A Retrospective on Maliq & D'Essentials' 24-Year Musical Journey

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The band Maliq & D’Essentials is now celebrating 24 years of creating music in the Indonesian music industry. To mark this long journey, vocalist Angga Puradiredja recounted the origins of the band, known for its jazz, soul, funk, and pop musical style.

Angga said that when Maliq was formed in 2002, he and Widi Puradiredia already had a strong vision for the direction and concept of the music they wanted to create. From the beginning, the two of them were confident that Maliq’s music would be well-received by listeners.

“So, Widi and I, from the beginning, had a strong vision for how we would form this band. We had quite deep confidence that this band would ‘work’,” said Angga at a press conference for the Senja Teduh Pelita musical at the Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Wednesday (3/6/2026).

However, when it was first formed, many people thought that Maliq’s concept was unrealistic. However, this did not stop them, and they eventually managed to attract attention with the song “Untitled” (2005).

“We were quite confident at the time with the concept that we thought made sense for this band. Even though at that time many people thought Maliq was not feasible,” said Angga.

He also admitted that he never expected Maliq to be able to continue its career for 24 years. In fact, according to Angga, since its formation until now, internal conversations within Maliq have often been filled with questions about the sustainability of their work in the music industry.

“We often chat in our gossip sessions. And the question is always the same from day one until now, ‘Hey, this month our job is good, what about next month?’ That’s it. But thank God, for the past 24 years, our job has always been good,” said Angga jokingly.