AB Three thrills teen crowd in concert at Fashion Cafe
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): They are young, beautiful, energetic and entertaining. They are AB Three, one of Indonesia's most talented groups.
The three young women once again proved they are among the country's best entertainers in a concert at Fashion Cafe last week. The internationally-renowned group's stunning vocals and dance confirmed their professionalism and bright future.
The concert attracted hundreds of fans, mostly teenage girls with pocket cameras in hand and parents behind them. Sometimes they joined the trio by singing along exuberantly. They applauded loudly, screamed and then went into rhapsodies with the intro and ending of each song.
The teenyboppers flocked around the catwalk and dazzled the charming trio with myriads of camera flashes.
In pink short dresses, neck scarves and white heels, Lucy Rachmawati (Uchy), Riafinola Sari (Nola) and Widi Mulia kicked off their show with their first hit from their debut album Cintailah Aku (Love Me).
Basking under strikingly colorful spotlights, the three rising stars sang the hit's lyrics in turn or together while moving in splendid harmony on the stage. Accompanied by recorded music, their sweet voices echoed among the fans' sentiments in the dim- light hall.
As if under command, the crowd fell silent before softly singing the refrain with the three cute singers:
Cintailah aku, setulus hatimu, kasih. Jangan kau biarkan cinta kita, berlalu begitu saja, hanya karena emosi dihatimu.
(Love me tenderly, sweetheart. Don't ever let our love perish just like that only because of the emotion in your heart)
As the hit neared its end, screams thundered from the crowd on the cafe's balcony. The rest of the audience immediately followed suit with euphoria. A long, loud applause escorted the cute trio as they set up the song's ending, while the teenage fans' camera flashes showered them.
The trio raised the roof with their best works picked up from their two albums: Cintailah Aku released in 1995 and Kerinduanku (My Longing, 1996), which covered pop and soft-rock songs such as Get Into The Heat, I Want You, Andaikan Saja (If) and Suaramu (Your Voice). They mixed them with popular legendary hits such as the Beatles' Yesterday and the Bee Gees' How Deep is Your Love.
The crowd became boisterous when the trio sang Suaramu with their slim bodies undulating up and down and hands winding gently like eagles flapping their wings high over the sky. The throng of juvenile guests packed around the catwalk couldn't stop their hysteria. With hands covering their faces, the fans screamed with ecstasy. What a view!
Begging
When Uchy tried to say farewell and invite the audience to welcome the cafe's home band, the crowd grunted and shouted: Lagi.. Lagi... Lagi... (more).
The trio gave the crowd one more song before waving goodbye and going back stage.
The MC, Dado from Prambors Rasisonia radio station came on the stage and announced that the cafe's band would entertain the audience. While he spoke of the band's abilities, the crowd began a rowdy chorus: AB Three... AB Three ....
A spotlight suddenly lit up a circular stage near the entrance. The crowd turned to watch the spot, thinking they would see the cafe's band which they believed boring. But the three cute singers came out to strut their stuff again before the enchanted crowd, who fell silent for seconds before bursting into screams of joy.
AB Three opened the second session after a five-minute break with a hit off their second album, Kerinduanku.
The song is so popular that the crowd followed the trio word for word throughout. Widi, the youngest of the trio, even handed her cordless microphone to a girl near the stage who sang the words perfectly.
Despite paying Rp 35,000 each for standing room or Rp 80,000 for a seat compared to Rp 20,000 on ordinary nights, the crowd seemed happy with the concert.
Sparkling stars
The trio began to shine in 1993 after they had each become weekly champions on Asia Bagus! A television show broadcasted in Singapore. The three stars have recorded a series of triumphs in many overseas festivals since 1994, including Rumania's STAG Festival, Finland's Midnight Song Festival and the Eastern Europe music festival. A load of local awards are already in their cabinets.
Credit for their success goes partly to their professional management team, which comprises big Indonesian showbiz names such as Chris Pattikawa, chaperone-manager Maryati, songwriter Youngki Suwarno, English translator Tengku Malinda, choreographer Willie Puah and costume designer Samuel Wattimena.
Pattikawa, who runs Antero Bagus, the Asia Bagus! network in Indonesia, got the three talented ladies together in 1994 and named them AB (Antero Bagus) Three.
In their 45-minute concert, Uchy, Nola and Widi exploited all their vocal and dancing talent while presenting 12 songs, which differed little from their recorded work.
The concert would have been perfect, except that it began one and a half hours late and the Fashion Cafe demanded that the audience buy its merchandise, with a 10-percent discount, before they could get an autograph off AB Three.
The trio ended their show with their song We Are One, a message to their fans that they face a challenging future.
We are one, in facing the future, challenges and promise awaits us.