After a month of fasting, our Moslem brothers and sisters finally comes to the glorious day. We wish them all Happy Eid, but we wish to send our love in our own fashion, the jazz way. We dedicated the previous episode for a special Ramadhan Edition, so this time we decide to go back to our mission, introducing the variety of jazz to the society, supporting the young talents and bringing in some interesting tributes. We believe this can also be taken as a celebration for those who have fought hard against all desires during the holy month of Ramadhan.
As we are getting closer to the third week of June, we are ready to run the BRAGA JAZZ NIGHT #48. For this edition we have prepared something special, different than before. We will still welcome a young talent in a hope to help them grow and gain experience, but this time there will also be tributes. Not one, but two, from a totally different genre. We will talk more about these acts, but first of all, let us tell you when this edition will come. The Braga Jazz Night #48 is coming next week on Thursday, 21 June 2018 at the main entrance of Braga CityWalk Bandung starting from 7:00 pm all the way until the mall ends its service. Just like the previous editions, this event is totally FREE of any charge.
Now let’s get down to business, shall we? Let’s start with talking about a legendary classic Los Angeles-based psychedelic rock from the late 60’s led by a charismatic singer Jim Morrison. Eventhough the band was active only for 8 years (from 1965 to 1973), the band made a big impact in music history even until today. The band has sold over 100 million records worldwide, received 8 consecutive gold and platinum LP’s. It’s none other than THE DOORS.
It was built upon four pillars: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. This band was considered unique since they didn’t have a bassist; instead they relied on Mazarek’s left hand on Fender Rhodes during live performances. That actually made them sounded differently than any other rock bands in that era. True, Jim Morrison’s iconic figure and voice, the way he sang poems instead of lyrics were phenomenal. But let’s not forget that Ray Manzarek’s jazz-influenced touch also made The Doors has their own distinct sound. Look at the long piano solo by Manzarek on one of their most popular songs, “Light My Fire” for example, which goes on for more than 2 minutes. The improvisation, the dynamic and progressions, all are the magic essence that we usually find in jazz, only this time amazinglyn printed in rockin’ frame. Another example is of course their song “Queen Of The Highway” which is clearly built within jazz.
That’s not a surprise though, if you look at Manzarek’s background. In an interview he told that he was operating in an area that combines rock and jazz. He also admitted that he always liked jazz and also learned the Southside Chicago Blues. He still digged jazz post-Morrison’s Doors until he sadly passed away in 2013. This background actually contributed in shaping the strong unique sound of The Doors.
Although there have been some jazz(y) reinterpretation of The Doors, Ray’s jazzy organ exploration is still rarely mentioned. We have been wanting to expose this part of The Doors for so long but we haven’t found the right band to do so, not until we finally met THE HEDGEHOG. This band consists of 4 young but lethal musicians who have a different jazz horizon. Rinomulat Sembhada (drum), Mikhael Martin (guitar), Leo Hansen (bass) and Ditra Prasista (keys) gave birth to the band to accomodate their wish to have an avant funk band like John Scofield’s Überjam Band, MMW (Medeski Martin and Wood) also the famous old school funk band Lettuce.
We had them in this event back in October 2017 and found out that this band has a different touch and approach, which we believe would be perfect to uncover the jazzy side of The Doors. Ditra sits calm behind the keyboard, but he always gives wild and bold playing like Manzarek. And when he’s using the organ sound, he got even closer to Manzarek’s spirit. Rino’s drumming is a dope, solid and round. Mikhael gives a provocating jazz, rock and blues sound, while Leo is an essential bassist that glues them all. We challenged them to play The Doors and they accepted it gladly. We have planned it since last October, but for some reasons we couldn’t do it until we finally got them in this 48th edition.
We don’t know if they will infuse their avant-funk sound into this tribute or they come up with something else, but we do know they are capable to surprise us. THE HEDGEHOG PLAYS THE DOORS. It’s going to be interesting, don’t miss it.
You must be familiar with “The Girl from Ipanema”, “Agua de Beber”, “Dindi”, “Desafinado” and “One Note Samba”. We have listened to so many versions of them as they have been covered by hundreds of artists from one era to another. These are just a few of many everlasting songs written by a Brazilian music legend, a songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, singer who revolutionized the festive rhythms of Samba into an cool, intimate, soothing, breezing and exotic music known as he Bossa Nova. This man also internationalized Bossa Nova which took the world by storm during the 60’s and still considered to be one of the best-known Brazilian music genres abroad today. From Elvis Presley to Ella Fitzerald, from Freddie Mercury to George Michael to Frank Sinatra, they all affected by bossa, and these are just some of so many other artists who have been influenced throughout generations. He is none other than ANTÔNIO CARLOS JOBIM.
