Musicians rejoice at return of jazz festival

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The prayers of Indonesian jazz musicians for a major scale musical event has finally been answered with the return of an international jazz festival in the capital, after a very long absence of such an event.

Scores of jazz musicians have warmly welcomed the first international Java Jazz, slated for between March 4 and March 6, that will feature big names from the jazz scene such as George Duke, Earth Wind & Fire, Incognito, Tania Maria and the `Godfather of Soul' James Brown, as well as dozens of bands and musicians from the Indonesian jazz scene.

Piano player Riza Arshad said that the planned festival would breathe new life into the local jazz scene, which in past years has suffered from a lack of noteworthy musical events.

"We are glad about this festival. We have longed for this kind of festival and finally it materializes in the midst of our country's myriad problems and uncertainty," he said.

Riza, along with his fusion band Simak Dialog, is expected to perform on the first day of the festival.

"I am hopeful that this festival will run year after year," Riza added.

Drummer Gilang Ramadhan, the country's equivalent of session drum player Hal Blaine, said that the festival indicates that there were still people in the country who cared about jazz music and worked hard to realize their passion.

"We are very enthusiastic about the festival. However, I prefer to just be a performer on stage, because I can imagine how difficult it must be to organize a festival of this scale," Gilang said.

Bassist Bintang Indrianto concurred with Gilang, saying that it must have been an uphill struggle for the organizers to bring the jazz festival to life.

"I have nothing to say but 'thank you' for the festival," said Bintang, who will be performing at the festival with renown puppeteer Sudjiwo Tedjo, chronicling the development of jazz in Indonesia.

Despite repeated warnings against traveling to Indonesia, twenty two international musicians have confirmed their participation at the Java Jazz festival, along with over 80 performers from the local jazz scene, making it the largest jazz music festival ever to be staged here.

Dozens of stages will be used simultaneously, erected inside the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

The last time the country had a noteworthy annual jazz festival was in 1997, when Jakjazz was staged for the last time, just prior to the severe financial crisis that hit the country hard.

Aside from the rather inferior Jazz Goes to Campus (JGTC), the longest-running jazz event in the country, local jazz musicians have few avenues to display and develop their musicianship. This has resulted in a perception among the general public that jazz was the preserve of a limited group of people.

The mastermind behind Java Jazz, jazz aficionado Peter F. Gontha, said that he could foresee the event being staged routinely on an annual basis, with another festival of similar scale being planned for 2006.

"I can assure you that Java Jazz will be an annual festival that will be around a long time," he said.