Not many Indonesian acts have tasted what it’s like to perform at one of Europe’s longest-standing festivals, like France’s Les Rencontres Trans Musicales. Yet, Jakarta-based trio Ali somehow managed to secure a slow at the festival with just three singles under their belt.

Fresh off the plane from France and before the new year, the rock band announced it would be performing on Feb. 9, 2023 in Adelaide, alongside American rock band Osees. The show would kick off Ali’s Australian tour, named after its latest single, “Crystal Sand”.

Free spirits

Ali’s approach during its early days may seem bewildering. As it shared numbered playlists with repartees heavily laden with humor that ironically referenced everything Middle East, people started second-guessing what Ali was, until the release of its first single, “Dance, Habibi”.

“Yeah, some people thought we were media,” said Arswandaru Cahyo, speaking to The Jakarta Post on Jan. 18, 2023. The band’s Instagram handle, @ali_radio, only added to the confusion.

“To shake up people,” Cahyo replied, laughing, when asked why he went with the approach. “Just to be different. Unique? It was rare to see bands with that kind of approach.”

Going Down Under: Ali announced 7 dates for its coming Australian tour in February 2023 to welcome debut studio album in April 2023 (Courtesy of Ali) (Archive/Courtesy of Ali)

Cahyo’s laid-back demeanor seemed to reflect the band’s, but the trio is far from unambitious. They’re just comically pragmatic.

Cahyo admitted that he rarely checked the band’s email account. But when he did, he came across one from Limithrope Productions, a booking agent in France.

“‘Are you interested in performing in Europe?' Blah, blah, blah," he said, recalling the correspondence. The trio thought it was strictly a polite gesture, and didn’t think much about it until the agent secured them a slot at the festival.

But the trio thought it was strictly a polite gesture. They didn’t think much about it until the agent secured Ali a slot at the festival.

“They started arranging everything and sent us money. ‘Hey, they’re serious,’ we thought,” Cahyo said.

When in France

The band flew to Rennes, France, and was scheduled to perform thrice: on Dec. 10 at the Trans Musicales festival, in a videotaped performance for local television and at KEXP, an American noncommercial radio station known for its eclectic music curation, on Dec. 11. The last gig was canceled because the band had not set a date for its debut album.

The missed opportunity may have been a big loss for an emerging artist from the global south.

“Hopefully, this year,” drummer John Paul “Coki” Patton said, when asked about rescheduling the KEXP session.

The band performed at 3:30 a.m. at the nonstop festival, which guitarist Absar Lebeh noted was hard because of the French winter.

“Absar was hypothermic. It was freezing, but he felt otherwise and started taking off his clothes,” said Cahyo, describing behavior that can occur in people experiencing deep hypothermia.

Inobvious: cover artwork for Ali's latest single Crystal Sand which was also dubbed as the tour's name (Courtesy of Ali) (Archive/Courtesy of Ali)

At one point, Cahyo, Coki and Ayla Adjie, the band’s extra percussionist, stared at each other, silently deciding which of them would go and embrace Lebeh to help warm him up. “But it was solved with wedang jahe,” said Cahyo, referring to the traditional hot ginger drink.

The band members said the festival’s lineup included left-field experimentalists around a center of hoi polloi players.

“There was this experimental group who brought a cement mixer on stage,” recalled Cahyo, clearly amazed.

“Oh, and we forgot that Coki had his birthday” during the show, he added. But he mentioned it as soon as he got onstage. “The crowd somersaulted all over the place,” Cahyo said, while Lebeh added a cackle.

“But it was emotional,” Coki said. “Sentimental, even. I didn’t expect to be able to play in France this fast, and I was performing in front of many people,” he said, recalling that he became teary-eyed onstage in front of a 1,500-strong crowd.

His birthday seemed to have come with a curse, however, as Coki was not captured by any of the festival’s assigned photographers.

“Not even a single picture,” said Cahyo, with a suppressed chuckle.

Touring Down Under

On Jan. 2, 2023, the trio announced their 7-date Australian tour dubbed Crystal Sand, after their latest single. This was rather puzzling, considering their still nascent discography.

“There’s 10, maybe, in total,” Cahyo said about the dates Ali would be playing.

Ali’s Australian tour was arranged by Hug, a management group run by Melbourne-based musician Tom Hulse of Devil Electric.

Hulse became friends with the individual musicians in 2017 before they were Ali, when they were touring Australia separately with their bands back then: Cahyo and Lebeh were touring with Bandung psych rockers Mooner, while Coki was playing with his rock revivalist group Kelompok Penerbang Roket (the rocketeers).

On Jan. 27, the band made another announcement referring to “Crystal Sand”. But this time, it was about Ali’s latest single, still messing with the audience like in its early days.

“It’s our last single before we release our album,” Cahyo said.

Ali’s debut studio album is slated for release in April 2023 on vinyl and Bandcamp by Jakarta’s Anukara Records.

That Ali is doing an overseas tour before releasing its debut album is only par for the course, considering the band’s baffling marketing strategy.

“Tours usually come after releasing an album, but this tour is maybe more like welcoming the album,” noted Cahyo, agreeing it was an anomaly.

“Maybe [listeners] are curious? It could be a selling point. For us to get invited here and there, maybe people are just curious and don’t care that we’ve had nothing more than a few singles,” he pondered. “Maybe.”

“Crystal Sand” by Ali is available on most music streaming platforms.

[i-box]

Crystal Sand Tour in Australia

Feb 9: Lion Arts Factory (with Osees), Adelaide

Feb 10: Northside Records, Melbourne

Feb 11: NinchFest Festival, Melbourne

Feb 12: The Evelyn (with Adam Halliwell Mildlife), Melbourne

Feb 14: RRR Radio Show, Melbourne

Feb 17: OK Motels, Charlton

Feb 19: Northgong Hotel, Wollongong