(JP/Nurhayati)

Jazz drummer Aksan Sjuman has always been different. He has already decided that he will stay different, but still wants to be able to entertain the public with his 'serious' music.

He has proven it numerous times, at Java Jazz events and most recently at the Goethe Institute's Serambi Jazz event, that serious music does not always have to make an audience miserable.

An evening with German jazz musician Henning Sieverts and Aksan's project, the Committee of the Fest, earned an appreciative applause from the audience who was not exactly prepared for such experimental performance. But the applause was genuine.

'I didn't expect such a reception. I could not sleep that night. I was really happy,' Aksan said. 'It was contemporary but fun.'

Aksan says that his taste in music runs along the line of 'contemporary jazz', a sound that is called 'serious music' by laypeople.

At Java Jazz International Festival he found out that he did not have to conform to what is popular or easy listening to make his music heard.

At first he played the kind of music he wanted to play. 'The mentality of the audience was different in Java Jazz. They were seeking entertainment,' Aksan said. Soon the audience moved to other venues they considered more entertaining.

Aksan reviewed his strategy. In 2009 he asked his project, the Committee, comprised of five other young, accomplished musicians, to perform at Java Jazz. This time he added vocals and made 'bizarre but loud sounds'. He called it 'serious fun'. 'Apparently, it worked. The crowd was drawn and our performance was packed with audience.'

Aksan established the band in 2007 when he asked Mery Kasiman (keyboard), Dion Janapria (guitar), Nikita Dompas (guitar), Indra Perkasa (contrabass) and Kartika Jahja (vocal) to form a band. Most of the musicians he knew when he taught at music school Institut Musik Daya Indonesia, others he knew from Indonesia's contemporary jazz scene.

He said although he knew many musicians were invited overseas for their ethnic sounds, he did not want to change his music. 'I don't want to include, for example, kendang [traditional percussion] in my music only to be accepted abroad. Everyone was born different and I love my life.'

Aksan said he realized he was different when he was 17, studying music at Indra Lesmana's workshop. 'Indra gave me records from ECM Records and my life changed.' ECM Records is a German label that releases contemporary jazz. 'I listened to drummer Jon Christensen from ECM and I found my sound.' Education at Germany's Folkwang Hochschule only confirmed his choice.

It does not mean that Aksan cannot make a living. He composes up to five film scores a year. His score for badminton film King won him a Citra Award, while his scores for Riri Riza's Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) and Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamer) won awards from the Bandung Film Festival.

Recently, he has just finished composing scoring for Riri Riza's Sokola Rimba and has been doing Sunil Soraya's Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijck (The Sinking of the Vessel van der Wijck).

'I like making film scoring. It's a different kind of music, though,' Aksan said. Although in composing music for movies Aksan has to make compromises and does various kinds of music outside jazz, he said he did not mind. Many musicians, according to Aksan said, took better-paying jobs to subsidize their work.

'I never do something only thinking I will get money out of it,' he said. 'Even when I accepted the drummer position at Dewa, I did not view it in a commercial framework.'

From 1995 to 1998, Aksan, also known as Wong Aksan, was the drummer for pop rock band Dewa 19, led by Ahmad Dhani.

On those who say he was cut from the band because his drumming was leaning more to jazz, Aksan is phlegmatic. 'Well, Dhani could say that. It's not entirely untrue ' but when I was in the band, Dhani was listening to jazz like Pat Metheny ['¦.] I guess later he changed his taste.'

Aksan said that no one really made money from selling albums in the digital era: Income comes from live performances. 'If I'm asked whether Committee of the Fest is money-making or not, I will say it is. I made an easy listening album years ago, Visual Journey. After the launch, no one invited me to play. But with the Committee, even now when our album is still unfinished, we have done several performances.'

Aksan said that he already planned two projects outside his regular schedule at his music school Rumah Karya Sjuman for next year: a puppet performance with orchestral music and a disco music project.

'I don't like clubbing, but I'm interested in disco sounds. I tinker with my computer to learn about it.'

Aksan said he was now mostly working in front of a computer alone. 'That's why I practice drumming when I am caught in a traffic jam. I'm sticking, drumming my wheel, which provides a very good reverb.'

'You think my life is swell, right? I'm doing what I like with good friends and have money to lead a comfortable life. Well, I guess you can say that,' Aksan said, laughing.

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