Got Urbanized At Kampoeng Jazz Festival 2013

To those jazz-goers who were living in Bandung, huge jazz festival is a rare sight and most of the jazz-goers must travel 120km to Jakarta to watch a critically acclaimed jazz festival. But now, the fifth International Kampoeng Jazz has quenched the thirst of every jazz-goers and music enthusiasts in Bandung. The line-up combined a lot of artists from a different background. For example a youth favorite such as Trio Lestari, Andien and Sondre Lerche were combined with an oldie such as Tetsuo Sakurai (The bassist of Casiopea), Fariz RM Anthology and Chaseiro.

We were arrived right before Fariz RM Anthology came to the stage. Mr. Fariz RM came with a band, Anthology and a backing vocal. They came to perform some of their hits such as “Barcelona” and “Sakura” with a help from their friend, Mr. Indra Lesmana. The only thing that buggers us at the time of the set was a non-stop rain. But the crowd doesn’t seem to care, a long sing-along session were occurred.

Andien, came to the stage after a Maghrib break. She teased the crowd with one of her oldie, “Sahabat Setia” and the crowd went nuts. She also performed some of her hits such as “Gemilang” and “Moving On”.

Chaseiro, an oldie vocal group came after. Chaseiro was formed in Universitas Indonesia back in 1978, so performing in a campus is a thing they’ve mastered. They came to the stage with “Awal dan Akhir Hari” and “Nada Gembira”. One of em, Mr. Rizali is an Indonesian ambassador for India, and the famous Mr. Candra Darusman is residing in Geneva. They closed their set with “Ceria” combined with a Gangnam Style dance moves. Such a rare sight!

Tetsuo Sakurai came after Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Unpad gave us a blowing set about Earth Hour. Mr. Tetsuo, came with a minus-one set and performed alone, delivered some of his songs from his days with his old band, Casiopea and a famous Japanese drummer, Akira Jimbo. He performed some of his hits such as “Domino Line” and “S.O.S Planet Earth” and closed the set with 2 songs as an encore.

Norway’s Sondre Lerche, who came all the way from New York, came after Tetsuo. He came alone and performed “Airport Taxi Reception” and “Heartbeat Radio” as a starter. After that, he said something about the rain, and then “I Guess It’s Gonna Rain Today” played after. He asked the crowd which song should he play, and the crowd said “Days That Are Over”. Sondre’s performance went flat until he performed one of his mainstream hit, “Two Way Monologue” which triggered the crowd to sing. He also asked the crowd to sing with him in “Hell No” and played some of his newest track such as “Private Caller” and “Domino”. He closed the set after an encore with “No One’s Gonna Come”.

Trio Lestari, the last performer, gave the crowd energy to jump and sing. Tompi, came first to the stage with the band and played one of his hits, “Menghujam Jantungku”. Long sing-along session occurred and the crowd went nuts. Glenn Fredly and Sandhy Sondhoro came after. They also invited Tetsuo Sakurai to play with them and then finally closed the festival. Thank you Kampoeng Jazz for every smile in the crowd, and a feast of jazz, for all!

(photos by Rahmandika Ilham)