UB40 pledges to promote reggae music

By Prapti Widinugraheni

JAKARTA (JP): I said we friendship come first, the band did come second ... so listen crowd of people and throw up unnu hands, if you love dem their style and you love dem pattern, reggae music can't refuse it, so give us what we want and mek we gwan ... (Reggae Music, UB40)

"Reggae is not a way of life. It is simply Jamaican pop music. About its connection with Rastafarianism? The Rastas just happened to be playing it."

This is how the world-famous UB40 reggae band feel about their line of music -- which may strike some people as odd, considering that all the band's members are British.

"Even Bob Marley played reggae long before he became Rasta," said drummer James Brown, followed by nods of approval from his fellow band-members: vocalists Ali Campbell and Astro, percussionist Norman Hassan, bass player Earl Falconer, saxophonist Brian Travers, lead guitarist Robin Campbell and keyboard player Mickey Virtue.

UB40 was formed in 1978 and played their first number at the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham, England.

The members had known each other since they were kids and chose the name "UB40" -- referring to their unemployed status and financial problems at the time -- for their band.

"We got together and since we all had a UB40 card, we thought, why don't we just use it for our band's name?" Robin Campbell recalled.

They have since performed more than 1,000 concerts world-wide, in New Zealand, Zimbabwe, London and several South American countries.

UB40, still playing with all the original members, has also played in apartheid-South Africa and proved to its public that a love for music goes beyond skin color.

"Our only mission is to promote reggae music. The rest, such as the fact that there are five whites, two blacks and one part- Arab in the group is accidental. The political message comes on its own," said James.

And they showed the public of Jakarta exactly what they meant by this during their two-day "UB40 A Medium Live Concert" last weekend.

Slow

Although the balcony of the Jakarta Convention center was only one-third full and the festival class in front of the stage was partially empty, the group -- although slow at the beginning -- successfully brought out the reggae in its Jakarta fans.

Because the first songs, Present Arms, Keep on Moving and Homely Girl were probably unfamiliar to the audience, the group had to put forth extra effort in the beginning to liven up the atmosphere. Ali Campbell, with his unique voice and dancing gestures, quickly captured the heart of front-row listeners.

But it wasn't until the third song, Promises and Lies, from their most recent platinum album with the same title, that the audience started to jig, guided by the trumpet and trombone of guest players Patrick and Henry Tenyue and Travers' saxophone.

Falconer, who rapped in Sorry and Reggae Music, brought the audience to their feet. By the time the group started to play the first notes of the popular song The way you do the things you do -- taken from the double-platinum album Labor of Love II which stayed on the charts for more than 47 weeks -- the audience was in full swing, moving their bodies to the fast beat of the music.

By then, the empty space in festival class became a blessing in disguise, providing sufficient room for the audience to reggae with zest.

Red red wine, their single which hit number 12 on the U.S. charts, C'est la vie and Can't help falling in love with you, which were on the soundtrack album for the film Sliver, as well as Kingston town, kept the audience alive.

After 21 non-stop songs, Here I am -- from the album Labor of Love II, which sold about 250,000 albums (plus about five million pirate copies) in Indonesia -- closed the 1.5-hour concert, leaving the audience worn out but satisfied.

"They were really good, although the audience was obviously tame at the beginning," said Jane, who originally comes from London. Tony, a New Zealander, who watched the show with her, said they didn't come because they specifically liked reggae music, but "because we've heard of UB40 and we know they're good."

Intan, 13, and her friends Ara, 13, and Brian, 14, who are still in junior high school, also admitted they did not come because they were reggae fanatics.

"We've been watching almost all the foreign performers playing here, such as Sting and Color Me Badd," Intan said. The price of the tickets -- Rp 75,000 (US$35) for festival class, where they sat, and Rp 250,000 ($116.27) for VIP -- were obviously no problem for them.

"Even if the tickets were Rp 100,000 ($46.51), we'd still be allowed to watch if we asked our parents," Brian said.

Jakarta has been hosting more and more foreign entertainers lately, a trend which does not show signs of subsiding.

Audiences have become more "professional" in their role of sincerely and spontaneously appreciating the performers. This can easily be detected in the smooth dialogue between the two.

Music-wise, it seems Jakarta will one day become as global as any other bustling metropolitan in the world. And reggae music in particular, with its roots way out in Jamaica, has now successfully penetrated into a part of the city.