World number two DJ Sasha dazzles Jakarta at Stadium

World number two DJ Sasha dazzles Jakarta at Stadium

Joseph Mangga, Contributor, Jakarta

It was 2.30 a.m. and the crowd was getting very restless at
Stadium. They had already heard DJ Deny from Bandung, who opened
the show at 10 p.m., followed by Ministry of Sound DJ Jan Carbon,
who bombarded the hall with melodic swoops of spacey tribal
grooves for nearly three hours.

But Sasha, the star attraction who was originally billed to
start at 1 a.m., was nowhere in sight.

Sasha is the famed British DJ who's been ranked second in the
world by DJ Magazine for the last two years. He won the Best DJ
award at the 2001 MUZIK Magazine Dance Awards. He also produced
remixes for top popular artists, including the Chemical Brothers
and the Pet Shop Boys, not to mention his staggering rendition of
Madonna's megahit Ray of Light.

Sasha is known as the man who has produced numerous critically
acclaimed remix collections, both for Global Underground, and in
collaboration with his close friend and fellow DJ magician, John
Digweed.

Yes, Jakarta's clubbers were full of high expectations,
especially since Sasha had supposedly once promised to play
Indonesia back in 2001.

Unfortunately, those plans were scuttled following a car
accident that left the DJ with a perforated left eardrum. But the
spin-master finally made good on that promise on Dec. 27, or did
he?

For everyone at Stadium was asking the same question, "Where's
Sasha?"

The black T-shirt clad Indika Radio staff shifted nervously in
the club's fourth floor foyer, as newly arriving clubbers mistook
DJ Carbon for the belated superstar. The circulating rumor was
that he had arrived from Singapore extremely tired and partied-
out, and was still recharging his batteries at the Borobudur
Hotel.

Although Carbon was giving his best, the fans were getting
very edgy as they tweaked open their third bottle of
Kratingdaeng. Just as the dreaded words "no-show" were crossing a
few people's minds, a procession of security and black shirts
muscled their way to the DJ booth with a skinny-looking dude
lugging a couple of hefty record crates.

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Sasha has entered the building!"

Wearing what looked like an eagle-winged Harley-Davidson T-
shirt, the master cued up his first record and the crowd
responded handsomely!

Finally, there he was -- one of the greatest and most revered
DJs to ever spin the planet -- performing live in Jakarta. By the
time Sasha, dubbed a man whose sonic collages are so
extraordinarily emotional and spiritually uplifting that Mixmag
Magazine once bequeathed on him the saintly title of son of God,
settled into his sixth track, a second wave of uncertainty
gradually swept across the room.

The music was good, quite good, but just a little too noisy,
harsh and bashing. The bass was also distorting, the treble was a
bit tinny and the themes were all a bit atonal and dark.

What was going on? Could this be all the great Sasha -- the
reputed king of cosmic flow -- has under his belt? Have we all
been hoodwinked by media hype into believing this man to be
something more? After a very unimpressive first hour, I was not
the only one beginning to look about despairingly and mutter, "Is
that all there is?"

Then suddenly, as if somebody had flicked a switch, a deep
rich synthesized track with a warm soothing melody washed over
the auditorium with awesome clarity. The mood instantly
transformed, as magical swirls of lush, multicolored sound swept
everyone into mindless bliss.

Sasha, the sly old dog, had been playing possum the entire
first hour. It appears he intentionally pulled the crowd down
from a cloud of overexpectation with lackluster tracks and
mixing, before unleashing the full whack of his musical genius
and very best vinyl.

What followed over the next two and a half hours can only be
described as pure DJ-ing artistry -- smooth, roller-coastering
sonic waves of emotion that unfurled and orchestrated the feeling
of everyone into one huge collective soul. He covered all the
musical bases, masterfully blending tracks of progressive trance,
house and breakbeat, as well as a few teasing tidbits from
Airdrawndagger, his recent down-tempo album of all original
material.

If you've never heard him in person, it's hard to explain how
Sasha's emotive DJ-ing skills are just a notch above most other
top DJs.

By the time dawn was slowly breaking in Jakarta, any doubts
about Sasha's purported greatness were fully put to rest. As he
played his last track -- a blasting remix of Underworld's Rez --
he raised an LP high over his head and was greeted by a sea of
enormous smiles.

After the set, Sasha was having so much fun hanging with the
Jakarta crew that he managed to miss his mid-morning flight to
Kuala Lumpur. He was able to catch a later flight, but he left a
huge chunk of his heart right here in Indonesia.

I think the odds are very good that we'll all get a chance to
hear his very special magic again next year.