A Mild JakJazz festival returns to its roots

A Mild JakJazz festival returns to its roots

By Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): The A Mild JakJazz festival '96 has returned to
its roots. The country's biggest musical event will present "real
jazz", or western jazz, for three days starting tomorrow at the
newly refurbished Gelanggang Mahasiswa Soemantri Bodjonegoro
arena in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Last year, when Indonesia celebrated its golden anniversary,
the musical event was full of patriotic feeling. For the first
time, the government helped finance the festival, which then cost
nearly Rp 1.7 billion (about US$720,000).

In return, the JakJazz committee had to change the festival's
name to Red-White JakJazz and provide time for local musicians,
who tried to blend Indonesian ethnic music with modern western
styles.

That was the first time Indonesian ethnic musicians were
allowed to participate at JakJazz since it was founded in 1988.
The decision was opposed by some musicians, especially veterans
like Bill Saragih, who contended that Indonesian ethnic music
could not be appropriately mixed with western-based jazz.

The JakJazz committee then chose Franky Raden, a noted
contemporary musician, as chief organizer. Indojazz, the term
coined for the mixture of Indonesian ethnic music and western
jazz, became the buzzword.

The word Indojazz is rarely heard these days. No domestic
ethnic musicians will take part in this year's festival and
people like Franky Raden are also absent from the organizing
committee's list of officials.

"JakJazz is back to normal. The effort to search for
Indonesian jazz looks to have ended in the framework of JakJazz,
but not outside of the musical event. We are still continuing the
effort outside of JakJazz," Franky said.

With the absence of ethnic musicians, the question of whether
Indonesian ethnic music can be blended with Western Jazz, a hot
debate last year, should stop for a while.

Pop music will also be missing at the festival this year. Last
year, there was the American R&B group Surface, which was given
the honor of playing on the main stage, as did jazz giants Arturo
Sandoval and Earl Klugh. However, the longtime sponsor of
JakJazz, A Mild cigarettes, has promised to bring more
international pop music groups to future JakJazz festivals. More
pop music is expected to attract young people, who promoters
think are not yet comfortable with music "as serious as jazz".

Jazz lovers might be against the inclusion of pop music, but,
as the Sampoerna cigarette company points out, Surface drew a big
crowd of young people last year.

The only non-jazz group at this year's festival is Los
Caballeros, a Latin group that will play at Jamz. The promoters
reportedly did not have enough time to book a pop group suitable
for the festival. The organizing committee only decided to stage
the festival some three weeks ago.

An informed source told The Jakarta Post that JakJazz founder
Ireng Maulana was not sure if the festival could be staged this
year due to limited funding. He first approached a television
channel to co-sponsor the festival with A Mild. The attempt
failed, and he later met with the Bakrie group.

According to the source, a deal was struck, stipulating that
the festival be moved from the Senayan parking lot to the
Gelanggang Mahasiswa Soemantri Bodjonegoro, which is owned by the
Bakrie Group.

JakJazz in 1988 and 1991 took place in Ancol, North Jakarta,
and in the Senayan parking lot starting from 1993.

Bill Saragih, one of the country's best jazz performers, said
the late preparation for this year's festival was partly due to
the government's reluctance to give maximum support to the
festival.

"JakJazz has become our country's annual event. The Ministry
of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications should support it and put
it on the calender of tourism events. The ministry could promote
it through our embassies abroad," said Bill, who will perform at
this year's festival with his new big band, Jamz Matra.

But most local jazz musicians don't have a problem with the
late preparation.

"Jazz is in the first place improvisation. According to some
critics, who I agree with, jazz music can be best played when the
musicians come, gather and play, instead of making too much
preparation," Benny Likumahuwa, a local jazz musician, said at a
recent press conference.

Thirty six local jazz bands and seven foreign groups will
perform this year. The festival may have fewer jazz stars than
last year, but the organizers managed to bring in such big names
as Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe, American guitarist Mike
Stern and the Mezzoforte group from Iceland.

Sadao is indisputably a big name and a favorite of Indonesian
jazz lovers. Mike Stern once performed at the Blue Note club last
year, though few people turned out to see his amazing
performance. Mezzoforte has had a place in the hearts of
Indonesian jazz lovers from its performances at past festivals.
These three groups, who will play on the main stage, are expected
to be the big lure of this year festival.

This year's festival, according to Riza Atmadibrata, the head
of the organizing committee, cost between Rp 1 billion and Rp 1.2
billion.

The musicians will perform in several areas. Small groups will
play indoors, while the larger big bands will play open air. The
biggest stage is 18 by 12 square meters, with a 300,000-watt
lighting system and 80,000-watt sound system.

As for the weather, the organizers have hired a pawang hujan
(rain doctor) in an attempt to ensure good weather, according to
Deded R. Moeradz, a member of the organizing committee.

"But even if it rains, the visitors will still be able to
enjoy the music at the indoor stages," he said.

As with previous festivals, the organizers will set up a
bazaar where visitors can eat, drink and buy JakJazz mementos.
Fifty booths have been built, from which the organizers expect to
generate around Rp 50 million.

"This year is better than last year. If last year the bazaar
was designed with traditional art in mind, now the stands feature
techno art," said Moelyono. (siapa ini, perlu tanya ke JSK nanti)

Visitors will also be able to learn from local jazz musicians.
A special stage has been built in the middle of the bazaar where
visitors can brush up with Indra Lesmana, Gilang Ramadhan and Eet
Syahranie, using Roland keyboards, Pearl drums, Marshal ampli
guitars, Ampeq ampli basses and others.

This year's festival is expected to draw up to 20,000
visitors. Will it be able to draw big crowds despite the short
preparation time? We'll see this weekend.