Fiddler of souls turns Jakarta crowd into instant fans
Fiddler of souls turns Jakarta crowd into instant fans
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Amp Fiddler is awesome.
Nearly no one in Jakarta had heard of him before the Java Jazz
Festival, but this guy drew an ever-growing crowd to dance and
sing along to his jazzy funk, urban soul tunes -- not to mention
the screams of adoration that erupted as he punched his keyboard
passionately.
A number of performers -- even some bigger and more popular
names -- at the festival on Friday did not get a call for an
encore. But this Detroit-born musician did. And it was a
heartfelt encore.
"I'm a soul singer. What I bring is my soul. I give my soul to
the audience," he said in a pre-show interview on the first day
of the jazz fest.
Well, this might sound a little melodramatic, but he proved it
during his one-and-a-half-hour show at the Jakarta Convention
Center.
Fiddler's passionate music lit some fire in everybody's soul.
Even some nerdy guys in baggy pants, passe shirt and retro
glasses couldn't resist the funk seeping into their bones as they
danced energetically.
He even taught the audience the lyrics to Soul Divine: You are
so divine, I love you/your vibration touches my soul.
"I love the audience here. The appreciation was beautiful," he
said afterward.
The modest Fiddler, born Joseph Fiddler, has been a session
musician for 20 years for music-industry heavies like George
Clinton, the P-Funk All-stars, Jamiroquai, Prince, the Brand New
Heavies, Seal and Maxwell.
Early last year, he recorded his first solo album, the
critically acclaimed Waltz of a Ghetto Fly, under UK label
Genuine.
"This is a presentation of sophisticated, modern sounds for
grown-ups. Many artists could list soul, funk, jazz, hip hop and
R 'n' B as influences, but few could put such a personal and
individual stamp on their sound. There's a definite 70s vibe --
think Stevie, Sly and Shuggie -- but the music always transcends
pastiche," BBC reviewer Katie Blackwell wrote on www.bbc.co.uk.
Critical reviews of his album could not help but hear the
sound of 1970s funk group Sly and the Family Stone in Fiddler's
music.
In fact, Fiddler said recently he was still listening to Sly
and the Family Stone in addition to "a friend of mine, Van Hunt".
However, his album is not available in Jakarta stores.
So if you are a real soul lover, tell your friends who are
traveling abroad to pick up a Fiddler CD for you.