Yesterday concert at Teater Salihara was definitely the best concert for me for the first quarter of this year. Bringing the theme “Publik untuk Ruang Publik” (Public for Public Space), the concert blending vintage Indonesian motion pictures with music from indie spheres, KunoKini, Efek Rumah Kaca, and Sore. Located in a nearly invisible area in South Jakarta, the grey brick-stoned community house was moderately packed with tweens, teens, adults, and mature people to attend the closing ‘ceremony’ of National Movie Month 2009 themed “Sejarah Adalah Sekarang” (History is Now).
Interesting choice was made to close the month by playing those bands while slides from vintage Indonesian movies were playing. KunoKini hummed and hit the drum while environment- forest-rain like slides played, also a clip from Tiga Dara. Then, Efek Rumah Kaca gave music to G/30S/PKI slides by Arifin C. Noor (seriously, this is one of the most horrific thriller movies in the history). The last, Sore was assisted by classic romantic sagas, such as: Badai Pasti Berlalu, Ali Topan Anak Jalanan, Gita Cinta Waktu SMA, Kala, Pintu Terlarang (the last two were not romantic at all, tho).
KunoKini was highly applaud-able. Who can ignore a whole set of traditional percussion, nice humming and whistling techniques, tribal ethnic fashion and tattoos, guys who can rap, wear keds, and utter smart lyrics (such as “UU-APP F*** that Shit!!”) ,move to reggae mood, and have dreadlock-ed heads? Definitely not me. The highlight of their performance was when the slide listed various Indonesian cultures that were “stolen” by other countries, mostly Malaysia. And the list went beyond twenty and KunoKini bombarded the audience with ever so nationalist lyrics.
Efek Rumah Kaca set aside their “Lagu Cinta Melulu” image and uncovered their true flesh: political, dark songs with high guitar distortion. They did not rest at all for 30 minutes, and left the audience with no oxygen hearing their songs in chains with GS0S/PKI movie. So frustrating. I bet this was their aim. No doubt, they successfully heightened the tense. Aside from their no engagement to the audience, their music was helluva dark and melodious at the same time. Not recommended for those in suicidal mood.
Sore. What can I say. Perfect, except for some sound failures on Ade Firza’s mic (I guess they should put the lyrics up on the slides, like karaoke, you know what I mean). Sore brought vintage Indonesian sounds complimented with psychedelic, melodious, and a nice Synthesizers combination. To add, their composition was genuine, smart, and so Indonesian. To imagine, their songs were like bringing you through the journey of faded old photos from Kebun Raya Bogor to Old Jakarta night life. From La Ramblas to Monas (hmmm…too farfetched). However, there is not much Indonesian band with Indonesian sound. To mention some: GSP’Gypsi, KLA, Humania, and Sore. Last night, Sore knocked down their repertoire and impressed the audience with hard and loud sound combined with blossomful lyrics and melodies. They made my eyes misty, especially the "Lullaby Blues" song.