Paying devout homage to The Ministry of Sound

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."