French reggae singer relays peace message
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As it is indisputable that many French people have long resented American cultural imperialism, it was hardly surprising that an artist they wanted to perform during the French Festival here is someone who plays reggae, a genre that champions human emancipation and above all, did not originate on American soil.
French reggae singer Sergent Garcia accomplished that very mission during a joyful concert staged by the French Cultural Center (CCF) on Thursday last week.
Garcia showed that a musical concert was not merely entertainment; he transformed the medium to transmit the message of love, camaraderie, peace and even revolution -- all ideals that have long been promoted by reggae purveyors, Bob Marley among them.
Playing in a reggae style he termed salsamuffin -- a mix of salsa, rumba, ragga, ska and Cuban-jazz -- Garcia gave a night to remember for concertgoers, even for those who were not well acquainted with the Jamaican-born musical genre.
The concert was also another testament that music knows no barriers, including language. Concertgoers ecstatically danced to the songs, regardless of their French and Spanish lyrics.
Garcia, who looked appeared joyful during the concert, gave instructions in English to the audience on how to up the ante. And if Terima Kasih Jakarta was considered proper Indonesian, the concert might have broken a new record as a single musical performance delivered in four languages.
"This song goes to people in Latin America, who fight for their rights," Gracia said, before delivering a spirited rendition of Que Palique, a standard reggae tune with a signature one-note guitar strummed accompaniment.
Que Palique was the first politically charged song performed before antiwar chants Stop Da War and Revolution, which contains a sampler from the Clash's Revolution Rock.
Technically, the concert had little to offer. Garcia's singing -- or rapping to be exact -- was backed by a sequencer and a live drum playing by Ivan Darroman Montoya, an energetic drummer who single-handedly executed the rhythm section.
But the music spoke for itself.
A bond between the performers and the audience transpired when Garcia and his three backup singers invited a handful of concertgoers -- including two photographers who later freely took pictures of them -- to climb on stage and dance to their songs.
Later, Garcia started a human chain that he led inside Balai Sarbini concert hall at The Plaza Semanggi, encircling those concertgoers who opted to stay in their seats.
After such a rapturous show, concertgoers refused to go home even after the music was over.
Garcia and his crew returned to the stage to deliver an encore that was almost equivalent to staging another show.
A Parisian of Spanish descent, Garcia is a household name in France and the Spanish-speaking world after releasing four albums, Viva El Sargento in 1997, Un Poquito Quema'O (1999), Sin Fronteras (2001) and La Semilla Escondida (2004).
Garcia was a member of punk band Ludwig Von 88 before he embraced reggae. He said that punk was a manifestation of "juvenile delinquency".
"It was just part of growing up," he said before the concert.