Young talent: A growing number of talented young musicians are emerging on the Indonesian jazz scene, such as Nikita Dompas and his fellow musicians, who played recently at the Java Jazz festival.JP/Prodita SabariniPianist Sri Hanuraga’s fingers danced frenetically on the piano keys, releasing a fast wave of tunes to match the low plucking of Caka Priambudi’s bass and the beat of Sandy Winarta’s drums.
Behind the piano, guitarist Robert Mulya Raharjo listened to his friends playing, before adding his touch to a playful jazz tune.
The four young men played as the Sandy Winarta Quartet at the Java Jazz festival last weekend. As their act was one of the most awaited shows for jazz connoisseurs at the Java Jazz, senior jazz musicians Indra Lesmana and festival director Eki Puradiredja were also among the audience. Aga, as the pianist is popularly called, received the Indonesian Young Talent award from Java Jazz organizers.
The Java Jazz festival has earned a reputation for introducing international and local jazz musicians, as well as artists from other musical genres, to music aficionados here. In recent years, more and more young faces have not only share stages with senior jazz musicians but taken the spotlight themselves.
In fact, Indonesia has seen a good number of young musicians making a name for themselves in the jazz genre. Fifteen years ago, the only artists who sprang to mind when people were asked to name jazz musicians were pianist maestro Bubi Chen, Idang Rasyidi or Indra Lesmana. Nowadays a new batch of young and talented jazz musicians are gaining prominence. They share the stage with senior musicians and create their own jazz projects as well.
Nikita Dompas, Sandy Winarta, David Manuhutu, Doni Sundjoyo, Indra Perkasa and Sri Hanuraga are just a few of the many young musicians now establishing themselves in the Indonesian jazz scene.
Eki puradiredja, the program director for the Java Jazz festival, said Indonesian jazz was at its peak right now.
“There are so many extraordinarily talented musicians playing international-standard jazz,” he said after Sandy Winarta quartet finished playing.
Eki recalled seeing pianist Aga for the first time a couple of years back. At that time, Aga was still learning from Indra Lesmana. Now, Aga is completing his studies in the Netherlands.
“I remember Indra told me when Aga was about to leave for the Netherlands that he had taught Aga everything he knew,” he said.
“The progress [in Indonesian jazz music] is so huge and it really makes us proud,” he said.
Masmo, the keyboard player of avant-garde jazz group Notturno, echoed that comment. Masmo said the quality of young jazz musicians in Indonesia had dramatically improved. The jazz music scene in Indonesia has diversified as well, in terms of age groups and sub-genres.
When Notturno’s bassist Joshua Arifin resigned from Notturno, Masmo and drummer Cakhen were at a loss to find a replacement at first. But there are so many exceptional ly talented musicians still in schools, he said. Masmo visited Pelita Harapan Music Conservatorium and found 20-year-old Kevin Yosua, who has now joined the group as Notturno’s bass player.
According to Masmo, not only has the number of young musicians in Indonesia’s current jazz scene increased, but the sub-genre of jazz itself here has branched out into many directions.
“It’s so rich and diverse now,” he said. “Once, when people thought of jazz, they would picture Idang Rasyidi again and again. Now we know about so many different artists and sub genres,” he said.
Jazz festivals are catching on not only in Jakarta, but across Indonesia.
“There’s Ambon jazz festival, Makassar jazz festival, and another one in Yogyakarta,” Massmo said, adding that jazz gigs in cafés and pubs were alive and kicking.
While jazz is still marginalized on the radio, the genre has found numerous outlets on the Internet, such as wartajazz and jazzuality.com which offer comprehensive coverage of Indonesian jazz music.
“This also helps the jazz music scene to grow,” he said.
One can find any type of jazz in Indonesia from swing, bop, funk, classical to experimental. The jazz music scene is also very open. It is common for one jazz musician to have three or four music projects going on at the same time with different people and groups.
And this time, the generational gap is narrowing, according to jazz guitarists Nikita Dompas.
Jazz musicians in their 20s and early 30s are involved in recording projects with senior jazz musicians as well as working on their own project.
Bali-origin drummer Sandy Winarta, 29, said he has at least four music projects on the go. These don’t include his teaching at the Institut Sekolah Musik Daya and giving drum lessons online.
As well as having his own quartet, Sandy is also part of trio LLW (Lesmana Likumahuwa Winarta), with Indra Lesmana and Barry Likumahua.
The same goes for Nikita Dompas, who belongs to funky jazz band Souleh and Soulehah with singer and saxophonist Indra Azis bassist
J. Mono and drummer Rayendra Sunito. He is also in Tomorrow People Ensemble with Indra Perkasa, Adra Karim and Zulham Syah.
Music education seems to be the key to this emergence of young talented jazz musicians. Sandy studied at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney, Indra Perkasa did a master’s degree at UCLA, and Sri Hanuraga is currently studying in the Netherlands.
Many first started at Farabi music school owned by musician Dwiki Darmawan. That was how Nikita first got into jazz music. At Farabi, he learned from jazz guitarist Oele Patiselano. He then enrolled with the Institut Musik Daya (IMD) founded by Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah.
The established crew: Musician Bubi Chen plays the keyboard at the Jakarta Jazz festival this year.JP/Wendra AjistyatamaThe school has produced graduates with a strong philosophy in music.
“I learned about the conceptual side of music with bu Devi,” Nikita said. “We have a clear philosophy on what jazz is.”
Another lesson he learned was to never stop learning, Nikita went on.
“She taught us that knowledge is everything and that we should never stop looking for it.”
While many view the emergence of young Indonesian jazz musicians with high hopes, Sandy is more cautious. He acknowledged there were many exceptional musicians in Indonesia.
“However, the problem with Indonesians is they are easily satisfied. People with great talent usually learn things quickly and easily,” he said.
“Young people have the tendency to only show off their skills, but musicians should not stop there.”
“I hope they don’t just stop there. They have to dig deeper,” he said, adding that great talent combined with discipline and a drive to continue to increase musical knowledge would result in “something really crazy”.
