Gerald Situmorang

Gerald Situmorang was born in Jakarta on May 31, 1989. He began playing guitar at the age of 13. Initially, he studied under Armstrong Pitoi of the New Breeze for 3 years, Nikita Dompas for one year where he improved his skills and grew his passion in jazz, and later he took private lessons at Institut Musik Daya with Dion Janapria for one semester. He has also participated at "Serambi Jazz Workshop" with Florian Ross, Henning Sieverts, Wolfgang Haffner, and Kai Brückner. He also took a Masterclass with Indra Lesmana.

He first started writing and composing his own music at the age of 14. At 16, he composed several songs for his duo "Sketsa". Gerald won the first prize in eX Jazz Battle 2009 with BAG Trio, and received a special award "Excellent Duo In Jazz" with Gerald & Ryan in 31st JGTC Competition.

Gerald has participated in many of Indonesia's most prestigious festivals such as Jazz Goes To Campus, Java Jazz Festival, SOUNDRENALINE, JakJazz Festival, ASEAN Jazz Festival, Java Soulnation, PL Fair and many more. He also participated in World Youth Jazz Fest 2014 in Malaysia.

On January 31st, 2010 he released his debut album with Sketsa "Childhood's Dream". It was nominated for the 2010 Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Awards (ICEMA) "Favorite Jazz Song Category" for "Childhood's Dream". Gerald and his duo Sketsa was also nominated for an AMI Awards (Anugerah Musik Indonesia) which is the equivalent to the Grammy Awards in Indonesia in 2011 for the category of Best Jazz/Instrumental Performance by a solo artist or duo/group for his song "Childhood's Dream" which is on Sketsa's debut album.

Sketsa's second album, "Different Seasons", was released in May 22, 2013. The album was produced by Tohpati. Gerald has also released albums with Hemiola Quartet "Oddventure" (November 22nd, 2012) and with Monita Tahalea & The Nightingales "Songs of Praise" (August 21st, 2013, produced by Indra Lesmana).

He received "Best Newcomer Artist" award with Hemiola Quartet from 36th Jazz Goes To Campus, the oldest jazz festivals in Indonesia. He released "Time Is The Answer" album with his trio (June 7th, 2014). And got nominated for 2014 Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Awards (ICEMA) "Best Jazz Track" and stay in the" Indonesia Top 10 Albums" for 5 months on Rolling Stone Magazine Indonesia (September 2014 - January 2015).

He joined BARASUARA in 2012, which he plays bass and released their critically acclaimed debut album “Taifunʼ in October 22, 2015. Barasuara won AMI Awards in 2016 for "Best Alternative Production" and also nominated for "Best New Artist". Rolling Stone Indonesia placed it at number two in their list of “20 Best Indonesian Album 2015” and also listed on CNN Indonesia “10 Best Indonesian Album of 2015”. He received “Best Live Act” with BARASUARA from Rolling Stone Indonesia Editorʼs Choice Award 2016 and got nominated for “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” & “Best Album of the Year” from Indonesian Choice Awards 2016. "Taifun Tour" in 2016 is a huge sucess in 6 cities in Indonesia.

On 2015, alongside with Monita Tahalea, they produce Monitaʼs second album “Dandelion” (December 1st 2015), Rolling Stone Indonesia placed it at number fourteenth in their list of “20 Best Indonesian Album 2015”. His debut solo guitar album “Solitude” released in September 2016. It got many great reviews from music critics in Indonesia and stay in the "Indonesia Top 10 Albums" for many months on Rolling Stone Magazine Indonesia. “Solitude” also released in Japan with label Inpartmaint Inc. on July 2017. He did his first tour as a soloist in 2016 with Tommy Pratomo titled as "Solitour 2016" which is promoted by themselves on 7 cities in Indonesia.

