Paying devout homage to The Ministry of Sound

By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): The congregation had eagerly awaited his appearance for hours. At 1 a.m., the 6,000-strong assembly of teenagers and college students stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting for the high priest of rave music to come to his altar.

Music was loud and spirits high in a night full of energy at Bengkel Nightpark, South Jakarta, last weekend.

A past-midnight meeting of a zealous multilevel marketing company, or a mass rally of the Moonies in the heart of Jakarta?

Hardly. The clamor in the crowd was all in anticipation of Jazzy M, alias Michael Connolly, of The Ministry of Sound.

His nickname alone cues that Jazzy M is not a preacher from a typical Sunday morning house of worship.

The Ministry is the London club which was the premier pulpit for house music; Jazzy, as one of its disc jockeys, serves as a preacher. His turn on this night was for Pall Mall Bubbles Party, a promotional event organized by the cigarette company.

A genre of music popular among youth all over the world, house music grew out of illicit parties in European and American secluded suburban warehouses, hence the name.

Since its conception nine years ago, house music has developed into various subgenres, including rave. Indonesian cassette stores feature the unique local dangdut and ethnic music done to a house beat.

Responsible for pioneering house into an established and institutionalized industry, The Ministry of Sound is solidly identified with the development of rave.

"The Ministry became the home of house. It is where house music was started and developed: from the underground joints, unregistered radio stations to a respectable club. More commercial establishments started to follow," Jazzy said.

Located in Southeast London, the club is still going strong after eight years, a notable feat when most nightclubs last four years at the most before the patrons slow to a trickle.

Ingenious publicity stunts have been one of the factors keeping the Ministry preaching to the club masses.

On its fifth anniversary, the Ministry projected a beamed message onto Buckingham Palace reading: "The Ministry of Sound lasts longer than the royal marriage".

"The royals were not thrilled," admitted Cynthia Batchelor, a Ministry tour coordinator.

But the public was so enchanted by the music's spell that the Ministry created its own category in the entertainment industry.

It currently has seven companies in publishing, radio, promotion, events, recording, merchandise and new media entertainment. Ninety fulltime workers can be found at the Ministry's corporate office during the day, while another 50 work in the club at night. The publishing company heads a mainstream magazine on hip trends on the clubbing scene, and the radio franchises rave music programs throughout the Britain.

Through its new media entertainment company, the Ministry brought the club into the virtual world and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. With its motto "24 hours on the Web, turn-on, tune-in, turn it up...", the whole image of Ministry of Sound -- minus the harassment of the picky doormen -- is presented to clubgoers beyond London.

The Ministry's web site (http://www.ministryofsound.com), replete with the expected techno-style touch, presents the club's event calendar, music samples, merchandise gallery and even live music from the club. By using "Real Audio", an audio/visual plug- in program for Web browsers, the club music is heard with the plus of volume control.

It would not be the Ministry of Sound, however, without offbeat delights. On a screen called Beauty Spot, there is a direct linkup to ... the women's restroom in the club.

"We already warned the ladies with a 'smile, the whole world is watching you' sign beneath the camera," said Batchelor. Nevertheless, some of the more daring women's room visitors are not shy of providing pleasure to all the Peeping Toms around the world.

Although stopping short of franchising the club, the Ministry of Sound arranges yearly tours to clubs around the world.

"In 1996 we made 10 events, of which eight were held in Wembley Stadium. With such success, (we decide) why not bring the whole experience abroad?" said Batchelor.

The Ministry started touring in 1997 to exotic destinations of South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Japan and China. DJs from the Ministry visited Indonesia in September last year.

To bring the whole Ministry of Sound experience across the continents, the entourage numbers two disc jockeys, a video jockey, dancers, managers, lighting crews and sound crews.

Batchelor, 28, one of the Ministry's four tour coordinators, said she traveled twice a month throughout the year. Bringing music to different cultures and exotic places has proved an interesting experience in the past four years for Batchelor.

During a trip to Egypt, she found an all-male crew and a host who would barely listen to her. Prior to the show night, she noticed she had not seen any women wearing revealing clothes.

"Yet the party was full of women wearing skimpy clothes, even I had more clothes on than some of them," she laughed.

Of course, being the first club featuring house music has its perks, but when asked what contributes to the club's world success, Batchelor's answer was closer to a Fortune 500 executive's answer.

"We give the people a good time, but we are known for our quality control."

After each show, the Ministry's crew has a checklist to be filled out. They also ask opinions of everyone involved in the show, including the bartender and doormen.

The London club's doormen hold their own place in its history. When James Palumbo founded the club, the doormen were known to be dealing drugs. Through strenuous efforts, Palumbo succeeded in replacing the crew and tried to make the club drug-free.

Palumbo considered drugs were like a cancer which would inevitably lead to other crimes.

Claiming that British parliament members came to the club prior to making their antidrug bill, Batchelor vouched another reason why drugs and dance do not mix.

"It is unnecessary to take drugs; if you can enjoy music without drugs, then you really have got the essence of the music."

The Bengkel crowd seemed to have embraced the music, even if a few of them did not seem to be religiously following the drug- free stance. Preaching to the converted from behind his turntables, Jazzy elevated the crowd's mood, slowly luring it to keep on moving until the wee hours.

From his 20 years of experience, Jazzy understands his followers well.

"Asians are very excitable, they are really willing to learn," he said. "Besides, I like to tease them with my music."