JAKARTA: Rock band Gigi launched Tuesday its fourth Ramadhan album, Jalan Kebenaran (Way of Truth), in time for the Islamic holy month.

The band said they didn't cover other people's songs for the new album and chose to write all the music themselves.

"We found the songs we covered on our previous albums did not suit our musical taste," the band's vocalist, Armand Maulana, said after the album-launching concert at Usmar Ismail Hall on Tuesday.

For their previous Ramadhan albums, Raihlah Kemenangan (Gain the Glory, 2004), Raihlah Kemenangan Repackage (2005) and Pintu Sorga (Heaven's Door, 2006), Gigi covered classic religious songs including those written by vocal group Bimbo.

The songs were composed and recorded by the band in two weeks, said Armand who wrote almost all of the songs' lyrics. Dewa Budjana, a Balinese-Hindu, arranged the song "Jalan Kebenaran".

"Budjana deserves the biggest praise for this album for he is the only non-Muslim in the band and he works as hard as when we were working on our regular albums," Armand said.

And for the first time, Gigi's latest album is sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. "This is quite rare, A band is usually sponsored by ... well, you know," he said referring to cigarette companies. -- JP/Ary Hermawan

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