The Jakarta International Expo arena in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, became the epicenter of an extravaganza of great music as the 2014 Clear Java Jazz Festival (JJF) kicked off Friday.

Among the many international and local musicians that participated in the event, a number of prominent Indonesian jazz guitarists were met with enthusiastic applause as they took to the stage.

Guitarist Yuri Jo was one of the first up when he emerged at the festival'€™s signature venue, the Java Jazz Stage, as the sun was about to set.

Yuri was supported by a group of accomplished musicians, consisting of drummer Budi Haryono, bassist Adi Darmawan, suling (traditional flute) player Saat Syah and kendang (traditional Javanese drum) Ade Rodiana.

Forty-year-old Yuri, who has recently been busy with jazz and ethnic music, opened his show with a song titled '€œStreet Kayak'€, which is one of the songs from his recently released debut album Space Between Buildings.

'€œThis song is about traffic jams in Jakarta,'€ Yuri said in his short explanation about the complicated and buzzing arrangement, which he played with a mix of experimental rock and touches of Indonesian ethnic music.

Throughout his performance, Yuri'€™s guitar sang through various sound-distortion and manipulation effects, which also included a small megaphone.

His renditions of Sundanese folk song '€œEs Lilin'€ (Fruit Popsicle) and legendary song by Gesang, '€œBengawan Solo'€, appealed to the audience throughout the arena and attracted them to gather around his stage.

'€œEs Lilin'€ was delivered with a sweet and soothing suling air by Saat, while in '€œBengawan Solo'€ Yuri played a spacey rock sound with a laidback tempo.

Yuri and friends were joined by famous arranger Dwiki Dharmawan on keyboards and singer Tata Dyah to play their version of Ismail Marzuki'€™s '€œSabda Alam'€ (Nature Speaks).

A little later in the evening, people started to flock to an outdoor stage on the other side of the complex, waiting for guitarist Dewa Budjana and his band.

Budjana is best known as the lead guitarist of the pop rock band GIGI which already has more than 24 albums to its name. However, his series of jazz albums has established him as one of the country'€™s finest jazz musicians.

In his seventh and latest album Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation), Budjana worked with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Jimmy Johnson.

'€œJJF is the biggest festival that I know of. I'€™ve played at every festival over its 10 years. This year I'€™ve also introduced my new album here,'€ Budjana said.

He featured highly technical and sophisticated melodious arrangements, which were received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

Guitarist Tohpati also attracted hundreds of event-goers when he and his friends played on an indoor stage at the festival, opening with an up-tempo yet light composition '€œCountry'€ from his 1998 album.

'€œThank you for coming to see me tonight. Please buy my album, don'€™t download it from file-sharing websites,'€ he begged the audience, inciting laughter. '€œI download from them too, from time to time,'€ he quipped.

Tohpati continued with easy-listening compositions throughout his performance. He also covered '€œSemusim'€ (One Season), which was made popular by singer Marcel Siahaan, inviting the audience to sing along.

There were a total of 65 performances held on 17 stages in the first day of the festival. English singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum performed at midnight as the highlight of Friday'€™s fiesta.

JJF will run until Sunday night.

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