JP/18/MOVE

checked -- JSR Jakarta Movement has no lack of diversity

Karen Stingemore The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

I arrived at the annual music festival, The Jakarta Movement at 4 p.m. last Saturday and thought I had hit a dud scene.

By 11 p.m. the popular annual festival at Ancol suddenly seemed to come alive, with hoards of young Indonesians moving their voguishley styled bodies to the musical beat of many different drums.

The festival catered for all tastes and included smooth easy- listening, "chill-out" sounds, funky, alternative New Age rock groups, rap and trance-like beats emanating from some of Indonesia's top DJs.

Indonesia's underground music scene is not short of talent with the likes of the homegrown band The Upstairs, a New Age rock group, pumping out a sound reminiscent of bands such as The Ramones and The Rolling Stones.

The band was a crowd pleaser, the lead singer unique to the core with his 1970s wide sunglasses, extra-tight, black-and-white striped pants, brightly colored accessories and "Mick Jagger" hairdo.

Devout fan of Indonesia's underground music scene Lina Zainal from Jakarta, said the crowd always looked forward to seeing what outfit the lead singer, Jimi Multhazam, would be wearing and her friends agreed with her that they were never disappointed.

"The lyrics are always sung in 'proper' Indonesian, with no slang, which is quite unique to this band, Lina said.

Jimi captivated the audience with his on-stage theatrics and could be likened to those of the 1970s punk rock legend, Iggy Pop: He danced, pranced, shimmied and shook; his energy was electric.

The guest band was a similarly alternative New York New Age rock group, The Bravery, whose style and sound was remarkably similar to The Upstairs.

The band won a good reception, although the evening was not without controversy, with some Upstairs fans boycotting The Bravery because their band said they were not permitted to play at the same time as The Bravery and therefore only played a short gig.

The crowd was disappointed when The Upstairs stopped playing, with only half rushing off to hear The Bravery.

The Upstairs had been playing gigs throughout the day and were late, so this contributed to the curtailment.

The smooth "jazzy" sounds of Tika, who has just released her first album, were appreciated by the crowd and the dancing began in earnest later in the evening when the group Goodnight Electric, which mixed songs with some occasional lyrics thrown in, hit the stage.

By all accounts this year's Jakarta Movement proved that Indonesia's underground music scene was alive and well and there was certainly no lack of diversity in its artists.

Picture caption: The Bravery was this year's guest band at the annual music festival, The Jakarta Movement.