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White Shoes rock down under
White Shoes and the Couples Companyâs singer Aprilia Apsari (center) at the Darwin Festival
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White Shoes and the Couples Companyâs singer Aprilia Apsari (center) at the Darwin Festival. (Courtesy of White Shoes and the Couples Company) (center) at the Darwin Festival. (Courtesy of White Shoes and the Couples Company)
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span class="caption" style="width: 509px;">White Shoes and the Couples Company's singer Aprilia Apsari (center) at the Darwin Festival. (Courtesy of White Shoes and the Couples Company)
White Shoes and the Couples Company rocked Darwin Festival in Northern Territory, Australia.
'For me, good music will always be acknowledged in a foreign land, no matter where you come from. That's always been the case for us,' said Ricky Virgana, White Shoes and the Couples Company bassist, on a flight from Bali to Darwin.
He and his fellow band members were running on little sleep, as they needed to take the early morning flight from hometown Jakarta to Darwin via Bali. As a touring band, the members of White Shoes and the Couples Company have become a family, with the stories and bonding to match. They know how to get along with one another.
'We've never stopped playing for the last few years. Every weekend, there is always a schedule to fill. We haven't reached major fame, but we're always rolling. And we feel really blessed for this,' said guitarist Rio Farabi.
They touched down in Darwin around 7 p.m. Their schedule was more open than usual. 'It's not normal, usually we have tight schedule on tour. We always want to maximize the time we're spending on one particular place,' said Indra Ameng, the band's manager.
'Whenever we're on tour, we always want to meet local media and do a couple of interviews. By doing that, we're extending the reach of our music. We meet so many good people on the road, and they can spread the word around.'
In this trip to Darwin, the band got a special invitation to experience the Australian Outback by visiting Litchfield National Park, about a two-hour drive outside the city.
'I love the free time. Being on the road means taking lots of snapshots for my blog and video blog,' said Aprilia Apsari, or Sari, the vocalist and frontwoman.
Besides the national park, the band also saw a famous local attraction, jumping crocodiles. At Darwin Festival, the band played two warm-up gigs and a main show.
'Performing at a festival is always nice,' said Saleh Husein, another guitarist. 'In this environment, you can see clearly the joy of living where people cherish music and other art forms.'
The group had already played at a couple other festivals abroad. Recently, White Shoes and the Couples Company played a festival in Helsinki, where the crowd exceeded 50,000 people.
In Darwin, they didn't expect that big of a turnout. 'Darwin is a small city, but from what I'd heard, the crowd appreciates the performers,' said Ricky.
Darwin Festival is the biggest arts gathering in the city of Darwin and one of the most anticipated events in town. The festival regularly draws interesting acts from all around the globe, including a few from Indonesia. This year, besides White Shoes and the Couples Company, the festival also billed contemporary theater troupe Papermoon Puppet Theater from Yogyakarta.
During their shows in Darwin, White Shoes won the attention of the local crowd. Their last show nearly sold out.
During an hour-long set at the Lighthouse venue in Festival Park, the band rocked the night, playing a total of 13 songs.
'We come from a different part of the world, even though Darwin is not that far from Indonesia. But the cultural difference is there and what we had in mind we succeed in doing: We wanted to introduce the current pop culture of Indonesia,' said Sari.
The crowd started to dance as soon as Sari invited people to get up out of their seats. The band performed songs from their entire repertoire, including songs from their latest EP, White Shoes and the Couples Company Menyanyikan Lagu-Lagu Daerah (White Shoes and the Couples Company Sings Traditional Songs).
'The show at Lighthouse was the peak of our tour in Darwin. Nothing feels better than seeing with your own eyes the happy faces of the audience. They sang, danced and enjoyed our show,' said Sari.
They were also asked to perform an encore.
'It was a brilliant night. We all had fun,' said Saleh.
White Shoes and the Couples Company is scheduled to perform at another festival in Brisbane.