Whenever one talk about bossa nova, his name has to be mentioned. No wonder, since as mentioned above, he is one of the great exponents of Brazilian music, also one of the most innovative musicians of the 20th century. His song “Chega de Saudade” was sung by João Gilberto is widely recognized as the first bossa nova single. This new music he played was based in samba rhythms, but got subtle harmonic shadings drawn from jazz. His creative contributions to jazz is massive, as many of his songs are considered to become jazz standards. He once said that he was a beach boy who learned from the birds of the Brazilian forest. In US he continued fusing bossa nova with sophisticated harmonic progressions of cool jazz which made his bossa nova tune became more and more acceptable including in the jazz world. It’s just hard to imagine how the music world would be without Tom Jobim.
For this event, we asked bassist JOE BASTIAN and his band, JOE PROJECT to embrace bossa. He did it really well some years ago accompanying now-retired singer Billy Likumahuwa, surprisingly using guitar. From that single performance, we could see that not only he is an ellegant guitar player, he is good in bossa too. Later on when he established his project, he rarely plays bossa anymore. After 3 years without bossa, we thought it’s going to be the time for him to go towards that direction once again.
Surprisingly, he brings a special featuring artist, a young teenage girl with amazing jazz guitar skill, the daughter of maestro Pra Budidharma: NAYRA DHARMA. This girl rose fast like a comet, as she hatched not long after she decided to focus in music. If showing tremendous skill and fine technique is already great, she sings too while playing guitar with all its complexity like Joe Pass. Yes, she can swing and bop fluently, she can play many jazz standards, yes she is currently preparing her album and digs ethnic jazz by having Sundanese kendang instead of drum, but from what we see, she sparks magic whenever she sings bossa, especially when this girl who has a ball phyton as her favorite pet sings the song in Portuguese. You should listen and see yourself.
We don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but for us, Joe decision to invite Nayra to play with is an excellent idea. “I’ve been wanting to play with her for so long. So when I was offered to play bossa, I just went inviting her, luckily she gladly took my invitation.” said Joe to us.
Joe will bring some other compatriotes. We are still waiting for the names of his team, for now just take it as JOE PROJECT ft NAYRA DHARMA SINGS JOBIM. This is going to be their first-ever collaboration, they are going to have it with bossa, and we are glad it is happening on our playground. You like bossa, you are a fans of Jobim, you are curious to see how good the young musicians in Bandung do bossa? If you have any of these in your mind, this one is a catch.
From time to time we bring in newcomers who we believe has potential and something special to offer. Often we found them in their early age, then we give them chance to gain experience in a hope to see them grow fast. In this edition we welcome a 12 year-old girl with a unique singing voice to have her debut on this event. Her full name is Fatima Favel Fauziah, but she prefers to go with just FAVEL FATIMA. This little girl was born in January 2006 and just finished her elementary school.
We started hearing her name recommended by some friends several months ago and found out that she sings some jazz standards in her Youtube channel such as “Smile”, “Summertime”, “Cry Me A River” and “Fly Me To The Moon”. As already mentioned, this girl has a unique voice, more mature than her age. Not only she can sing, she has a good control too while singing.
Just a couple of months ago she met a young guitarist Luqmanul Hakim by chance. They clicked and then established a duo right after. They have played together several times like at Ruang Putih and last April in Afternoon Tea, an event commemorating the Asia-Africa Conference (KAA). Luqmanul Hakim is no stranger to us. He already helped us with photography some years ago when he was still 9 year-old, which is no surprise since he’s the son of fine certified photographer Mia Damayanti. But then since two years ago he showed interest in music. He learned from HARDI SURYANA, a senior jazz guitarist in Bandung, also a geologist. They have performed in the 37th edition last year in July under the name of Luqmanul Hakim & Sang Guru.
We meant to bring in this duo, unfortunately Luqmanul couldn’t make it due to his school activity. Luckily Hardi stepped up the plate, agreed to assist Favel. If Hardi has already had his own duo with Putri Rahel Sihombing (Ael/Hardi), now he is going to have a new and much younger talented girl to support. We believe having a fine mentor like Hardi will give huge benefit to Favel’s career. They will perform as FAVEL/HARDI.
Once again, the Braga Jazz Night #48 is coming soon on Thursday, 21 June 2018, starting at 7:00 pm onwards at the entrance of Braga CityWalk. This event is totally FREE of any charge. This edition has a really wide diversity, ranging from traditional swing, bossa nova to psychedelic jazz-rock/avant funk. Two tributes from two far different genres to big names that shapes the music history but came from the same era and one debut of a young girl and her new mentor will make this episode interesting. Do come and join us!
BRAGA JAZZ NIGHT #48
Date: Thursday, 24 May 2018
Time: 07:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Braga CityWalk, Jl. Braga 99-101 , Bandung
FREE EVENT!
FEATURING:
:: THE HEDGEHOG PLAYS THE DOORS ::
Rinomulat Sembhada – drum
Mikhael Martin – guitar
Ditra Prasista – keys
Leo Hansen – bass
:: JOE PROJECT ft NAYRA DHARMA SINGS JOBIM ::
Joe Bastian – bass
Nayra Dharma – guitar/vocal
tba
:: FAVEL/HARDI ::
Favel Fatima – vocal
Hardi Suryana – guitar