Photos courtesy of Anggun Priambodo

Just like the obscure comedian from comedy group Srimulat who inspired the band’s name, no one really seems to remember the Jakarta seminal indie band Bandempo, who was active in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While fans of the Jakarta indie scene are certainly familiar with bands like the White Shoes and the Couples Company, Naif and Club 80s, who cut their teeth as professional musicians at Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), they are unlikely to know the fellow IKJ alums.

Even so, Bandempo is probably the best thing that the indie scenesters never heard of.

It’s no overstatement to say Bandempo is likely the most obscure band ever to come out of IKJ. In fact, the band has never played outside of Jakarta. “We’re very unhip and local. It’s like we’re living under a rock,” lead vocalist Anggun Priambodo said in a recent interview.

For many who know their music, they rank as the best among the IKJ music bands. A popular web magazine in the capital named Bandempo’s lone self-titled long-play as the best album of the decade, outshining classics like Centralismo from Sore, Homicide’s anthology The Nekrophone Dayz or Seringai’s Serigala Militia (Wolf’s Militia). Simply put, it’s a masterpiece you have never heard of.

It’s difficult not to like the music of Bandempo. The eight tracks recorded for the self-titled album are their raw and unadulterated version of rock and roll but with an unmistakably Indonesian sensibility. Their songs talk about trivial, mundane if not nonsensical and childish topics which most bands shy away from. One of Bandempo’s best tracks, “Bukan Propaganda” (Not Propaganda), talks about nothing in particular; it tells of dreaming of visiting grandpa’s blue house and seeing sheep flying away, a theme that has nothing to do with its’s politically charged title. In “Permen Tukaran” (Trading Candies), lead singer Anggun makes a proposal about trading candies he buys from a shop across the street with his friends — and that’s that.

The absence of subtext or pretension in all their lyrics makes them the best candidate for the title of most nihilist band in the capital. And then there’s the music, a combination of one of the tautest rhythm sections and melodic sensibilities that would make Britpop legend Stone Roses proud. In “Marah-Marah” (Angry Again) Bandempo reworked an obscure song from the 1970s by child star Adi Bing Slamet, adding a twist that even some of the most consummate indie bands in Jakarta would find difficult to pull off. Twice in the song Bandempo makes a switch from playing a straight-up rock and roll tune to working on a dangdut break without breaking a sweat, all the while using the same guitar, drum and bass.

Another track on the album, the wistful “Berlayar” (Sailing), is a stunner that could easily bring Bandempo to the major league. It has some of the best guitar work that any independent band in the Jakarta scene ever committed to wax. Anggun may not have the best pipes, but his versatility as vocalist, with his bratty, girlish vocal, is the band’s most precious asset that no other artist could imitate.

IDOL WORSHIP: Bandempo’s lead singer Anggun Priambodo poses with his childhood hero Kabul “Tessy” Basuki.For the small number of people who claim to be fans, Bandempo is known for their minor hit “Nonton Srimulat”, (Watching Srimulat), a song tribute to the country’s best known comedy group Srimulat, of which comedian Bandempo was a member in the 1980s.

“When I started this band, I got an assignment to write about folk art. I wanted to write about the Srimulat comedy show. At the same time, my bandmates asked me about name for the band. I suggested we go with Bandempo. I have been a fan since I was a little boy, I saw them on stage, and television and videos. When I went to Solo [where Srimulat originated] when I was small, I liked to see their theater. When Gepeng [one of Srimulat’s icons] was involved in a gun-possession case I was in Solo looking at posters for their shows, and when in the late 1990s [private television station] Indosiar aired their show, I knew I had to use the name,” Anggun said.

Musically, they have taken inspiration from punk, rock and roll as well as ska and reggae. But just like their IKJ peers White Shoes and the Couples Company and Naif, the shadow of Indonesian masters of the likes of Tetty Kadi, Benyamin Sueb and Bing Slamet loom large.

In 1999, Bandempo, consisting of Anggun, guitarists Bondan Wikantiaji and Jimmy Lin, bassist Wenceslaus de Rozari and drummer Ade Wahyu Pratama, decided to mix all the influences and record something that could not be topped.

The album was first released on CD in 2000, with unassuming packaging and cover art. The record’s front cover bears a Polaroid photo of the band members’ friends from IKJ. There are four different photos used on the cover. In 2003, the album was released on cassette tape with a toy robot as its cover. Both were meant to be collectibles, but it is not clear if the two physical formats were properly distributed. Only a lucky few could get their hands on the album, which soon became something of an urban legend, talked about in hushed tones by knowing fans, although nobody seemed to have actually seen or heard it.

Bandempo never officially called it a day, but band members moved on with their lives. Soon after graduating from IKJ, Anggun made his name as a pioneering video music director whose work regularly appeared on MTV Indonesia. Anggun is one half of Jadugar, a directing duo known for its retro-themed music video. Last year, Anggun directed the critically acclaimed indie feature film Rocket Rain, which tackled the burden of adulthood and its attendant consequences.

Once in a while, Bandempo decided to reunite and showed up for a random gig.

“I personally don’t want to play too often. Some people often came to me and asked me to play. We only have eight songs and it would be very boring if we played them over and over again. We need to clear our heads so that we won’t be jaded from playing the same song again and again. It’s not like we have dozens of songs,” Anggun said.

This weekend, Bandempo will have another excuse to deliver a live performance. On Sept. 21, Jakarta-based indie label Elevation Records reissued the band’s sole record on vinyl; to mark the occasion, the band will reunite for another rare gig at Sarinah Warehouse in Pancoran, South Jakarta, organized by online radio station Ruru Radio.

Other than the album’s reissue on vinyl, the most cherished format in the market, Bandempo has stronger reason to celebrate; the cover art for the vinyl edition bears the figure of one of the most legendary characters in Srimulat, the cross-dressing Kabul Basuki, better known by his stage name Tessy. For Anggun, the reissue project was just another excuse for him to have a private meeting with Tessy, one of his idols in comedy.

“I have a friend who is a neighbor of his so I cooked up a plan to meet him and have him sign the record. I finally met him. I’m a happy man now,” Anggun said, with a chuckle.