After a month, our regular event Braga Jazz Night is ready to swing again. If last time we presented two tributes from Bossa Nova to Psychedelic Rock, this time we are back to the core of our mission, fully supporting talented young lions in pursuing the early stage of their career. We always love meeting them, finding out what they can offer, where in jazz they are rooting in and try to push them as far as we can, including providing them familiar playground to express themselves. We always believe that these young fellas can bring good entertainment, and we never doubt that each of them has something to offer. Supporting them by giving them chance to play will help them grow faster. They will gain experience through learning-by-doing process as they will have real audience in front of them. They will also have the chance to challenge their creativity in making up a concept and learn on how executing them the best way possible.
For the BRAGA JAZZ NIGHT #49 three bands are ready to roll. There is a young boy from the Indonesian Idol Junior to promote his new pop jazz single, a contemporary Sundanese ethnic fusion and a band of high skilled young guns coming all the way from the capital Jakarta. This 49th edition is coming soon on Thursday, 19 July 2018 located at the entrance of the only mall in the historical Braga street of Bandung, the Braga CityWalk, starting from 7:00 pm onwards. As always, it’s totally, absolutely FREE of any charge.
Now it’s time to take a closer look at the bands. First, let’s talk about a fourteen year-old boy: Akbar Herliansyah aka AKBAR IDOL JUNIOR. Akbar rose to fame last year when he did remarkably well as one of the finalists of Indonesian Idol Junior last year. He didn’t win, only reached the final 10, but this boy actually does have something that we believe can make him a successful career as an artist. If usually boys would struggle when their voice change during puberty, Akbar somehow is able to go along fine. Other than his strong singing voice, he is special in the way he attaches his feeling deeply into any song he sings. When we found out that he has been into jazz from the beginning but hadn’t gotten the chance to utilize it in the talent search competition, we quickly brought him into the scene.
We have featured him 4 months ago in the 45th edition. At that time he wowed us by showing how good he is a jazz singer. Being backed up with a good, solid band made him able to showcase his ability. Imagine, a fourteen year old boy who is going through voice transformation succeed in pinning Etta James’ “At Last”, for us that’s unbelievable.
Based on that first gig, we suggested him to make his own song in jazz, and just after a month he came up with his first-ever pop jazz single titled “Cinta Membuatku Bahagia” (“Love Makes Me Happy”). We love the song and have no doubt you will too. That’s why we invite him in again to promote the single and also check how he’s been doing after 4 months.
The same team for his band is projected to support him again. They are Reza Eka Putra (keyboard), Rommy Hendrawan (guitar), Yudi Aditia (bass) and Rivandi (drum).
Akbar might not win the Indonesian Idol Junior. But this handsome boy still has a great future ahead, and certainly jazz is a perfect habitat for him. We just love the fact that he is excited building his career upon jazz, and for that we will do whatever we can to support him. If you are among his 35.000++ followers on Instagram or you still don’t know him just yet, do come and see a star in the making.
For this edition we welcome a newborn band from Jakarta, consisting of talented boys who one day will lead Indonesia’s jazz scene. Meet Nicholas Dheo (bass), Ersandy Nasharizky (saxophone), Gearda Dewantara (guitar) and Oddy (drum), four players who have been dedicated their lives to jazz from the beginning of their career. The name of the band is LUCOV , which stands for LUCENT OBLIVION.
If you wonder why they use this ‘odd’ name, they have a philosophy and story behind it. According to Dheo, they share the same ‘frequence’ in principle. Despite of the current factual situation, they decide to keep on walking according to their principle and believe one day they will shine no matter how dark their road is. Ersandy added that the band was built upon differences ; the difference of style, culture, phrase, habit and circle. But they do share the same principle and goal. They keep strengthening one another, working in the support system in melodies, not only in music but also in life. Their music shows each of their character, but all still sound in the same frequency. We know each of their music style more or less, so it’s interesting to see what would come out from them when they play together.
