain started to pour down again when the senior keyboardist Dwiki Dharmawan and guitar wizard Dewa Budjana with Donna Koeswinarno (sax), Yoyok Prasetyo (doublebass) and Warman Sanjaya (drums) appeared and closed the jazz celebration that night. Dwiki played his keyboard stunningly while sometimes sang some tunes with unisound scatting. Progressive chords streamed nicely through the expert play. Budjana followed wildly with his Parker, especially when the full lick staccato “Arafura” was brought. When a traditional song “Lir Ilir” appeared through the stylish Peni Chandrarini vocal, the crowds got hypnotized with the magical coo, cozy and calm sensation. Dwiki ended the festival with taking a famous goodbye song in Indonesia, “Gelang Sipatu Gelang”.

It was a very interesting concept brought by Djaduk Ferianto, who found his calling to change the wrong perception, that jazz can only be enjoyed exclusively by high class people. Ngayogjazz can always be a perfect example on how jazz can actually be accepted in open arms by just about everyone from any social class. We are happy to see this fact of course. Thank you very much for Djaduk and all the organizers, also we extend our thanks to all the performers and everyone who participated in this unique event. With you, we can all be sure that jazz has a very promising future in this country.

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