A long running music schools should have its own community event, since they should have many alumni, teachers, friends and of course, those who are currently learning in it. Other than that, it’s a good way to promote the school to people, penetrating the public directly by presenting good quality concert featuring all players that are related to the school, including the young guns who are still learning at present time.
Venche Music School realizes the importance of this. VMS, the initial of this school is the pioneer of jazz school in Bandung. It was established in 1988 by senior guitarist Venche Manuhutu. With almost 30 years of experience, the school has produced uncountable fruits. Many of them have gained popularity as a music stars, many are following their footsteps and some are still taking lessons as much as possible from this school. Today VMS has reached Jakarta, as Venche Manuhutu also acts as the head master of D’Jazz Music School located at the Western part of Jakarta. With so many talents related to this school, it’s about time for them to establish their own community event. This event is called VMS Jazz Community Performance.
The first one was launched last month, featuring their youngest student Nadine to join the instructors, friends and alumni of the school. Since we are close to the end of February, the second edition is ready to roll. VMS Jazz Community Performance #2 is coming soon, on February 28, 2016 located at the same venue, Seven Cafe & Music Lounge. This event will feature live performances and jam session. It’s free and open for public.
Two bands are set to play in this second edition. First, it’s Continuum who is going to continue their series of performances in Bandung after Bumi Sangkuriang Jazz Night 2 earlier this month (read the report here: http://jazzuality.com/jazz-event-report/bumi-sangkuriang-jazz-night-2-2/). This band originally consists of Willyam Yuzaq (drums), Hajar Asyura (guitar) and Satya Bayu (bass). Since Satya Bayu still can’t play, they found a reliable compatriote who could fill in that position well, Dyva Septiansyah, plus a new vocalist they just met but proved to work perfectly with the band, Mirna Nurmala.
What this band brings is quite unique. They do play jazz the right way, but they don’t play it in pure, traditional way. Instead, they infuse some other musical atmosphere like New Wave or even Healing Music. At times it could be mysterious and noir, at other times they play cheerfully using the pure jazz elements. Mirna helps to capture people’s attention with her strong aura and smooth but sharp vocal style. Since this is a VMS community event, it’s important to mention that Hajar Asyura was one of the success students of VMS, mentored by Venche Manuhutu himself. Hajar studied all the way until the advanced class and got good grades. It’s good to see that now he has a strong band to build his career. Yuzaq is also the drummer of Radhini. Playing real jazz doesn’t always mean that one has to adapt the traditional style of playing too strictly. There are always new possibilities to explore, and Continuum is giving a good example of it.
Then, VMS Jazz Trio. This is like a ‘home band’ to this event that can be filled with different players from the school. For this time, the band will have three energetic young guns: Vico Wibowo (keyboard), Steven (bass) and the drum instructor of the school, Alman Naufal (drums). This will be a good session to find out how far could young talents go in pursuing their jazz dream. Mild to wild straightahead can be expected from them.
There will be open jam session after all the showcases, so if you’re a musician, you can come and have fun with them. The event will start at 8:00 pm, located at Seven Cafe & Music Lounge located at the T-Junction of Setiabudi street and Geger Kalong. Since the event is held on Sunday night, you should be able to reach the place without having too much trouble.
VMS Jazz Community Performance #2
Date: Sunday, 28 February 2016
Time: 08:00 – 10:30 pm
Location: Seven Cafe & Music Lounge
Jl. Setiabudi 182 Bandung
FREE EVENT, OPEN FOR PUBLIC