Jazz fever ends with much fanfare
JAKARTA (JP): Starting today, life will return to normal again for jazz gourmets in Jakarta. No more after midnight sleeps and, for those spectators who spent the last four days at the Jakarta jazz festival 'A Mild Jak Jazz 1994', no need to listen to American Phil Perry singing David Forster's The best of me.
"I hope to find something new and fresh, but during these four days Phil Perry always sang the same repertoire. His second song was always The best of me. It is boring," said a spectator who refused to give his name.
Despite that, he admitted that the festival was a good place for hanging out.
A girl friend of his added that some other musicians who played at Jak Jazz' 94 at Senayan, Jakarta, had also presented the same repertoire for days.
"I even remember the order of their repertoires and I can repeat what they said to the audience. Japan's Casiopea, for example, always saluted in Indonesian Selamat malam, kami Casiopea dari Tokyo (good evening, we are Casiopea from Tokyo)," she said and giggled.
Protests over tickets for students were also launched.
"It is amazing that the organizers offer special prices for students, but they don't sell it here. We can get the special price if only we buy tickets at our universities or schools. It is not practical at all," said Antonia, a student from the faculty of letters at the University of Indonesia.
The organizers said that they sold specially priced student tickets only for the "Student Sunday Jazz" program, held yesterday morning from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. as an extension program of the festival.
The "Student Sunday Jazz" was attended by around 1,000 people and featured student bands from Jakarta and Bandung, including Jakarta's SMA 3, IKIP (Teachers' Training and Education Institute), Trisakti and Pancasila Universities, and Bandung's Parahyangan University and ITB (Bandung's Institute of Technology).
Rain marked the last day of Jak Jazz yesterday. There was no explanation for the drizzle although Ireng Maulana, executive director of the organizing committee, clearly acknowledged the failure of the pawang hujan (or shaman) to prevent the rain.
But, since most Indonesians consider rain to be a sign of good luck, the rain which dropped at the opening and closing day of the festival should be taken as well as good fortune. At least, jazz fanatics were not driven away. Their willingness to watch performances last night under umbrellas or to wear rain coats signaled that Indonesians, Jakartans especially, have started to appreciate the music.
Lita, of the organizing committee, told The Jakarta Post that the accumulated number of people visiting the four-day festival was around 15,000.
The appreciative audience seemed to maximize the last night of the festival by asking some groups to not stop performing. The encores forced many groups to wait before going on, a first at Jak Jazz due to the tight scheduling.(als)