Rayi Putera: loving family dinners

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JP/NurhayatiMusician Rayi Putera is one of the three members of the band RAN who have been playing music since they were at Al-Izhar Senior High School in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta.

He is the lyricist of “Tulalit”, the latest single launched by teen singer Cinta Laura. Rayi, who married late last year, still spends time with his parents, but he now enjoys his family time too.

“If I have long holiday, say, a week, I will spend it with my wife, my family and my close friends. I will have a great time with them even if we only stay at home during the holiday. To me, the most important essence of
a holiday is not the destination, but the company of our loved ones.

“I am quite a family man. I actually want to be good at cooking, but sadly, I cannot cook. My favorite routine with my family is having dinner. It is kind of obligatory in my house. While enjoying the dinner, my wife and I can talk and share stories. That makes us closer.

“My holidays are never certain. RAN often performs at weekends and sometimes we go out of the city to perform. It is cool if we can make our audience happy. We basically try to have fun while working. Usually we only spend a few hours for sound checks, interviews and performing on stage. After that, we have free time.

“I love culinary adventures. We always look for signature foods in the cities we visit. Last time, we ate empek-empek Palembang (Palembang fish cakes) in Palembang, South Sumatra, and sop konro (beef-rib soup) in Makassar in South Sulawesi. Those dishes can be found in many parts of the country, but eating them in the original cities is another story. They are tastier in their original locations, maybe because the ingredients are all available and the cooks have such long experience. The fish of the empek-empek, for example, is stronger and more delicious.

“I have a boys’ day out about once a week. I still get along with my high school and college friends. Sometimes we will play PlayStation or play soccer together. Nowadays, RAN is preparing our fourth album that will consist of eight to 10 songs. We are working hard to create the songs because, you know, inspiration does not just pop up everyday. We hope to release the album by the end of this year or early next year.

“We still believe in CD albums. We once had a thought of releasing our music for free, but we decided not to because we believe that our loyal fans are committed to buying it. CD albums are personal because they can get special stuff like the lyrics and pictures.”

— Indah Setiawati