His second solo album “Dimensions” just been released in September 2017, which is using lots of electronic sounds, drum machines and synthesizers. Besides performing with Sketsa & BARASUARA, Gerald is a member of several music groups, including BAG+BEAT, Hemiola Quartet, Dimas Wibisana & His Mates, Barry Likumahuwa Quintet, & Monita Tahalea and The Nightingales.

Gerald Situmorang has performed with many musicians, including : Tohpati, Erwin Gutawa, Dewa Budjana, Sri Hanuraga, Indra Lesmana, Ron King, Riza Arshad, Aksan Sjuman, Barry Likumahuwa, Raisa, Monita Tahalea, Agnez Mo, Efek Rumah Kaca, Matajiwa, Indra Aziz, Nikita Dompas, Mery Kasiman, Ayushita, Calvin Jeremy, Oran Etkin and many more.

Discography :

• Sketsa - "Childhood's Dream" (2010)
• Hemiola Quartet - "Oddventure" (2012)
• Sketsa - "Different Seasons" (2013)
• Monita Tahalea & The Nightingales - "Song of Praise" (2013)
• Gerald Situmorang Trio - "Time Is The Answer" (2014)
• BARASUARA - “Taifun” (2015)
• Gerald Situmorang - “Solitude” (2016)
• Gerald Situmorang - “Dimensions” (2017)

• Date: October 2017
• Category: Music

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LIGRO BAND

Ligro adalah sebuah band berformat power trio yang beranggotakan gitaris Agam Hamzah, basis Adi Darmawan dan drummer Gusti Hendy. Dengan formasi minimalis tersebut, Ligro juga sering dikenal dengan sebutan Ligro Trio.

Ligro kerap dinyatakan oleh media sebagai band beraliran jazz rock. Walaupun demikian para anggotanya menyatakan bahwa mereka hanya memainkan musik sebagai bentuk ekspresi dan gagasan tanpa membatasi gaya bermusik mereka pada aliran atau genre tertentu.

Para anggota Ligro menyebutkan bahwa mereka memiliki kesamaan semangat dengan Jimi Hendrix yaitu menjadikan musik sebagai “experience.” Mereka juga menyebutkan bahwa grup band Cream dan Mahavishnu Orchestra sumber awal inspirasi mereka. Walaupun demikian gaya bermusik Ligro sama sekali berbeda dengan para musisi besar dunia tersebut.

Agam Hamzah dan Adi Darmawan melakukan jam session saat pertama kali bertemu pada tahun 1995 di sebuah studio film scoring di Jakarta. Pertemuan tersebut berlanjut lebih intens dalam berbagai duo project karena keduanya menemukan “kegilaan” yang sama dalam bermusik. Kegilaan yang dimaksud adalah semangat untuk menjadikan musik sebuah wahana permainan dan bersenang-senang tanpa batasan pakem, tanpa mengikuti tuntutan pasar dan tanpa harus menjadi orang lain (baca: meniru musisi lain).

Berdirinya Ligro

Saat masih berformat duo, Agam dan Adi sering terlibat dalam berbagai proyek musikal bersama para musisi besar Indonesia, seperti Donny Suhendra, Gilang Ramadhan, Riza Arshad, Idang Rasjidi dan Haryo Jose Suryoto. Akhirnya pada tahun 2004 Agam dan Adi menemukan “orang gila” yang pas gilanya dengan mereka, yaitu Gusti Hendy. Menurut Adi, sebelumnya mereka sering bertemu dengan orang-orang gila. Tapi Gusti Hendy-lah yang “pas gilanya.”

Ketiga orang ini memiliki gaya bermusik yang berbeda. Agam berlatar belakang jazz, blues dan sedikit rock, Adi mendalami musik klasik, dangdut dan jazz, sedangkan Hendy kental dengan gaya metal, rock dan blues. Dengan keragaman inilah mereka mendapatkan sebuah komposisi “bumbu” musik yang pas bagi mereka.

Nama LIGRO tidak lain adalah kebalikan dari kata ORGIL, singkatan dari Orang Gila. Nama ini ditemukan pada 13 Maret 2004 yang dijadikan hari jadi Ligro.