While Ersandy and Gearda has been playing together many times since they met at the Farabi Music School in 2015 (including in the J/E/G Trio we have featured in the 40th edition), they met Dheo two years later when they needed a bassist for an event. Finding that they have chemistry, they play quite often ever since, including in Ersandy’s project the Moonlight Serenade.
“I and Gearda actually have quite a different principle than most of others, it’s a surprise for me to find out that Dheo is actually the same.” said Ersandy. As for the drummer Oddy, they met him in a place of their mentor, respected guitarist Tiyo Alibasjah. Oddy is the student of the legendary Karim Suweileh. They met, then played together in a jam sesion, that seems to be enough for them to recruit Oddy as the drummer.
If Dheo usually based himself in between bebop and swing, while Gearda and Ersandy go hard bopping, we are curious how their music will come out. From what we heard, funk will be among the toppings of their crafts. Based on our experience, bands like this could bring a surprise. These are talented young musicians. They have the skill and passion, they put their souls in jazz from the beginning, so we are excited to see what they are going to bring. LUCOV, Lucent Oblivion. Let’s walk together with them all the way until they find the shining light.
Jazz opens up endless possibility for creativity. That includes any musicians who have passion in exploring the magic of ethnic musics. We have invited many to bring in variety of ethnic jazz fusion, now we are happy to present a new one who won the Jazzphoria competition some months ago: SUJALI.
The name Sujali is shortened from Suara Jiwa Alam Indonesia (The Sound of Indonesia’s Nature Soul). The band was established in Bandung on 21 April 2016, exactly on Kartini’s day. At first the band consisted of 6 persons: Zahra Azizzah (vocal), Surya Ashari (violin), Adam Puspo Prasetyo (keyboard), Ivandi (guitar), Arya (bass) and Rully Adietya Anggara (drum). But as the time goes by, the band’s gone through some minor changes. Habibi Nauval Haqi is now on guitar, plus a new player Jemie Rizki on bamboo flute.
Concept-wise speaking, the band carries contemporary ethnic fusion. They told us that they like to call their music as Independent Music, meaning that they can freely explore their souls without concerning the genre. That makes their music appears in wide horizon. You can catch Latin, Rock, Gothic other than Jazz and Rock in their crafts. This is also made to accomodate the personnels who came from different backgrounds and characters. The combination of modern and traditional might be the simplest way to describe their concept, something that they hope can one day offer a different color in Indonesian music scene. So far they have made two original songs titled “Sujali” and “Tiang Rindu”.
Music is universal, no music no life. Music is beautiful. Music is an adventure. Music gives meaning in life. Music is for everyone. Music is art, and music is positive. That’s what music is for each of them. This could give a description of what they want to do in making music. So far Sujali has bagged many achievements in Bandung and national scale. On one hand they are breathing in the contemporary modern music, on the other hand they give contribution to traditional art and culture’s preservation. We always feel happy to meet this kind of band and hope this first landing will give benefit to them.
Once again the BRAGA JAZZ NIGHT #49 is coming soon on Thursday, 19 July 2018, located at the entrance of Braga CityWalk starting from 7:00 pm until the mall closes. If you still don’t know, the event is totally FREE of any charges. Do come and enjoy variety of jazz, and while being so, you have given your support towards our community and the musicians breathing inside.
BRAGA JAZZ NIGHT #49
Date: Thursday, 19 July 2018
Time: 07:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Braga CityWalk, Jl. Braga 99-101 Bandung
FREE EVENT!
Featuring:
:: LUCOV :: (JAKARTA)
Nicholas Dheo – bass
Ersandy Nasharizky – saxophone
Gearda Dewantara – guitar
Oddy – drum
:: AKBAR IDOL JR ::
Akbar Herliansyah – vocal
Reza Eka Putra – keyboard
Rommy Hendrawan – guitar
Yudi Aditia – bass
Rivandi – drum
:: SUJALI ::
Zahra Azizzah – vocal
Surya Ashari – violin
Adam Puspo Prasetyo – keyboard
Habibi Nauval Haqi – guitar
Arya – bass
Rully Adietya Anggara – drum
Jemie Rizki – bamboo flute