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Fariz RM's monumental 1981 side project reissued on vinyl
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The new cover art of 'Hotel San Vicente', the sole album from the Fariz Rustam Munaf-led band Transs. (The Jakarta Post/Groovy Records)
H
otel San Vicente, the sole album from Jakarta-based fusion outfit Transs has been reissued on vinyl for the first time since it was released in 1981.
Transs was the brainchild of Indonesian pop multi-instrumentalist Fariz Rustam Munaf, who founded the band to mix influences from soul, funk, cosmic disco and Brazilian jazz. For the project, Fariz recruited young, up and coming musicians including Erwin Gutawa on bass and Uce Haryono on drums.
When first joining the band, Erwin, who went on to become one of the country's most well-known orchestra conductors, was barely out of the high school.
Released by Jakarta-based record label Akurama in 1981, Hotel San Vicente, with its striking cover art and complex instrumentation was a middling commercial success but soon garnered critical acclaim.
The album later became a source of inspiration for bands and musicians who played jazz fusion throughout the 1980s. Rolling Stone Indonesia included Hotel San Vicente on its list of 150 greatest Indonesian albums of all time alongside other certified classics like Dheg Dheg Plas, Badai Pasti Berlalu and Guruh Gypsy.
For this reissue project, Jakarta-based label Groovy Records remastered the album in France and pressed it on 180-gram vinyl at MPO vinyl manufacturer.
Fariz has seen a little bit of resurgence in recent years. Last year, his early works from 1977 to 1982 were reissued on vinyl by Hitam Manis Records.
Read also: Fariz RM early recordings released on vinyl
