For two months our event Bumi Sangkuriang Jazz Night took a break due to the policy of the venue to not running any event during the fasting month and Ied celebration. On Thursday, 11 August 2016, finally the Bumi Sangkuriang Jazz Night returned to greet the jazz fans in Bandung and nearby with good quality jazz performances from the capital Jakarta and local Bandung. What’s on the menu this time consisting of a trio female singers from Jakarta, a new dynamic duo with bright future and the homeband once again featuring young pianist who lives in Singapore. The event as usual was free of charge, open for public. What makes us happy is that this time we got more attendance than before, an evidence that what we have built since the first month of 2016 is beginning to pay off.
Performing first is the dynamic duo, Jane & BO. This new unit features sensational swinging guitarist Opik Bape and jazz vocalist Jane Doe. For Opik, rising a duo is not something new, since he has founded the jazz manouche guitar duo Satura and has a success with a duo called Agis Bape. Since both of them are done at least at the moment, Opik moves on creating a new base for him to work on. He met Jane Doe, who was looking for partner in crime after coming back from Netherlands. They met, they clicked, long story short, they settled in under Jane & BO.
They opened up the event with a rare gem found today which became a hit in 1928, “Sweet Sue, Just You” followed by another gem from the 20’s but brought famous again in 1989 by Harry Connick Jr for the movie When Harry Met Sally, “It Had To Be You”. The beautiful guitar-vocal harmony from them carried on with Hoagy Carmichael’s famous song, “(Up A) Lazy River”.
Jane & BO called in young jazz/blues violinist Pangestu Hning Bhawana. Their musical canvas suddenly filled with more vibrant colors as they played 4 more songs, starting with two very popular standards “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, “The Nearness of You”, Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly” and for the final song pinning The Gershwins’ classic, “Oh, Lady Be Good”.
“Simply Relaxing” is their motto, showing their wish to make the audience feel at ease through selective jazz standards. Tonight we saw them and their concept for the first time, and we believe they are doing great in working on the concept. The fingerstyle guitarist who can play like a band just by using one guitar and a very gifted jazz singer with smooth and husky voice plus the ability to scat and sounding some instruments like the muted trumpet sound with her voice would be perfect to carry this vintage jazz theme. The fact that they performed inside a vintage ballroom really added the value. Simply relaxing, absolutely perfect.
The mood quickly shifted by the second band, New Equinox. This band was formed a couple of years ago, featuring talented young boys who clearly had strong passion on jazz. Today the band is built upon collective squad which makes the band full with colors inside the straightahead corridor.
For this edition New Equinox was represented by wild drummer Alman Naufal, the brilliant bassist Aries Ardiansyah and a remarkable pianist who resides in Singapore, Jason Limanjaya. Jason can only play in his hometown during holiday, but what’s great is that not only he look for opportunities to play, he also established a unique French-funk band Jean Denis Trio just a few weeks ago. Before he goes back to Singapore to work, he gave significant contribution in this event.
These boys represented the wild side of jazz, with a lot of stunts and acrobatic twists in their show. They directly blew the bomb by playing Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge” then jumped to “Four on Six”. Wes Montgomery’s composition “Fried Pies” again showcased how sharp they are before presenting their interpretation of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba”. A song from Wayne Shorter’s album in 1964 “Black Nile” gave the last punch to everyone.
The connection between smart and daring pianist, bold rhythm from the bassist and wild drumming resulted a full action packed show. For around half an hour the audience got energized by them. Playing complex compositions over unique selections, they managed to make it acceptable to everyone. Their appearance was catchy too. The band of young guns like this is often surprising. They got the energy and brave to explore the jazz terrain during the play. It was an extremely wild ride with a lot of stunning improvisations.
Trio female singers Cassia Agata, Sarita Wurangian and Priscilla Gladys walked on the stage for one final show. These three ladies are combined together in a group that is currently rising to fame, Eunomia. Eunomia was established in 2014 by creative jazzman Boby Limijaya who directly made impact upon his return to Indonesia with his unique 8 Horns Band in collaboration with Budapest Jazz Orchestra and his Quintchestra.
After the success of their first single “Terbang”, they flew even higher with the second, “Let Me Be Me”. This single gets a lot of airplay over major radio stations, TV appearances and numerous gigs at events and festivals. They did really well in accomodating the current trend while still holding on to jazz. Their schedule must be tight, so we are glad to be able to bring them into this 6th edition of Bumi Sangkuriang Jazz Night.
In this event these three beautiful ladies were accompanied by two very talented guitarists: Nathania Jualim and Austin Ong. This accoustic team generously treat the audience with a lot of well known songs. “Kala Cinta Menggoda”, an evergreen from Chrisye was a start before they sang their successful first single, “Terbang”. The groove heated up the audience in “Shut Up and Dance”, then they slowed down amd gave a sweet vocal harmony with “Malaikat Juga Tahu” mashed up with Glen Fredly’s “Terserah”.
They went vintage by singing Koes Ploes’ song “Bunga Di Tepi Jalan” which was also sung by Sheila on 7 about 30 years later. Another evergreen, “Pergi Untuk Kembali” was the next song, followed by Maroon 5’s “Misery”. For the last song Eunomia sang their current single which became a hit over the top radio stations in Indonesia: “Let Me Be Me”. The catchy lyrics, easy listening melody, mid tempo with medium groove and the lovely vocal harmony make this song a winner.
Since we’re just returning from a long pause, we wished to feature something light and entertaining, also suit all kinds of music lovers. We believe Eunomia would be perfect for that, and yes, they are. Looking at their journey since 2014, we know they are going to move higher and higher in the near future. Their solid fanbase, the Eunomian is getting bigger. Three heavily talented ladies and brain like Boby Limijaya behind them, plus the great support of gifted musicians like Nathania and Austin are important keys in their success, plus lovely on stage performance and catchy original songs. Thank you for coming and participating, Eunomia! Thank you for supporting our jazz community.
The Bumi Sangkuriang Jazz Night ep #6 is an interesting edition that we believe satisfied all the attendance despite of how much dose of jazz they were looking for. The swingin’, relaxing jazz standards, high-octane straightahead and bebop and lite jazz made a lively package that’s could become a miniature of how much variety and fun we coould have in jazz. Next month we will be back again with different batch. We already have some names in mind that we are sure will catch your attention if they all confirmed. Thank you for coming, thank you for reading. Keep supporting local community and musicians living in it. See you again next month!
See more pictures:
Reporter: Bintang S Tania & Riandy Kurniawan
Photographer: Krisda Komara