The Breakthrough of the 5th Music Gallery

Saturday (15/03) marked the 5th episode of Music Gallery, a local music festival which was organized by BSO Band FEUI. With significant improvements of quality in each year, Music Gallery –or known as Mugall, is gradually making its way as the local festival to look forward to. The tickets were selling out so fast at some point it became hard to find, all because of the enticingly hard-to-resist line of performers. The 5th Mugall invited Jirapah, MMS, Monkey To Millionaire, Ramayana Soul, Banda Neira, Payung Teduh, and NAIF. And beside the selection of incredible local talents, this year Mugall added an international act, the France-based indie-pop band Tahiti 80. Another intriguing part laid on the setlist that there were SORE, Mondo Gascaro, The Trees and the Wild, and BARASUARA. We couldn’t help but wonder how’s the reunion going in the backstage.

Shifting spot from the usual Upper Room Annex Building to a more southern part of Jakarta, the 5th Mugall took place in Gandaria City. Around 2pm the Bookstore Club, Selimut Cokelat, Circarama, and Jirapah warmed up the Pertamina Stage on Skeeno Hall, while Solace, Fourtwnty, Bageurs, and Monkey2Millionaire entertained passersby from the Piazza Stage. While we were around the Piazza, we could gaze and contemplate upon the art installations of Synaesthesia: Tasting Words, Seeing Sounds, Hearing Colors.

With the separated venues located on different levels –3rd floor and ground floor, one would have to choose the more desirable stage. Not really a pleasant options, then We decided to start at Pertamina Stage to see BARASUARA. Iga Massardi, the lead vocalist, shared the fact that he’s about to be a father before he continued to rock the stage. Within their 8 songs, the constant sing-a-long and the perfectly synchronized lighting boosted up their already powerful performance.

The huge venue was starting to feel packed around the time for The Trees and The Wild, and the entrance queue had just become really long. Whereas people who needed outdoor air would likely choose to hang out in Piazza Stage as Mondo Gascaro soothed the ambiance with “Our Day Will Come” and “Naked”. Along with Mian Tiara, they sang the rendition of Chrisye’s “Serasa”, followed by “Komorebi” which attracted the audience to come closer.

Banda Neira was scheduled to perform almost in time for Tahiti 80, but the audience in Piazza Stage grew larger. They brought melancholy to a historical level with the song “Mawar” –titled from the name of an army squad responsible for kidnapping activists in New Order era, and “Tini dan Yanti” which lyrics were adopted from writings on a prison wall. “La historia me absolvera, history will absolve me”, Rara Sekar (vocal) explained the excerpt of the song.

Upstairs at the Pertamina Stage, Xavier Boyer greetings of “Halo Jakarta, senang bisa bertemu kembali!” responded with loud cheering. It’s their third visit to Indonesia and they haven’t lost their charm. Boyer (vocal, keyboard), Pedro Resende (bass), Mederic Gontier (guitar), Raphael Leger (synth, percussion) and Sylvain Marchand (drum) were excited to be back. Though they were sweating because of the heat, that did not stop them from being energetic on stage. With songs from their latest album, Ballroom,  Boyer lead the audience to sing along. After about 12 songs, Tahiti 80 signed out without “Heartbeat”. Of course that’s a cue to request an encore. So they went back on stage and served the most awaited line: Can you feel my heartbeat when I’m close to you?

It’s almost midnight, but the audiences stayed for NAIF and Payung Teduh. NAIF songs never fails to please the crowd for a classic karaoke session, from “Air dan Api” to the classic hit “Piknik 72″. It is an admirable decision to put NAIF as closing act; a gesture of staying committed to Music Gallery’s main purpose of showcasing great local bands.

More photos: The 5th Music Gallery 2015 on Facebook