Rocking to Jesus at SOF Cafe
By Devi M. Asmarani
JAKARTA (JP): Imagine a smoke-free bar that doesn't serve any alcohol and stages live music performances that rock to Lord Jesus.
No, it is neither a health bar nor a church. It's SOF (Souls of Fire) Recording Cafe, located in the heart of Central Jakarta's Jl. Thamrin.
Here, instead of a mug of beer, you get a glass of Shakes the Soul, a mix of banana, vanilla, strawberry and mocha shakes. Instead of alcoholic cocktails you get their virgin versions which bear familiar names from the Old Testament: the Noah's Ark Colada, Holy Sling, Holy Temple and the house-recommended fruit punch Lion's Den.
But if you expect to find a bunch of religious zealots in their Sunday dress, you better take a detour to a nearby church.
On the night The Jakarta Post visited, a band called White Dove was playing a ska Jingle Bells. Its singer Jacqueline Losung is a self-confessed former junky who now devotes her time to gospel singing.
SOF's operation manager Hartono Prasetyo Wongsowijoyo, who prefers to be called Pras, is the person who is working hard to mold this new cafe into an image he thinks will meld business and spiritual concerns.
Balancing the worldly and nonearthly factors, he came up with the concept of a Christian bar that is not all that Christian, or a secular bar that is not quite secular.
One plus: you can bring your small children to this cafe without having to fear that they will be corrupted by the sight of drunken adults, and without having to breathe other people's obnoxious smoke like in other bars. In addition, you get to groove to the funky but heavenly music.
"We are characteristically gospel, but we don't want to give the place a churchy feeling," Pras said.
He has only one good reason: he does not want the bar to go out of business. Citing the previous cafe before SOF as a cautionary tale, Pras is determined to make his cafe last "longer than six months".
Before there was SOF, there was Alleluia Kafe, and before Alleluia Kafe there was the Jazz and Rock Cafe. Jazz and Rock Cafe, a purely "secular" cafe which was quite popular in the mid- 1990s, was officially converted on Nov. 1, 1998, into a spiritual cafe. It was later renamed the Alleluia cafe.
Several months later, Alleluia was bought by a Jakarta businessman who prefers to remain anonymous. SOF opened on Nov. 5. If Alleluia was designed solely to serve the Christian cause, SOF makes sure it does not.
"SOF is no charity, this is pure business. I was hired here as a professional, not as part of a religious service," Pras said.
At Pras' SOF, Christianity is the soul of the establishment, and this can be as subtle as the lyrics of the performing band's songs or the offerings on the drink's menu.
But Christianity should not be the reason to come, Pras said. He wants people to come for the music, for the food, for a great number of other things. That is why the place is not exclusively for Christians.
"People from all religions are welcome here. Aside from the lyrics of the songs we play, this is a cafe. We don't indoctrinate people," he said.
"Gospel is, after all, only one of music's many genres like jazz and rock," he said.
As for the food, SOF provides a combination of Japanese and Western dishes. Prices range from hot wings for Rp 12,500 (US$1.70) to pepper steak for Rp 42,500. It is more expensive than a modest Jakarta restaurant but definitely cheaper than most other cafes.
SOF currently stages live bands only on Friday (White Dove) and Saturday (Be the One). Pras said he plans to have dancing teachers in January to teach customers different kinds of dances as another incentive for people to come to his cafe.
Soon, SOF will also sell live taped performances at the cafe to customers, which is where the name "recording cafe" is derived.
The cafe, located on the eighth floor of Menara Thamrin, is open from 11 am to 11 p.m on week nights. On weekends it closes at midnight. True to the bible, it only opens from 11 am to 3 pm on Sundays.