Urban Jazz Crossover 2010 Is Coming, featuring Indra Lesmana and Achmad Albar

Submitted by Riandy K on April 22, 2010 – 5:40 pm4 Comments

Dji Sam Soe Urban Jazz Crossover 2010 is coming! Following the huge success of two previous series, the third year edition is coming with many new innovations, ideas and lineups to talk about.

Dji Sam Soe Urban Jazz Crossover has emerged as one of the big and important annual events in Indonesia. The concept of finding the fine blend between jazz and other genres as far and as wide as you can imagine has proved to be able to reach the heart of listeners from various genres, including the youngsters. Urban Jazz Crossover can bring the whole new perception of jazz, letting them know that jazz can be suitable to them as well. Last year we covered Urban Jazz Crossover in 4 out of 5 cities: Medan, Bandung, Jakarta and Surabaya where we witnessed the amazing response by the audiences with our own eyes. Everything seems perfect about this event. The careful selection of artists from various genres, the amazing arrangements, the well prepared rundowns, the awesome 3D stage concept, lightings and so on. Let’s not forget that Urban Jazz Crossover has always been presented with many surprises. And what amaze us more is the very cheap ticket price. For an event as big as this, it makes us wonder how they could manage to deliver it with a very affordable price. You can also get the “buy 1 get 1” offer that will valid until the d-day. Satu Panggung (One Stage), Multi Genre is something we have to keep in mind when we talk about this event. A night of fusion tunes is what we’re going to get as the result. This is the event for the open minded music lovers, this is the event for everyone who are curious to see how jazz can amazingly fused in harmony with other genres. And just in case if you wonder, the event will still be held on 5 cities just like last year.

The first Press Conference for Dji Sam Soe Urban Jazz Crossover 2010 was held at The CONE-fX Lifestyle X’nter seventh floor in Jakarta last Wednesday,April 21, 2010. EQ (Eki) Puradiredja, the music director of this cool event opened up the conference together with Rama Ishwara, the Associate Brand Manager of Dji Sam Soe. The choosen of these 5 cities are based on the great response they had on the previous editions. They also stated that there will be a new genre to be added in the crossover, the contemporary Indonesian ethnic music. The stage will be different as well with the new concept. The stage area will be bigger, 17 x 14.5 m (last year it was 14 x 10 m) with Moveable Projected Backdrop with the size of 5 x 7 m that can create 8 different formations, using the combination between tailormade visual with the 3D Masking technology and Augmented Projection. “You have to come and see it yourself”, Rama added. One thing for sure, the stage will become one of the element of surprise for this year.

The lineups will be different too for Urban Jazz Crossover 2010. Some of the playing artists were presented at the conference. The living jazz legend Indra Lesmana who recently just started the Indonesia’s Jazz Movement through the shape of jam sessions, the R&B star Ello and the new sensation Sandhy Sondoro were there representing the other participating artists. Besides these three artists, there will be many other top class musicians/singers to perform. There will be the R&B diva Dewi Sandra, Kikan “Cokelat”, Ipang “BIP”, the great female violist Maylaffayza, DJ Cream (Reza Arnanda Putra), rapper Boogieman (Pradana Rizky), Yuyun and Drew. Last but not least, and here’s the big news: there will be another legend/music icon besides Indra Lesmana, he is the one and only ACHMAD ALBAR!

Achmad Albar started his career as a child actor in 1957′s Jendral Kancil. He already started to sing at the tender age of 11 and still active until now. He’s famous as the lead vocalist of two legendary bands, “God Bless” and “Gong 2000″, also as one half of the “Duo Kribo” together with Ucok “AKA” Harahap. He’s known as a rock artist, but actually Iyek, the nickname of Achmad Albar has tried many different genres as well, including dangdut through his album “Zakia” released in 1979 and also the Broadway-ish jazz style on “Jenuh” that appeared in Guruh Soekarno Putra (GSP) volume 2: “Untukmu Indonesiaku”. “At first I was joking, what if Achmad Albar sing jazz,” Rama said. But then EQ took it seriously by contacting him. Iyek gave a very positive response. EQ said it didn’t take long to convince him, as he has already heard so much about the Urban Jazz Crossover. Only by two meetings, Iyek agreed to be involved this year. “At first Iyek and Ipang were a little bit confused about the crossover concept during the rehearsal, but then after a while they could understand it and everything sailed on smoothly.” EQ added.

“It’s not easy to be the Music Director of Urban Jazz Crossover.” said EQ. “We have to change some of the well-known songs, even the anthems into something new.” One of the surprise of this matter is a song from the folk legend Iwan Fals that will appear in the new crossover style. Eventhough it’s never been an easy task, EQ admitted that after three years working on together, he already adjusted perfectly with the rest of the crews. There will be about 20 songs to bring this year, with some ethnical elements and voicings from several tribes to be included. To show a little tit-bits of Urban Jazz Crossover 2010, the Urban Jazz Crossover All Star led by Ello sang Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris in a brand new crossover style.

Dji Sam Soe Urban Jazz Crossover 2010 will come to 5 cities, starting with Medan, the capital of North Sumatra on April 30, 2010. After Medan they will land in Bandung (May 7, 2010), Semarang (May 21, 2010), Jakarta (June 11, 2010) and Surabaya (June 18, 2010). From our own experience, the last year’s set was so much more than expected, it was unbelievable, and we are sure this year it’s going to be even better. Make sure you won’t miss it! Come and witness the beauty of crossovers at the most nearest city from where you live.

Where and when:

Medan – April 30, 2010
JW Marriott Hotel

Bandung – May 7, 2010
Hilton Hotel

Semarang – May 21, 2010
Gumaya Tower Hotel

Jakarta – June 11, 2010
Ritz Carlton Pacific Place

Surabaya – June 18, 2010
Grand City Hotel

Ticket price: IDR 50.000 (in all cities)
Get “Buy 1 Get 1″ offer at Dji Sam Soe’s official website

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