Jazz with a Javanese flavour

One of the largest and most popular music events in Southeast Asia, the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2015 took to the stage last weekend for its eleventh edition and, as ever, kept the crowds thoroughly entertained with a wide range of both local and international acts.

The small contingent of Thais in the audience was hosted jointly by TrueVisions and Life Inspired Channel. Life Inspired, or LI, is a 24-hour high-definition television network headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Launched in 2009, it airs lifestyle-related programmes pertaining to food, home, wellness, travel and style and was covering some of the JJF programme as well as other activities related to the event.

For Puvadol Thanyodom and his 13-year-old daughter Natnicha, the trip was a reward for their participation in a TrueVisions Facebook promotion for the event.

The sheer size of this year’s event – 54 international and 86 local acts performing on 16 stages inside the vast JIExpo Kemayoran complex in central Jakarta – made navigating difficult at times but was no barrier to the festival-goers, who were armed with guidebooks and maps of the venue, |thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

While many popular acts, including British singer Jessie J and American popster Christina Perri, are not jazz artists by any stretch of the imagination, they received a warm welcome from the mainly Indonesian audience as well as young Natnicha, who told XP she was a major fan. Their performances brought an end to this year’s JJF, with much longer shows staged at the largest hall in the compound.

Other well-known foreign artists included the 13-member Snarky Puppy, Chris Turner, Chaka Khan featuring Incognito, Bobby McFerrin, Maurice Brown, Trinidad-born Etienne Charles, Japan’s Lisa Ono and the Blue Note Tokyo All-Star Jazz Orchestra.

While most of the less-known artists performed on just one day, the bigger names like American Chaka Khan and Japanese-Brazilian Lisa Ono played on two or all three. New York-based Naturally 7, who opened for Michael Buble’s recent Bangkok concert, was only given one session, much to the disappointment of many fans.

Perri opened her evening show with a set that saw her play tambourine, guitar and piano and perform her hits “Burning Gold”, “Distance” and “Jar of Hearts”. She was followed by Jessie J, who rocked the hall with powerful vocals and high-tempo songs including “Price Tag” and “Bang Bang”

During a break, she randomly asked a young fan for her name. When the 11-year-old shouted out it was Michelle, Jessie J sang a beautiful impromptu tribute to her, drawing loud cheers for her improvised lyrics.

Jessie J’s show cost fans another Bt1,000 on top of the daily Bt900 ticket, which covered all the shows. That didn’t stop thousands queuing before her show, which started 40 minutes behind schedule.

Indonesian artists have played a major role in popularising jazz with local fans and must take credit for the success of the festival. The famous bands this year included Afgan, Reza Artamevia, Ruth Sahanaya, Reza Artamevia, Nathan Hartono and Lea Simanjuntak.

Over the past decade, the Java Jazz Festival has seen heavyweights like Santana, Stevie Wonder, Lee Ritenour, John Legend, Lisa Stansfield, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin, Diane Warren, Natalie Cole, Jamie Cullum, Allen Stone, and James Taylor. 

The event was held for the first time in 2005 at Jakarta Convention Centre before transferring to its present location at Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran in 2010.