TOHPATI ARIO HUTOMO: (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

For jazz guitarist and arranger Tohpati Ario Hutomo, life is all about music.was the 37-year-old's response to a question about his interests outside of music. "Sports?" "No, no. I don't like sports at all," he said.

"Traveling?" "No""Gaming?"

He just shook his head.

"My life revolves around music," he said, while strumming a guitar at his suburban house in Bintaro, South Jakarta.

His dedication to music has paid off, as he is one of the country's most famous jazz guitarists, renowned for incorporating nuances of traditional Indonesian music into his work.

He has produced three albums, Tohpati (1998), Serampang Samba (2002) and It's Time (2008), and has a loyal fan base of jazz aficionados.

Tohpati is also one of the most sought-after arrangers, with numerous singers receiving his musical treatment.

He said his work with other artists sometimes intervened in the exploration of his own music.

"Sometimes I'm too busy working on other people's music. That's why it takes a very long time for me to produce an album," he said in his small home recording studio.

But when he does get the time to work on his own music, he gets sucked in.

"I get pleasure playing and exploring compositions and the harmonization of music," he said.

He started playing guitar at the tender age of eight, studying classical guitar up to high school.

Tohpati won the award for best guitarist at a band festival in Jakarta at age 14. He won an award for best guitarist in Java four years later. This led him to enter the local jazz scene and he has been drawn to jazz ever since, leaving his classical guitar education behind.

"I like jazz because there is freedom to improvise. I can spontaneously put together various notes in one bar in a wide chord. That's why I like jazz. I can explore more," he said.

He set up a jazz group, Simak Dialog, in 1993, with Riza Arshad, Arie Ayunir and Indro Hardjodikoro. Simak Dialog has released three albums: Lukisan (1995), Baur (1999) and Trance/Mission (2002).

He also befriended jazz musician Indra Lesmana, who later become his unofficial mentor.

"I'm very inspired by Indra, I learned of lot from him and adopted his philosophy of music," he said.

Tohpati said Indra's philosophy is to be flexible in playing music, which means controlling your ego when playing with other musicians. In jazz, jamming with other musicians is the norm and the ability to appreciate the style of others is the only way to reach a good harmonization.

He applied this philosophy to a project called Trisum, in which he collaborated with two other guitarists, Gigi's Budjana and Balinese jazz guitarist I Wayan Balawan. Last year, they released their debut album,1st Edition Trisum.

"This is our idealist dream project. Here we really explore our skills as jazz guitarists," he said.

Working on Trisum, he said, the three of them focused more on exploring their skills than on entertaining the audience.still insert entertainment. We want people to accept our work, but yes, it's more idealist than entertaining," he said.

According to Tohpati, most Indonesian music audiences are spoiled and want to be entertained more than they want to appreciate the music.

"There are still very few actual music lovers who understand and appreciate the complicated composition and harmonization of music."

"Most Indonesian music audiences pay more attention to the figure of the artists or the lyrics, very few appreciate the music composition."

It is among the few who do appreciate complex musical compositions that he finds his fan base.

"I'm not worried about having no audience, because there is a niche that loves jazz music. For them jazz is their calling in life."

Despite his fame, Tohpati refuses to be called a celebrity.

"I'm an artist, not a celebrity. Celebrities are for being famous, while artists strive for acknowledgment," he said.

The only thing outside music that keeps his attention is his family. Tohpati and his wife, Ratih Mustikawati, have two daughters, Saskia Gita Sakanto and Adwitya Gita Tisti.

Like Tohpati, all three are into music.

"My life partner has a big role in my profession," he said of his wife. Ratih plays the piano and works as a music teacher, introducing music to toddlers.

"Besides music, all I do is spend time with them at home," he said.

Naturally their favorite past time involves music, in this case joking around and listening to Tohpati's music collection.like Killer Queen or Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen," he said with a smile.

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