Wali band camps with loyal fans

NOVA

JAKARTA: There are many things celebrities will do to keep their names on the fame radar and maintain the loyalty of their fans. Pop band Wali chose a down-to-earth one. Literally.

Kicking start the New Year, the band from the Central Java town of Blora held a three-day campout with fans at the Cibubur camping ground in East Jakarta.

“This is an idea we got from Para Wali [the band’s fans] in Bali,” said vocalist Faank as quoted by entertainment news portal kapanlagi.com on Monday.

Three hundred of the band’s fans joined the free program, bringing along relatives. It was a gesture that the band, popular for their song “Cari Jodoh” (looking for a mate), deemed necessary to show their fans the human side of celebrity-hood.

“We spent the night with them. If they get wet [from the rain], we get wet. We share the same bathrooms and facilities,” Faank said.

“It’s a way of showing them that we’re nothing without the fans.”

— JP