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RRREC Fest: Footprint of a generation
Ruangrupa, one of Jakarta’s art institutions, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a music festival, and several of the scheduled programs at the RRREC Fest were particularly poignant
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uangrupa, one of Jakarta’s art institutions, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a music festival, and several of the scheduled programs at the RRREC Fest were particularly poignant. The group aimed to revisit events from the past 10 years that served as a timeline for their organization.
More than a decade ago, in Bandung, West Java, four bands with different backgrounds joined together on a live recording project. They tried to document the presence of independent art movements in the city.
Called “4 Dischord Original Live Recording Harvest”, the project involved some first-rate underground bands from the city, Blind to See, Forgotten, Jeruji and the legendary Puppen.
They are all still around, except Puppen, which called it quits 10 years ago. Their work has turned into a historical document, written in golden ink, for the local Bandung scene.
They brought a mobile recording unit to the show, built inside a modified-Volkswagen bus. At that time, technology was not as accessible as it is today. The smallest error could ruin the track, and the bands had to repeat their sets in order to get proper recordings.
Fast forward to today, a bigger festival but the same motive — to document a generation — held in Jakarta. It’s called RRREC Festival.
“You are part of a documentation process that’s been happening these two days of the RRREC Festival,” emcee Oomleo said prior to the performance of Sir Dandy on the festival’s second day.
Apart from Sir Dandy’s messy but witty performance, other acts billed on the festival were White Shoes and The Couples Company (some of its members are active personnel of Ruangrupa), Efek Rumah Kaca, Hightime Rebellion, Frau, Kelelawar Malam, That’s Rockefeller, L’alphalpha, Ghaust, Mohd Jayzuan from Malaysia, The Upstairs, The Analog Girl from Singapore, The Milo and few others.
Credit must go to Sir Dandy, The Milo, Frau and new-comer Hightime Rebellion for their extraordinary performances.
There were two stages — indoor and outdoor — but only the indoor shows were recorded. The intimate atmosphere on the stage showcased why Ruangrupa was known for hosting festivals.
On Saturday, The Milo staged an able comeback for the Jakartan public. People were lined up to get in before the roadies even had their gear on stage. Their set was superb.
“It’s nice to be here. Tell people that we’re still around. Well, these dudes [Ruangrupa] have been friends of mine since the 1990s. They’re here and inviting us. We’re happy and proud to be a small part of their existence and consistency,” said Aji Gergaji, The Milo’s front-man.
“Keeping the same idealism for 10 years is not an easy thing. There is a process that needs to happen, in a good way. That’s Ruangrupa for me, they made it until now.”
The Milo’s long-awaited sophomore album is expected to be released sometime later this month.
While on the same day, on the outdoor stage, Jakarta’s next big thing, Hightime Rebellion, performed an astounding, no-nonsense set. With the singer staring at her shoes the whole time, audiences left impressed by her amazing vocals, reminiscent of Feist.
The Upstairs closed the night with a non-stop set, hitting more or less a dozen songs in a medley with no room to breath for their fans. It was crazy and wonderful all at once.
The second day was more of the same.
Sir Dandy’s show was a bit unusual. He brought out two additional players to fill in the gaps in his acoustic side. Their performances were messy – guitars out of tune and false tunes detected during the set, as usual – and a version of Mumford and Sons, the UK’s latest folk hero.
“You don’t regret it, right? Lining up and then spending some time to see my show?” a rhetorical question to the audience from Sir Dandy.
Frau, who played afterwards, was magnificent. The venue was so crowded that many fans were forced to listen from outside, but they enjoyed hearing the music, just the same.
Each band participated in the festival for different reasons, and not everyone was there promoting a new release. However, they were all there to illustrate just how colorful Jakarta’s music scene has been
for the last decade.
“Some bands have strong ties with Ruangrupa. For example The Upstairs, in their early days, made two videos with Ruangrupa’s facilities. Jimi, The Upstairs’ front-man, as an artist also spent some time in Ruangrupa’s space, working and sleeping there,” explained Henry Foundation, one of the festival’s curators. His partner was his wife, Nasta Sutardjo.
But then, the festival was just the start of something bigger which is an ongoing process for Ruangrupa.
Indra Ameng, co-director of “Decompression”, and a patron of RRREC Festival, said, “I don’t know yet what will actually be the output of these recording sessions. We just want to document what we have had during our 10 years of existence.”
Henry Foundation added, “We have a plan to make a record label, producing what we have recorded here. Mixed art and music has a special relationship. Hopefully we won’t face any significant problems in the future when doing this.”
Jakarta should be grateful that collectives like Ruangrupa exist and enrich our scene, and when all is said and done, expect some recordings to be released, just like what “4 Dischord Original Live Recording Harvest” did 10 years ago.
