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Conquering the world: Experimental duo Senyawa talks braving a 45-date international tour

Anindito Ariwandono (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung
Mon, September 5, 2022 Published on Sep. 4, 2022 Published on 2022-09-04T11:02:27+07:00

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Y

ogyakarta experimental duo Senyawa had 45 tightly-scheduled performances across 20 countries in Europe within the span of two months.

Late last year, Rully Shabara, vocalist and half of Yogyakarta experimental duo Senyawa, sat on the ground floor of Bandung record store Omuniuum, fixing his eyes on a monitor in front of him. He was going through the band’s visa application for their upcoming performances in the United States—their Hammer Museum gig in Los Angeles would be their first performance outside Indonesia after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Managing a global tour during those times was a tough process, but he wanted to brave through it.

Senyawa had gone for quite some time without a manager, with Rully and multi-instrumentalist Wukir Suryadi, the other, equally-significant half of Senyawa, managing everything by themselves. Their progress, concepts and forward-minded ideas, however, had not been hindered in the slightest. 

This was a tour that needed to happen. 

Reaching new heights

Not even a week after their second performance in the United States, they announced another set of tightly-scheduled dates on March 3, 2021. This time it was for the United Kingdom and Ireland, starting in Aril. 

These dates then evolved into the massive, 45-date tour spread across Europe. They dubbed it the #ReturnToRealLive tour—all arranged without the aid of sponsors. The tour also included major festivals such as Roadburn in the Netherlands on April 23 and Primavera Sound in Spain on June 10.

“The tour was also based around the idea of ‘daya hidup dan kemandirian’ [survivability and self-sufficiency],” said Rully. He was referring to Senyawa’s focus for its second decade of existence—its first decade, which ended in 2019, placed a focus on its exploration and sonic experimentation. 

“We’re being self-sufficient by organizing this tour ourselves, and as for survivability, we need to do this tour to stay alive.”

The tour itself, Senyawa said, took place in a context deeper than mere financial gain. It was a way to test and ultimately challenge themselves in order to reach new heights. 

“The tour needed to be that way,” Rully said regarding the challenging 45 performance dates in two months, which left them with only a handful of free days. 

“We had toured often, we had performed at concerts, but we were wondering how it would be if we pushed ourselves mentally and physically. Let alone how it would impact us. That time, the focus was different.”

Battle-hardened: Senyawa, consists of Rully Shabara (left) and Wukir Suryadi (right), manages to return to Indonesia from their 45-date 'Return to Real Live' tour unscathed. (Courtesy Arnold Simanjuntak) (Courtesy Arnold Simanjuntak/Courtesy Arnold Simanjuntak)

Boundaries and restraints

“The implication was that both of us needed to be conscious that the tour was ‘different’,” continued Rully. 

“First, we decided to not drink any alcohol during the whole duration of the tour. Not even a single drop of beer or any other alcohol. It’d be useless otherwise. We wouldn’t be able to measure ourselves if we went through it drinking and partying.”

“Not drinking alcohol really affected the tour back then. We were not lulled by the euphoria,” Wukir said.

“The focus was just to play music. The ‘having fun’ part would be playing music in itself,” added Rully.

Their other restraint during the tour was that their focus was set on spreading Alkisah (Once Upon A Time), their latest studio album, which tells a story of a collapsing civilization and was released in 2021 by more than 40 record labels around the globe. Their experiment in decentralization challenged the structure of today’s music industry. 

“We were declining offers for collaborations and not finding the time to make any music with people that we met there. We just focused on the tour,” Rully said.

On top of the tour’s restrictions, Rully added a personal challenge for himself where he tried to talk to at least one person during each of their shows. 

“Just to really share my views with them,” Rully said. “Ideas that, I believe, are good. Just one during every concert is fine. I mean, not to change the world or anything.”

Both Rully and Wukir said that despite the crushingly tight schedule, they felt like they performed even better than usual.

“We just rehearsed for a bit, now I’m feeling a bit sluggish,” Rully said with a chuckle, contrasting their current condition with how they felt on previous tours. He noted that their performances only got better as the tour went on. 

“The songs got better. How we played, the energy got better. Wukir even made a new instrument during the tour, and we changed our tech riders in the middle because we realized that we were learning.”

Closing their first decade: Senyawa performs at Liga Musik Nasional: Dasawarsa Pertama held at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, on Jan. 18, 2020. (Courtesy Gigi Priadji) (Courtesy Gigi Priadji/Courtesy Gigi Priadji)

Mending as you go

Roughly two weeks into the tour, Wukir noticed that the quality of the instruments that they had brought along had started deteriorating. 

“Industrial Mutant leans more towards found elements,” Wukir said, referring to his latest instrument, a stringed instrument that was played percussively. 

“The neck started to give in, so I thought we should start preparing. We looked for used electric guitars, scrapped them for parts, installed acoustic guitar pickups and everything.”

“Over the course of two weeks, Wukir was doctoring a new instrument in the van, on the road,” Rully noted. “He would look for woodshops near venues, started working on it there, grinding, painting. And toward the end of the tour’s last weeks, he managed to finish it, and we used it at Primavera.”

“But it did not get to the point where it was totally broken,” Wukir added.

Senyawa went through four drivers during the tour. 

“It really took a toll on them,” Rully said.

The band traveled by land for almost the entirety of the tour. 

“Except for Portugal. We flew there, played two cities and went back, then we continued the tour. I think once in Austria, too, there was a festival in Innsbruck. It was a bit too far for the van so we decided to fly and had the van go ahead of us and wait at the next city.” 

They played the Heart of Noise Festival in Innsbruck on June 2 and were met with a couple of mishaps along the way. 

“We had a tire blow-out in the middle of a highway with no speed limit, ran out of petrol in the middle of the night and the car almost got stolen too. Someone smashed the windows,” Rully said. 

“It’s not something that could be solved just by running to a petrol station with a jerry can like in Indonesia.”

He noted that the accidents had led to quite a significant tally of unexpected costs. 

“There were lots of problems, but we truly got to enjoy the scenic route. From the English countryside to the fjords of Norway. The feet of the alps. I don’t think that we could enjoy it if we went by plane.”

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