Rain dampens spirits of JakJazz fans

JAKARTA (JP): Rain on the first two days of the three-day Jakarta International Jazz Festival kept the crowds away and left an audience of only true aficionados.

There was only about 5,000 visitors on the first two nights and fewer people turned up for the closing performance last night as dark clouds gathered ominously overhead.

The festival, dubbed A Mild JakJazz, was first held in 1988. This year's was the sixth. Past festivals had each attracted about 20,000 visitors.

Chief organizer Anton Sutiyanto said future festivals might be rescheduled to a more suitable time.

Last night's performance ended after midnight with a mass jam session.

Seven foreign jazz bands and 36 local groups took part in the music fiesta. The foreigners were Sadao Watanabe, Mike Stern, Mezzoforte, Eric Marienthal, Itslyf, Inside Out and Los Caballeros. The locals included Ireng Maulana, Bill Saragih, Buby Chen, Embong Rahardjo, Kiboud Maulana and Indra Lesmana.

Visitors to the festival generally appreciated the Gelanggang Mahasiswa (Youth Center) Sumantri Brodjonegoro in Kuningan, South Jakarta, as a better venue than the previous ones at the Senayan parking lot, South Jakarta, and Ancol recreation center, North Jakarta.

Another visitor, Didiet, criticized the fact that some local jazz musicians dominated the festival by playing in different groups.

"The main attraction of JakJazz is undeniably foreign groups," he said, "since the organizer had a limited budget, they should have invited second class jazz musicians from abroad who would not have charged as much as the highly acclaimed ones."

Second class foreign jazz musicians are still more attractive in general than local artists, he added.

For the first time in JakJazz' history, campus bands were allowed to take part in this year's festival. About eight student bands got the chance to entertain the public during the three-day fiesta. (02/jsk)