Rock band Dewa 19 celebrates its first decade of success<\/p>\n
By Helly Minarti<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): They began as teenagers, singing on school
\nstages and playing in festivals for five years in their hometown
\nof Surabaya. They then made the leap to the big time by moving to
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Dewa 19 then released four successful albums in five years.<\/p>\n
The most recent, Pandawa Lima, released in January, earned
\nthem their highest record sales of 800,000. They marked their
\n10th anniversary last month with a fan gathering in Poster Cafe,
\nCentral Jakarta, and a musical bash attended by many popular
\nIndonesian musicians in Balemang Cafe, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Dewa 19 today does not sound the same as a decade ago. After
\nbusy imitating the 1980s trend by playing jazz music (similar to
\nCasiopea or Jakarta's Krakatau and Karimata) during their school
\nband period, they turned to rock music and sought a producer.
\nThey did not have to go through the painful process of rejection
\nas their talent was recognized early.<\/p>\n
The original lineup was Dhani Manaf (keyboard), Erwin Prasetya
\n(bass), Wawan Juniarso (drum), Andra Ramadhan (guitar) and Ari
\nLasso (lead vocal). Their name was culled from the first letters
\nof each of their names (Dewa is Indonesian for god) and their
\naverage ages.<\/p>\n
Their debut album, Dewa 19 (1992), had a bona fide hit,
\nKangen\/Ku Kan Datang (Longing\/I Will Come), a sweet rock number
\nwith mushy lyrics. It carried sales up to 250,000, an impressive
\nachievement indeed for a rookie amid the existence of other
\npopular groups such as KLA Project, Slank and Java Jive. Dewa 19
\nreceived a BASF Award as the best alternative rock group and the
\nbest newcomer of the year.<\/p>\n
Their second album, Format Masa Depan (The Format of the
\nFuture) in 1993, enjoyed comparable sales to the first. They also
\nmaintained the early tunes and beats, the mainstream sweet rock
\nwith poetic-yet-shallow lyrics. This was despite their claims to
\nalternative rock.<\/p>\n
Terbaik Terbaik (The Best, The Best) released in 1995 showed
\ndistinctive exploration in sounds, themes and ways of singing.
\nThough love in its banal sense remained at the center of
\nsongwriting, the group had begun to come up with other ideas,
\nsuch as the blunt criticism of worldly materialism in their hit
\nCukup Siti Nurbaya (Enough with Siti Nurbaya) and classic musings
\non life's meaning Hitam Putih (Black and White).<\/p>\n
They won the BASF Award for best rock music, best arrangement
\nand best recording. Their video clip of Cukup Siti Nurbaya was
\nnominated for the MTV Asian best music videos competition.<\/p>\n
Wong Aksan, a new drummer, came along at the end of the album
\nto replace Wawan Juniarsa, whose place had been filled on the
\nprevious two albums by other musicians. Aksan is the son of
\nfamous choreographer Farida Oetojo and the late film director
\nSjumandjaja. He cowrote several songs and enriched some sounds in
\nthe fourth album Pandawa Lima by doing the final mixing in Essen,
\nhis college base in Germany, together with Manaf.<\/p>\n
Pandawa Lima (it refers to the five warriors in the
\nMahabharata), is said to be their masterpiece. Their music sounds
\nnew and fresh -- the basic rock is still there, but fleshed out
\nby other elements of 1990s' synthesizers. \"It's only more
\nprogressive in the technicality. We're getting better at
\nexecution of composition and arrangement,\" explained Manaf, who
\ncomposed several songs and most of the lyrics.<\/p>\n
This \"progressive spirit\" can be traced back to their new
\nvideo clips. Kirana in surreal-like with typical MTV images. The
\nsecond is the sublime pop Aku Disini Untukmu (I'm Here for You),
\nfeaturing a futuristic green scene with its smart visual allegory
\nof contemporary niceties. And the third is the light pop-ballad
\nKamulah Satu-satunya (You're the Only One).<\/p>\n
The improvements are obvious. Compare them with their first
\nvideo clip of Kangen\/Ku Kan Datang, in which they appear wet-
\nbehind-the ears rockers with uniform long hair.<\/p>\n
\"We were just kids from the provinces, and I still feel the
\nsame way,\" said Manaf, who doesn't deny his leadership role in
\nthe group. \"And we were only 19. Not every 19-year-old can do
\nwhat we did.\"<\/p>\n
Except Aksan, who graduated from Folkwang School of Music in
\nEssen, the other members learned music by themselves. Manaf, for
\nexample, only took a six-month piano music lesson. \"I have
\nlistened to my father's good records since I was a child,\" he
\nsaid. His father introduced him to musicians like Jerome Kern,
\nand he built on those musical awakenings by enjoying tunes of
\npeople like Joe Coltrane in junior high school.<\/p>\n
Once they dreamed of being a band as solid as Queen, the 1970s
\nBritish rock band they adored for their songs and unchanged
\nformation until the death of lead singer Freddy Mercury.
\nIn this decade, they developed a fascination with Ireland's U2.
\n\"Does it sound weird if we say that we only learned from both
\ngroups to play better music?\" Manaf said.<\/p>\n
Having tasted commercial success, members of Dewa 19 are
\nbroadening their visionary dream, as Manaf stated, to be a legend
\non the Indonesian music scene. \"Like Koes Plus, with commercial
\nsuccess lasting for decades,\" Manaf said in reference to the
\nenduring Indonesian pop music group from the late 1960s.<\/p>\n
Unlike other Indonesian musicians, going international is not
\non their agenda. \"We just want to be the best in Indonesia -- the
\nbest music group which composes the best hits,\" Manaf said. \" To
\nreach that alone is not easy.\"<\/p>",
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