JakJazz's second night draws larger crowds

JAKARTA (JP): After a slow opening, the second night of the 1997 JakJazz festival showed more fervency yesterday as fans packed the Soemantri Brodjonegoro youth center in Kuningan, South Jakarta, to enjoy a variety of lively performances, albeit not all jazz music.

The three stages set up at the youth center were mostly standing room only as local acts faired well against their foreign counterparts.

The Indonesian group Dua Warna, led by keyboard player Aminoto Kosim and traditional music maestro Djaduk Ferianto, jazzed up ethnic tunes like Sen Ken Ken (How Are You?) blending traditional elements with modern sultry fusion sounds.

Around 500 people quickly got into the mood as they clapped along. The band featured a solid rhythm section dominated by the strong playing of percussionist Uce and Djaduk along with bassist Indro.

Traditional gamelan was prevalent in songs like Jazz Liquid, and sense-stealing drumbeats were a feature in Kuah Ethnika.

The group also took a successful stab at juicing up the Mission Impossible theme song from the famous film and television series.

With bongos and the sounds of a toy gun and cans being incorporated, the song marked a satisfying conclusion to the band's five-song set.

Djaduk said they initially had trouble trying to fuse traditionalism with jazzy tunes since there was no standardized rhythm to ethnic music.

Judging from their audience's reaction, Dua Warna seemed to have succeeded in their symphonic unison.

Another local act worthy of mention was guitarist Dewa Budjana, who appeared without his regular group Gigi.

The 34-year-old fronted his own three-piece band, playing self-written tunes distinct from the pop-rock melodies of Gigi.

Soundsystem problems continued to plague several stages irking performers and audiences.

Scheduling problems also continued to be frustrating as changes continued in the festival's performance timetable.

Guitarist and chief organizer Ireng Maulana did not give reason for these changes saying only that "it was unexpected and we apologize for the inconvenience".

Dutch group Total Touch, which was originally scheduled to play at around 10 p.m., was moved up to 8 p.m.

Motored by the creative talents of brother and sister team Tjeerd and Trintje Oosterhuis, the nine-member group performed to an appreciative audience.

The crowd got a joyful dose of Trintje's powerful vocal chords as she belted out the group's hits which included Give Me One More.

She showed the over 1,000 at the main stadium why she was chosen to sing at the opening of the Ajax football club's new superdome stadium in Amsterdam which was also attended by Dutch Queen Beatrix.

A rather unknown act, the Elmhurst College Band from the United States, took their audience by surprise. Their light melodies were warmly greeted by their listeners.

As the night went on, people continued to pile into the youth center.

By around 10 p.m. it was hard to enter the arenas where well- known artists like saxophonist Dave Koz and British fusion band Incognito were performing.

Incognito's appearance at midnight must have come as a relief to organizers as they had to already cancel two earlier performances due to reported immigration problems.

Festival organizer Ireng Maulana would not reveal why the group's earlier performances had to be delayed. He neither confirmed nor denied reports that immigration problems were the cause.

JakJazz's mediocre opening night Friday paled in comparison to last night's scene which saw much larger audiences enjoying lively performances.

The fact that it was a Saturday night may have helped in the heavy turnout which created a traffic jam around the Kuningan area.

Several scalpers were seen around the festival entrance. They were selling tickets for Rp 60,000 (US$18.4) -- Rp 10,000 higher than the regular price.

A girl who bought her ticket from a scalper said she simply did not want to wait in the long line for tickets, not because tickets were sold out. (02/ste/mds)