Fancy-fingered Fariz FM flies back on stage in style
Fancy-fingered Fariz FM flies back on stage in style
By Achmad Nurhoeri
JAKARTA (JP): After trailing through the glittering forest of
artificial artists who seem to care more for fame and fortune
than for creating art ... puddling in the mud of foreign artists
who are mostly big on image and not on musical expertise ...
tripping the ropes of idealists who want to astonish more than
entertain, you could easily lose your appetite for the Indonesian
music scene, which is bigger than ever but no wiser.
But, wait, there was a slight ray of hope last Monday night at
Jakarta's cave of vanity, the Hard Rock Cafe.
One of Indonesia's long lost pop treasures made a comeback.
He is Fariz Roestam Moenaf alias Fariz RM.
He sings. He plays the keyboard. He writes songs. He knows the
notes like the back of his hand. He sports fancy language in his
lyrics.
Who is he?
His guru is the nation's sole classical music professor,
Charlotte Sukirno. His deities are Mozart, Bach and Indonesia's
music prophet Ismail Marzuki.
Before even receiving his ID card in 1976, he had entered the
music scene but left in 1992 bearing a grudge.
He is the treasure too-long buried.
No matter how long precious treasure is buried, no matter how
uncombed it is, or no matter how ill-treated it was, treasure is
treasure. When it shines again it will get the respect it
deserves.
The designer-dressed yuppie audience -- usually so snobbish,
so restrained with their applause -- swayed and stamped their
feet under Fariz's spell, humming the evergreen melodies.
A few even shouted out the 38-year-old musician's name and
songs.
True appreciation was in the air.
Fariz arrived late. He was due on at 10 p.m. but came 90
minutes later. And the audience didn't seem to mind.
The posh cafe became more and more crowded during the delay.
Not an explosion of people, just a constant flow.
There didn't seem to be any early departures.
"If it wasn't Fariz, I would have gone home to sleep. I have
liked Fariz for a long time," said Henny, a yuppie who works at a
securities firm.
"And I'm here with four friends who have also come to hear him
sing again," she said pointing to her late-twenties buddies.
The comeback
The charming virtuoso walked on stage at 30 minutes to
midnight and sat behind his main melody maker, a Roland keyboard.
He looked frail and wrinkled, and his ears were pierced.
Signifying maturity or frustration? Maybe both.
But he still has the 80s laddish look and the same old
friendly face, although it's a paler version.
Fariz, who has a reputation for band-hopping, was accompanied
by two youthful acolytes, Kusumawati (drums) and Dian (guitar).
Both were recruited from unfledged bands.
The show began with a medley of oldies Hasrat & Cinta (Desire
& Love) and Interlokal (Intercity Call).
His fingers moved fast on the keyboards, twitching the MIDI
buttons and unraveling his famous backgrounds, pumping out
melodies from a time when Indonesian pop music was at its best.
Melodious, full of improvisation but modest in deliverance,
his songs crumbled the walls of music's over-complicated genres
with pleasant lyrics.
The crowd clapped, cheered and smiled.
Fariz RM's magic is back.
"Thank you for coming. It's been a long time, hasn't it. Now,
let me take you on an exploration of my career," said the maestro
who first appeared, as a teenage drummer, on Badai Band's
legendary film soundtrack, Badai Pasti Berlalu (The Storm Will
Surely Pass) in 1976.
He sang oldies like Katarsis and Penari (Dancer) from 1986,
and had the audience in his palm with two love songs, the 1990
Antara Kita (Between Us) and then Nada Kasih (Affection Tune)
which was one his most popular duets with singer-poet Neno
Warisman.
"I have not sung these songs for years. I am very grateful you
all still remember them," said Fariz to the sing-along audience
that included mature ladies and satin-clad gentlemen.
Midway through the show, the audience began shouting for two
of the most celebrated hits of his 20 year career, Sakura and
Barcelona.
He sang them at the end.
Sakura is from his first solo album and the soundtrack of a
film with the same title.
Barcelona is an ebullient melody about a fling with a Spanish
maiden among the columns of Catalonia.
"Wow, I did not think it would turn out like this," said Fariz
after the show.
"I always believed that Indonesian people liked melodious
songs. Rap, alternative and other new music today are just
trends."
In his non-preforming years, Fariz kept himself busy as a
multimedia production consultant. His stages were deluxe meeting
rooms. His audience advertising dandies.
He also made 23 film soundtracks which sparked controversy as
most had themes exploiting sex and violence.
He also, recently, worked on the musical production of the
ballet Peter Pan.
"The climate then, I believe, was much worse than when I
started," he told The Jakarta Post.
"The music industry has become much more industrialized. It
seems, on the surface, that things are better. But the fact is,
they're not."
The urge to free himself from the shackles of the fiendish
music industry was the main reason he left the limelight in 1990.
"I was tired of the music industry."
He said he pitied young musicians these days who cannot be
themselves.
"Today's music is so monotonous. There are a lot of artists
but none of them have real character."
Monday's successful debut has made him composed about
finishing his long-awaited album and about his professional
comeback.
"Just wait until September, I will launch an album with ten
songs on it. I want to put the richness back into Indonesian
music," he said.
The title of the new album is Balada di Negeri Cinta (Ballads
in the Land of Love).
He admitted the real reason for his comeback was that there
was someone willing to produce his album without telling him what
to write.
"Music is the artist's creative process. I just want to play
my own creations ... my own music."
And Indonesia needs this kind of creativity from its artists.
Welcome back, Fariz.
... Pasti diriku kembali
Untuk cinta yang tertinggal ...
Di hari ku kan kembali
Kan ku ingatkan janji cintamu
(I will truly come back
for the love I left behind,
and on the day I return
I will remind you of
your promised love)