Local pop crooner to tour the U.S.

JP/19/KATON

checked --JSR Local pop crooners to tour the U.S.

M. Taufiqurrahman The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Katon Bagaskara, a local singer who is known for his mesmerizing pop ballads such as Yogyakarta and Tak Bisa Ke Lain Hati (Can't Turn Away) is expected to stage concerts in the United States.

On invitation from U.S. music promoter Gxremedy, Katon will stage a five-date concert in three cities in the U.S. -- New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- whose pop music scene is notoriously known as hard to crack.

Backed by the Jamie Hunting Band, an outfit that once toured with heavy metal band Van Halen's former lead vocalist David Lee Roth, Katon will first perform at Union Square, San Francisco on Aug. 13 and the Independent club on Aug. 17 before making a two- night performance at the Los Angeles' Whiskey A-Go-Go, a famous music club on Sunset Boulevard.

Scores of rock legends such as the Doors, the Byrds and blues singer Janis Joplin have performed at the Whiskey A-Go-Go.

Wrapping up his U.S. tour, Katon is expected to stage a two- night show in the Big Apple at the Knitting Factory and a ballroom of a four-star hotel that is yet to be decided.

In the bilingual shows, Katon will perform songs he composed with his band Kla Project and some he will cull from his solo projects.

"I will perform at least five songs with lyrics that I have had translated into English. Among the songs that I will perform in English is Yogyakarta, which now has a new title, Yogyakarta Never Ends," Katon told a press briefing prior to his departure last week.

He said that the planned concerts were aimed at introducing Indonesia's pop culture to U.S. audiences, which thus far were familiar with the country only as an exotic land that was steeped in traditional culture.

The U.S. promoter will charge concertgoers US$30 for a single ticket.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, an institution that sponsored Katon's U.S. tour, said that although his music was in the realms of pop, it was tinged with the country's traditional music.

Interest for Katon in the U.S. rose after the singer, along with other performers such as classical pianist-cum-businessman Jaya Suprana and Acehnese dancer Melly Zamri, staged an impressive performance during their American tour late last year. The tour was also sponsored by the Ministry of Culture.

Katon and his band Kla Project was one of the country's major bands in the late 1980s. The three-man band sold millions of copies of their adult-oriented records such as Yogyakarta, Ungu, Romansa and the unplugged, Klakustik.

The band's appeal started to wane in the latter half of the 1990s with the emergence of a new crop of bands that brought a fresh and youthful sound to the pop scene.

The band reached its nadir after the departure of lead guitarist Lilo, who had for years used his guitar-playing skill to create the band's signature sound.

Earlier this year, Katon announced the new lineup of Kla Project, which has now assumed a new name, NuKla.

The band's latest release with a new lineup, New Chapter, fizzled without ever reaching the charts.