Indra Lesmana, Gilang Ramadhan release first duet album

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): After working together for almost 13 years on an abundance of projects, noted jazz keyboard master and singer Indra Lesmana and singer, drummer, composer and percussionist Gilang Ramadhan released their first duo album last week.

The nine-song album consists of seven pop songs and two Indonesian-flavored instrumentals, of which Indra and Gilang each composed one.

"Playing together as a duo for the first time ever is designed to further neaten the differences of our music styles, tastes and arrangements," Indra, the son of the country's jazz guru, the late Jack Lesmana, told a press conference at the Hollywood Cafe last Friday.

Both Indra and Gilang are members of jazz bands and have released solo albums. They are comrades in the music trio PIG Band, which also includes Pra. B. Dharma. Indra and Gilang are also members of Krakatau Band.

"So, this is our first experience at being a duo," said Gilang, a son of one of Indonesia's noted authors, Ramadhan K.H.

Thanks to their respective talents, and supported by backing vocals, all seven songs on the album sound rather more impressive and easy to understand for Indonesian music lovers than their previous jazz songs, which are said by many to be too complicated and difficult to enjoy.

However, their jazz fans might welcome the album with sad faces because they could see the album as a boring collection of songs slightly similar in tunes, lyrics and themes.

Take the themes, for instance. All but one of the seven songs are about love, mostly love-related despair.

The titles reveal the same thing. They are Selamat Tinggal (Goodbye), Satukanlah (Reunite Us), Lupa Diri (Insane), Masih Ada (Still There), Damai (Peace), Usai (It's Over), Celia, Bersatu Kembali (Reunited) and Impian Khatulistiwa (Equator Dream). Damai and Impian Khatulistiwa are instrumentals.

Feeling

When asked about the album, Indra replied: "We create songs based on our feelings, not based on the market demand."

The songs are about bitter events as well as the sad stories of our friends that we saw and heard last year, he said.

Part of the lyrics of Selamat Tinggal, which was named by Indra and Gilang as their most-favorite song on their newly released album, is as follows:

Seringkali bertanya saat bahagia hadir; akankah ada akhir; akankah 'tuk selamanya (Questions often appear when happiness comes, will there be an end, will it be forever).

Even though the album is mostly about love, the songs are filled with the seductive roar of Indra's keyboard and piano and the breathtaking beats of Gilang's drums.

Of the seven songs, Satukanlah could probably satisfy Indra and Gilang faithful fans because their old styles are mixed into this song.

Some of the songs are sung by both Indra and Gilang, while others are sung by one of them, with the other acting as backing vocalist.

Apart from Selamat Tinggal, which has guitarist Donny Suhendra sitting in, the instruments are all played by Indra and Gilang.

They have also invited Indra's wife, Sophia Latjuba, and singer Anang as backing vocalists for Selamat Tinggal, Usai, and Satukanlah.

Four of the seven songs are joint compositions, two are by Indra and one is by Gilang.

The album was recorded by Kama Records and is distributed by PT RIS Music Wijaya International.