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span class="inline inline-left">Pool party: Sayfestville’s featured a hodgepodge of activities poolside at Senayan.A movie night, a concert, a pool party, a DJ and even a theatrical show.

Though it sounds like tons of fun, it might be too much to enjoyably fit on one plate.

Sayfestville, or the L.A. Menthol Lights Sayfestville Jakarta International Music & Arts Festival, was held last Friday and Saturday and described itself as a “bold cultural celebration”. Indeed, it took several daring steps with the hodgepodge of featured activities.

The choice of venue might have been another surprise. While some concerts or artistic events select buildings such as Istora Senayan or Tennis Indoor Senayan out of the venues available at the Senayan sports complex in Jakarta, Sayfestville was held at the Senayan swimming stadium poolside and at the open area outside the building.

Ticket prices for the festival, which attracted around 10,000 visitors during its two days, ranged from Rp 325,000 (US$35) for a daily pass to a special Rp 200,000 price for students.

Friday’s schedule included the folk-pop singer Colbie Caillat, famed for sweet-tuned hits such as “Bubbly”, “I Do” and “Lucky”, which she performed with singer Jason Mraz. DJ duo Bhokero & Dey from Sound Syndicated in
collaboration with singer Bubu also performed.

At around 7:15 p.m., DJ Maliki was already spinning tracks on the “Jazz Under the Stars” stage, which was separated from the audience by an Olympic-sized pool.

A sparse number of people watched the DJ set as the situation at the other stage located outside the stadium, labeled the “Urban Picnic Cinema & Open Air Theater” came to life.

A screen played clips from the upcoming thriller Modus Anomali, directed by noted writer and director Joko Anwar, while the audience sat on a faux grass carpet decorated with artificial vines.

There was a question and answer session with Joko and movie producer Sheila Timothy, with one audience member, for example, asking Sheila what address she uses to receive movie scripts.

Stars and Rabbit, an indie-folk duo from Yogyakarta, took over the set after the Modus Anomali preview.

Playing a soulful, energetic set, Elda Suryani, who won a reality TV show competition six years ago to front the rock band eVo, and Adi Widodo performed their short yet gripping songs “Worth It” and “Like it Here”.

The poolside stage at around the same time featured composer, singer and saxophonist Indra Aziz, who treated the increasing number of audience members to mostly covers, such as soul artist D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar”, as well as his own composition “Jakarta City Blues”.

Indra, also known for training several famous voices in Indonesia, performed several numbers, including “Bebas” by Indonesian rapper Iwa-K, using a beat boxing technique and a looping machine.

“When we first arrived at the venue we were very surprised … and during the sound check the sound bounced a bit due to [the venue] being empty, but when it filled up, it improved greatly. In fact, due to the distance, and especially because of the water between, we were really relaxed when playing,” Indra said.

After Stars & Rabbit, the “Urban Picnic Cinema & Open Air Theater” stage played a few indie films for the crowd.

Singer Caillat, slated to play the poolside “Jazz Under the Stars” stage at 9:45 p.m., promised Jakarta a show sans dancers but with good musicians. Her performance was indeed devoid of elaborate costumes, stage gimmicks and dancers, but the audience apparently enjoyed the laid back show, mainly powered by her songs and steady performance.

Kicking off with “Fallin’ for You”, the California-born singer serenaded the crowd and many times told them the stories behind each song, as well as displaying reciprocal affection for her guitarist Justin Young.

She explained, for example, that “Shadow” was a story about a friend whose lover in the song didn’t treat her right, and that “All of You” was about how she wants a relationship both partners a couple can accept each other completely.

After an encore, Caillat ended the show with “Bubbly”, her debut single that played a large part in propelling her to fame.

The DJ: Andezzz performs a set during Sayfestville’s opening party last weekend at Senayan, Jakarta.Most eventgoers flocked early to the poolside stage. Thus, the other stage, reserved for dance-friendly, folk-soul group Bonita & The Hus Band, had a sparse crowd although there actually was enough time to dance to a few of their songs before Caillat’s set began, about 15 minutes later than the scheduled time.

One exceptional eventgoer, however, said she specifically came to see Bonita and not Caillat. Going home after Bonita’s set was finished without going near the poolside stage, Dwi said she thought the stage arrangements and schedule had room for improvement.

“I think it’s not fair,” she said of the clashing schedule between Bonita and Caillat.

“If they are going to have one stage for music, just make one stage over there exclusively for music. If Bonita’s set is to be limited to five songs, then just place [Bonita] there, scheduled before Colbie,” Dwi said.

After Caillat’s set, Bhokero & Dey and Bubu took over to play an energetic set of pop-dance tunes, but the crowd had thinned out, and only one or two actually partook in the “pool party” theme by jumping into the water.

The crowd was apparently more interested in watching a series of horror movies such as the bloody Dara and Taksi playing at the other stage, fitting with the festival’s Friday the 13th date.

However, it might have been that, like one of those watching the films said, they were not aware that there was another show scheduled after Caillat and thought the music from inside was only recordings.

Sayfestville’s second day also started out lonely at first, with the poolside stage only beginning to warm up when pop jazz band The Groove began playing. The other stage, meanwhile, was graced by Cornel’s Jazz and Poetry.

Although playing a very short set of only five songs at most, Cornel’s Jazz and Poetry, whose members include actress Cornelia Agatha, delivered a show that caught the crowd’s eye, with Cornelia reciting and singing lines from poetry such as “Kuharap” by Irwan Dwi Kustanto, fitting with the band’s jazz music.

As with the first day, short films were featured in between the bands. Saturday’s lineup of flicks included short films from the ASE Institute and movies made by young directors.

Among the films scheduled were Dulu Banci and Cenayang Cinta, as well as a number of animated short films that were entries from a competition held earlier.

Gita Cinta The Musical was the next performance after Cornel’s Jazz and Poetry. The show featured highlights from the musical, which was first played in 2010.

Executive Producer Maera A. Panigoro said the experience of playing Gita Cinta on an open air stage was a new and challenging one. “Each venue has its own positives and negatives. There are plenty of needed improvements … especially for the sound system,” she said.

According to her, the amount of people using walkie-talkies disturbed the frequencies of the headsets used for the play. Nevertheless, she said it was “fun” show.

The Jazzanova DJ Set by Alex Barck, which began roughly when Gita Cinta ended, was still a rather lonely one, contrasted with the scale of the venue, which included stadium-style spectator seats as well as the poolside area.

Jazzanova itself is a long-running club collective of six. Originating in Berlin, it has a reputation in the jazz-dance scene.

The poolside area began to warm up markedly during DJ Rasmus Faber, who collaborated with Swedish/Scottish singer and songwriter Emily McEwan, producing chilled house beats combined with McEwan’s powerful yet controlled vocals, as displayed in the number “Ever After”.

Groovy: Jazz-pop group The Groove takes the stage during the second day of Sayfestville at the Senayan swimming stadium in Jakarta.The scene during Faber and McEwan’s set lived up much more to the “pool party” theme than the previous night, with more people in the water — swimming, dipping their toes or resting on floats, or just dancing near the pool. The crowd began to thin at around 1 a.m.

Sayfestville’s choice of venue proved to be a pleasant surprise. The generous size of the pool along with the lighting and the view of the city made for a unique atmosphere. However, the multiple stages and highly varied activities might call for extra care in schedule and promotion efforts, or even trimming the jumble of those variants.

The size, and, at times, darkness of the Senayan sports complex might also be a reminder to event organizers and the management of the venue to put extra care to secure not only the main event’s location but also at least one of the routes to the complex’s exit gate, especially for the sake of those without cars.