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.