1996 JakJazz festival opens with cool notes

JAKARTA (JP): State Secretary Moerdiono opened yesterday the A Mild JakJazz festival at the Gelanggang Mahasiswa Soemantri Brodjonegro Youth Center in Kuningan, South Jakarta, by playing a jazzy number under a cloudy sky.

The minister played the Indonesian pop song Bujangan (Bachelor) as a jazz number with the Jamz Matra Big Band after giving a brief speech.

"This festival was prepared by the committee for only 26 days. Only Indonesians can prepare an international festival within such short time," Moerdiono said with a guitar hanging over his shoulder.

Among the guests at the opening ceremony were Jakarta's Vice Governor Tb. M. Rais and Army Territorial Commander Maj. Gen. R. Adang Ruchiatna P.

Due to rain, the opening ceremony was an hour later than its scheduled 4 p.m.

The three-day festival will feature more than 40 local and foreign jazz groups.

For the first time in JakJazz history, campus musicians are taking part.

"There are eight or nine campus groups from Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya," Anton Setyanto, chairman of the organizing committee, said.

The foreign participants are Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe, Iceland's Mezzoforte, the Mike Stern trio from the United States, American saxophonist Eric Marienthal, ethno-jazz group Itslyf with musicians from Austria and America, female multinational group Inside Out, and the Latin-style group Los Caballeros.

Jamz Matra Big Band, which groups Indonesia's best jazz musicians like Bill Saragih, Benny Likumahuwa (leader), Embong Rahardjo and Oele Pattiselano, was honored to launch the festival. With more than a dozen instruments the group was like an orchestra as it enveloped the stadium with a grand atmosphere.

Next was Pendekar Gitar (Master Guitarists) who entertained the audience with mostly blues numbers.

The star of the night was the Mike Stern trio who enthralled about 1,000 spectators at the main stage with high-speed jazz action.

Stern, one of America's best guitarists, teamed up with Jeff Andrews on bass and Richie Morales on drum.

Sadao Watanabe played late at night.

The JakJazz festival, founded by local jazz musician Ireng Maulana, was first held in 1988 in Ancol, North Jakarta. The second festival in 1991 was also in Ancol. It became an annual event in 1993 and was always held at the Senayan parking lot, Central Jakarta.

This year, however, it is held at the Soemantri Brodjonegoro Youth Center after the committee signed a sponsorship agreement with the Bakrie group, which owns the sports center.

The Bakrie group has agreed to co-sponsor JakJazz for the next five years with the festival's longtime sponsor, the Sampoerna cigarette company. This will save the festival from the financial difficulties it has always faced.

The festival costs about Rp 1.5 billion (US$641,000).

The musicians looked more comfortable playing at the new venue which is in the heart of Jakarta's business district.

"This is the best venue in the history of JakJazz. There is no sound interference here as there was at Senayan and Ancol. The air is also pristine. It's comfortable here," Bill said. (jsk/02)