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Painting a good country image through jazz
International event: Java Jazz chairman Peter F
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span class="inline inline-left">International event: Java Jazz chairman Peter F. Gontha (second right) briefs journalists on the Java Jazz Festival on March 2. For years, the organizer has managed to present dozens of international musicians during the annual event. Antara/Yudhi MahatmaFor some people calling Indonesia a Mecca for jazz music might not be an overstatement.
Eki Puradiredja, program director of one of the biggest jazz festivals in Indonesia, the International Java Jazz Festival, said on closing night of the music event that a lot of local and international jazz musicians view Indonesia that way.
Various jazz festivals, including Java Jazz festival that ended last weekend, exceptional jazz musicians and a big following of jazz enthusiasts help make the country fit into that mold.
One of the men that contributed in developing a lively jazz scene in Indonesia is businessman and jazz aficionado Peter F. Gontha. Founder of Jakjazz and then Java Jazz festival, he has worked tirelessly in organizing local and international jazz events.
The reason behind his dedication is — beside his definite passion for jazz — his love for the country.
Java Jazz is Peter’s way to shape the image of Indonesia as a safe and peaceful country — with people who love music and can cater to international musicians’ needs.
Each year, Java Jazz has a positive tagline for Indonesia. In the first year of the festival, the organizers made the festival tagline “Bringing The World to Indonesia” — with James Brown and George Duke as the crowd drawers. Last year, when John Legend and Tony Braxton were the highlight of the festival, the organizers stamped “Jazzin’ Up Remarkable Indonesia” as the tagline. And this year’s tagline was “Harmony under one nation in remarkable Indonesia”.
“Indonesia should not forever be the audience. The world has to see Indonesia,” Peter said in a press conference prior to the Java Jazz Festival.
To jazz expert Denny Syakrie, Peter said in a 2008 interview, that he created the Java Jazz festival because he was upset with the world. “Because Indonesia was perceived as an extremist country, a hotbed for terrorirst, number one corrupt country, a country with a lot of debt, It’s the worse,” he said as quoted by denny.
The first java jazz was held in 2005. Indonesia has been on the news in years prior to that for stories on terrorist bombings.
He told Denny that he personally persuaded international jazz musicians to come to Indonesia. He invited the musicians to his house in Los Angeles and also set up a jazz festival in California called Temecula jazz Valley International Jazz Festival, in which he would tell the musicians there about Java Jazz.
This year, Peter during the press conference said that he has passed the baton on the festival organizing to his daughter Dewi Gontha. “Practically everything is now taken care of by her and the team,” he said.
The Java Jazz organizing team includes Dewi as president director, and Eki and Paul Dankmeyer as program directors.
The Java Jazz Festival has attracted many visitors and international musicians over the year. This year, around three months before the show starts, Peter said that 150,000 tickets had been sold. Eki said that looking at the crowd, he estimated around 45,000 to 65,000 people attended a day.
Due to the increasing number of visitors the organizers took the bold move to move the venue from downtown Senayan at the Jakarta Convention Center, to a bigger venue, further away, in Kemayoran, North Jakarta, at the JI Expo center.
Entering its seventh year, big local and international names of jazz and pop musicians have braced the Java Jazz stage. Incognito, Manhattan Transfer, Lee Ritenour, Roy Hargrove to John Legend, Tony Braxton and Jason Mraz are the eclectic mix of artists to lure both jazz enthusiasts and those who are merely curious about the genre.
This year, the organizers managed to get guitarist Santana to the stage. Peter said that he had been luring the Mexican-American to come to the festival since the festival’s first year. The guitarist gave a show worth waiting for. Jazz singer and guitarist George Benson was also an audience favorite this year with his everlasting hit single Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You mesmerizing the crowd.
Eki said that he was very pleased with this year’s Java Jazz event, especially the enthusiasm expressed by the audience weeks before the festival started.“When we see that sort of spirit, we work more enthusiastically as well,” he said.
Despite the continuous success of the festival, Eki said that there were still many things to improve.
“We have to conduct thorough evaluations each year to be able to make sure the next one is even better,” Eki said.
