Socializing Jazz in Indonesia

For years and years on end, I’ve been fed up with the culture of pop and folk (not ethnic!) music in our country. It’s not just the melodies and rhythms that I find of such a low quality. The lyrics, in particular and of utmost importance, are completely not educating! They all talk about love affairs, separations, poverty, and materialism. What good values are we handing down to our children by letting them listen to such brainwashing music and watch inappropriate video-clips on television?
Aside from feeling desperate concerning the nation’s future culture, I’ve half given up trying to tell people that the music they’re listening to (and enjoying, too) is major trash! Nobody seems to care about anything aside from making money through selling records to lack-of-understanding majority of people. Our pop-musicians are merchants, and our people are simply consumers. Period!
What saddening trend!
But, the good news is: I’m not the only person concerned.
I was very surprised as finding out that one of my Facebooker friends also eagerly desired the betterment of this nation’s culture in music. Forming a band of his own, he went around the villages, socializing and playing jazz without being paid!
Jazz!
Now, that’s a creative, improvising and intelligent type of music!
The thing that really catches my attention is the willingness of this guy to be proactive. His action may only seem like a drop of water in a vast lake, but even the flaps of a butterfly’s wings can stir up a storm halfway around the globe!
So, there’s no reason to be pessimistic. Just think globally and act locally. Doing all the best we can, with all means we can, though it seems like swimming against the current, is worth the effort, compared to doing nothing at all and sitting at home complaining why the world isn’t getting any better!
Let’s not give in to the culture of pop and folk music that doesn’t build the character of our next generation. Cherish and cultivate good sense of music in our children and feed them with educating values.
I personally support Bambang’s effort in socializing jazz to the low-class society in Indonesia. It’s a very courageous and original idea put into action. Bravo!

PMG Rules!

My husband and I loved Pat Metheny Group. But it was quite some years ago. As we move on with life, we begin liking other kinds of music: impresionnist, contemporary music, chamber orchestra, and loads of others. Jazz comes by once in a while in our music-listening list, and not always PMG.

Yet somehow life turns us around to cherish what we have left behind. It happened as follows: Octavian was introducing different kinds of music to our 2-year-old son, Dharma. He gave him Nat King Cole evergreen songs, Akira Jimbo drum sessions, Mozart Baby Classic records, and Pat Metheny Group albums to listen to. It turns out that our toddler loves the last one more than others.

So we begin giving him Pat Metheny Group videos to watch and search for other - more recent - videos on PMG to add to his music-learning. And to our astonishment, we too start to understand the brilliance we overlooked behind the work of this jazz band. The originality, creativity and fine-touch this group offers their audience is truly remarkable!

There have been changes throughout the years, no doubt. They now have Richard Bona on percussion instead of Armando Marcal, Chuong Vu on trumpet to replace David Blamires and Mark Ledford, and Antonio Sanchez in replacement for Paul Wertico on drums. Aside from these replacements, Pat Metheny (guitar), Lyle Mays (keyboard) and Steve Rodby (bass) maintain their positions since the earliest formation of the group.

But the touch and crystal-like fineness of PMG remains the same throughout decades, despite alteration of personnels. This alone is something worthy of praise, not to mention the even richer quality of their music.

Two-thumbs up for Pat Metheny and his group! They deserve standing ovation in every concert they perform!