Anies Syaichu stays true to reggae<\/p>\n
Ade Tanesia
\nContributor
\nYogyakarta<\/p>\n
Mention reggae music, and the legendary Bob Marley will
\nimmediately come to mind.<\/p>\n
Despite the musical genre's popularity here for a long time --
\nmany pubs in major cities play reggae to coax their guests out
\nonto the dance floor -- only a few Indonesian musicians, like
\nTony Q and the Imanez Group, have dedicated their talents to it.<\/p>\n
Recently, after spending much of his time on developing his
\nmusical talent, Yogyakarta artist Anies Syaichu released his new
\nreggae album titled Yang Bagus Akan Datang (The Good One Will
\nCome) under the Blass Production label.<\/p>\n
The 50-year-old artist, who first became acquainted with music
\nin his teens, established Primitive Band in the 1970s with some
\nof his friends in Yogyakarta. Later, while he was living in
\nGermany, he set up Chaos Company.<\/p>\n
Only after performing and experimenting with different kinds
\nof music, Anies decided to take up reggae. Reggae is Jamaican pop
\nmusic, a combination of West Indian -- ska, rock steady -- and
\nAfro-American music styles with a hypnotic, heavy bass sound
\n(ref: Hal Leonard's Pocket Music Dictionary).<\/p>\n
Wanting to experience the music first-hand, he traveled to
\nJamaica in 1986 for the Reggae Sun Flash Festival and there, he
\nrealized that reggae was his only choice.<\/p>\n
According to Anies, unlike rock music, reggae does not require
\ngreat stamina on the part of the musician -- it is simple and
\ndoes not require a lot of chords, although discipline is still a
\nrequisite.<\/p>\n
Amid its simplicity, he said, one needs to understand, to go
\ndeep into the music before performing it well.<\/p>\n
\"Your soul needs to get to the core of the music in order to
\nperform well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
His break came when he was recommended as a reggae singer for
\nAsian Roots in Jakarta and soon, in 1994, he moved to Jakarta to
\ntry his luck with his music.<\/p>\n
Asian Roots later became one of the outstanding reggae groups
\nin Indonesia, releasing several albums and performing back-to-
\nback schedules at noted bars at the Hyatt hotel, Amigos and Pasir
\nPutih.<\/p>\n
During performances, Syaichu usually crooned popular reggae
\nsongs, mainly Bob Marley's. With his distinct voice, resembling
\nMarley's, people found themselves attracted to his performance.<\/p>\n
Still, Anies wanted more. He wanted to prove himself as a
\nreggae musician, and the only way to do this was by releasing his
\nown album with his own songs.<\/p>\n
With strong determination, he made a demo of his own songs in
\n2001, but unfortunately, no one wanted to produce his album. He
\nwent to Sony and EMI also, but to no avail.<\/p>\n
\"Sony wrote me a letter saying that my recording was good, but
\nthey also said they were not ready for this album,\" Anies
\nlaughed, believing that the company was not ready to produce an
\nentirely reggae album.<\/p>\n
A year later, Blass Production, owned by Felix, offered to
\nproduce an album. Without wasting any time, Anies returned to his
\nhometown in Yogyakarta to prepare the album.<\/p>\n
\"Yang Bagus Akan Datang is a reflection of this country: Huge
\ndebts and costly education. Indonesia is getting messier, but I
\nstill have my optimism. I actually wanted to call the album Ratu
\nAdil (Queen of Justice), as the album contains a dream I had
\nabout this messiah. I'm Javanese, and have read the prophecy by
\nJayabaya, who said that after this crazy era, Indonesia would
\nbecome prosperous,\" Anies said of the 11-song album. He has
\nalready put together additional songs for the next two albums.<\/p>\n
His love of the music is revealed not only through his songs,
\nbut also through his work in forming the Indonesian Reggae
\nCommunity. The community comprises some 200 musicians from 17
\nreggae groups in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Yogyakarta has plenty of reggae groups. If they are
\nencouraged to write their own songs, there will be different
\nexplorations of this music. Reggae will not then be associated
\nonly with Marley,\" Anies said.<\/p>\n
He decided to set up the reggae community out of his knowledge
\nthat the reggae community in Indonesia, particularly in the
\neastern part of the country, is quite big. He found it strange
\nthat music producers in Indonesia seemed reluctant to market
\nreggae music.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Reggae Community is expected to show the
\nstrength of this community. \"Hopefully, some cooperation will be
\ndeveloped to produce cassettes or CDs of reggae music. In this
\nway, this musical genre will be promoted and better explored in
\nIndonesia,\" Anies said.<\/p>\n
One of the community's programs is to team up in recording a
\ncompilation of reggae songs.<\/p>\n
Anies believes that in Indonesia, reggae could be branched out
\ninto many different genres in exploring the possibility of a
\nuniquely Indonesian brand of reggae music.<\/p>\n
Anies' greatest strength lies in his voice. Even at 50, it
\nseems as though he was born to sing reggae.<\/p>\n
\"I smoke less before a show and take enough sleep and rest,
\nbecause when I'm on stage, I have to sing and move for several
\nhours,\" Anies said.<\/p>\n
He strongly believes that one cannot miraculously become a
\nsinger. \"You have to work hard to be one,\" he said.<\/p>\n
All these long years, he has never stopped exploring. For him,
\nperforming is his life's adventure, by which he may discover his
\nown identity, and God.<\/p>\n
\"Every time I sing, I feel like I'm singing before God,\" he
\nsays.<\/p>",
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