Reggae band Rasta Fara proves many love 'roots reggae'

By Sonya Sandham and Emilie Sueur

JAKARTA (JP): If you want to give your parents sleepless nights and gray hair, tell them that you plan to pursue a career in music.

For most young hopefuls it may be the shortest gig of their lives as the music industry is incredibly competitive and unforgiving.

We have all heard the so-called overnight success stories, but lets take a glimpse at how things really work in the Indonesian music scene. Our specimen: a Jakarta-based reggae band called Rasta Fara.

From their dreadlocked hair to their Rasta attire, these musicians ooze Jamaica. Their antics on stage while reading requests, their professional sound and extensive repertoire makes being among the audience a real treat.

Rasta Fara's music seeps into your veins -- making it impossible for you to remain seated -- and many people end up dancing until the final song when they scream for satu lagi (one more). But one more is never enough.

Throughout the world, reggae is synonymous with the legendary Bob Marley but Rasta Fara has high hopes of leaving its own mark on the popular Jamaican sound.

The band comprises five self-taught musicians -- heralding from Java, Sumatra, Irian Jaya and Sulawesi -- who were drawn together in 1993 after earlier efforts to break into the reggae music scene here.

All were driven by a common love for reggae and a desire to live from their music. The resulting line up: Tony Kiu, 31, composer, guitar player and singer; Roy Putuhena, 28, bass; Iye, 40, percussion; Yus Panigoro, 27, keyboard; and Felix Siahaan, 36, drums.

Even in its formative years the band stuck to its guns and insisted on playing "roots reggae" in the Indonesian language at a time when music producers did not believe the music would sell.

They incorporated traditional instruments, such as sitar, into their songs because local percussions blend well with the Jamaican music.

"Some producers don't have the courage to take risks," Tony Kiu said. "But we were committed to music and we knew that someday a producer would trust in us."

Their lucky break came in 1995 when they recorded their first album, which was followed less than two years later with their latest cassette, released this June. Before the two-and-a-half year contract with their producer expires mid next year, the band hopes to release their third album.

Spearheading Rasta Fara's popularity, perhaps, is the fact it was the first Indonesian reggae band to release a cassette here.

Their albums Rambut Gimbal (Dreadlock Hair) and Gu Falling in Love (I'm falling in Love) demonstrated the band's commitment to creating an Indonesian-style reggae.

"Indonesians are still Bob Marley-minded and UB40-minded, they're not Rasta Fara-minded yet," Tony said.

"Maybe one day we can become famous in Indonesia like Bob Marley and the Walers."

Rasta Fara's reggae version of the well-known song Cinta, penned by Anang and sung with his wife Kris Dayanti, helped catapult the band into the limelight.

Challenge

Despite the band's initial reluctance to include the song on their latest album, they now see it as a test of their worth.

"We were forced to question why UB40 played an Elvis song or a Bono and Cher song," he said. "So for us it was a challenge to prove that the members of Rasta Fara were really reggae musicians."

But, maybe the key to their growing success lies above all in their commitment to music and their strong will to penetrate the tough skin of the music industry.

"We believe that if we struggle, we will have success one day," Tony said. "The music industry is like a stairway and we must start from the bottom."

The musicians see themselves standing on a rung, somewhere in the middle of the staircase with their dreams of going international temporarily on hold as they search for a promoter.

"Success has no limits because we want to play professionally and live from our music," Tony said.

The band's manager, Ian Hutabarat, put their monetary success into perspective for The Jakarta Post.

"The measure of success for Rasta Fara is when everybody knows them and when everybody wants them to play," he said, adding that demand was "just enough" at present.

Talking about the band is the 28-year-old's job, whether he is in a taxi or a bus shelter, meeting adults or children, on TV or speaking on radio. So naturally he shares their big picture aspirations.

"Rasta Fara deserves to be number one ... and some day if Rasta Fara stops playing reggae, people will still remember them," he said.

High expectations, perhaps, but when you are swimming with sharks no one else will support you if you do not believe in yourself, right?

Now, the band plays three times a week at local venues -- with Grace Violeta and Dewi Budhiyanto on vocals -- and they seem to be having such a good time on stage that you wonder how tough their job really is.

Getting a foot in the door of the music industry, requires, above all else, talent, according to the manager of one popular Jakarta pub.

Chandra Ileas from Classic Rock speaks fondly of Rasta Fara and its members, who he has watched "growing up" on the pub's stage over the last two years.

When he hired Rasta Fara, he wanted the pub to be a showroom for the band and Saturday nights have since become an opportunity for customers to enjoy the band's music.

"You don't have to know anybody here or anybody (in the music industry) to get a job here," he said. "If you're good, you're on."

Thanks to their public presence, Rasta Fara seems to have engendered the creation of an informal fan club.

Dedy Fadilah, the restaurant manager at Pasir Putih in Kemang, where the band performs every Wednesday night, says there had been a demand from his customers for reggae music. Rasta Fara was an obvious choice because he knew they had a "real reggae sound" and Jamaican-style vocals, he said.

Rasta Fara has been a draw card for the bar since they started playing there one year ago, he said.

The management upped Rasta Fara's nightly wages three months ago to keep up with the band's popularity, adding that the band kept drawing in more and more customers.

But just because Rasta Fara has achieved a level of stardom does not mean that all up-and-coming bands will find it that easy.

Dedy said 10 groups a week contact Pasir Putih in the hope that they will score a job. A frightening number and enough to deter the faint-hearted.

But, Dedy said, more and more cafes are opening their doors to live music and the demand for bands to fill new niches is about on par.