Aksi Panggung

Penampilan Ligro featuring Sue Bonnington pada Makassar Jazz Festival 2012.

Ligro kerap tampil pada puluhan event pertunjukan musik sejak 2004. Sebagian besar merupakan festival musik jazz tahunan di Indonesia. Berikut ini adalah sebagian event yang pernah diikuti oleh Ligro.

• Java Jazz Festival, Jakarta – 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 dan 2015
• Jazz Kota Tua, Jakarta – 2014
• Jak Jazz Festival, Jakarta – 2014
• TRIBAL TECH on the Road! World Tour 2013, Jakarta – 2014
• Jazz Gunung, Bromo – 2014
• Jazz Traffic Festival, Surabaya – 2011
• Makassar Jazz Festival, Makassar – 2012

Penampilan Ligro di hadapan ribuan penonton Jazz Kota Tua 2014 di Jakarta.

Diskografi

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• Date: November 2017
• Category: Music

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Nayra Dharma

Nayra Arissa Dharma was born on the 4th of June, 2000 in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. She studied drums at the age of 8 at GRSB (Gilang Ramadhan Studio Band), and classical piano for a few years. At the age of 15, she grew interests in singing, playing and learning jazz on the guitar after listening to Lenny Breau, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. Her father, Prasadja Budidharma, is both a guitarist and the founder, bassist of Krakatau. He has been giving her intensive jazz guitar lessons everyday with the help of the internet since May 2015. Until this day Nayra has a repertoire of over 60 jazz-standard pieces; including several instrumental guitar finger-style songs.

Nayra's first debut appearance was at Jazz Festival Kota Tua 2015 in Jakarta, with the colaboration of the Farabi Rising Stars Band which begun in October 24th, 2015. One night, a couple of days after the event in Kota Tua, she came to visit the Papandayan Hotel to see Agam Hamzah and Donny Suhendra doing a guitar duet. Out of the blue she was offered to play, and so she did! After that night, rumors were spreaded amongst fellow jazz musicians in Bandung. That was when she started playing regular gigs as a vocalist and guitarist every Saturday nights at Uncle's Storage Café in jl. Naripan, Bandung.

Soon Anthony Entertainment got her involved in some Christmas events, visiting several nursing cares for elders and Christmas Choir Competitions of Elementary and Junior High school students in West Java. The more time passed the more gigs she was offered! She performed solo performances at Braga Citywalk, the Papandayan Hotel Jazz Festival (TP Jazz), Ruang Putih and Jazz Break (Bumi Sangkuriang Ballroom) all in Bandung. In the month of May 2016, she was playing solo performances in a few jazz festivals such as the Pekalongan Jazz Concert, Borobudur Jazz Festival and the opening of the Jeff Lorber concert in TP Jazz. Nayra was opening a drama/religious concert of Malaysian singer/composer, Imee Ooi’s sound of wisdom in Medan, North Sumatra on june 4th and june 12th at Jakarta Convention Center.

With senior fingerstyle-guitarist Nelson Rumantir, she performs solos and duets regularly at Exodus Lounge, KuninganCity in Jakarta.

Nayra got to sit in with Idang Rasyidi Band and Indra Lesmana Trio at TP Jazz in Bandung. Starting in December 2016, Nayra is featuring with the young and talented jazz-fusion band in Bandung called the New Equinox and they do regular gig every Monday night at Uncle’s Storage Café in Bandung. And at the moment she also forms a power jazz trio under her name the Nayra Dharma Trio with young (15 year-old) talented accoustic and electric bass player Nicolas Dheo and composer, arranger and pianist Jason Limanjaya. Nayra is doing gig regularly in solo performance at Braga Permai, Bandung and Nayra Dharma Trio at Café Cinde, Taman Pahlawan in Bandung. In addition of regular gig, Nayra often performs for special events such as at the Geological Museum in Bandung, Children Championships at Gedung Merdeka, Bandung.

Nayra had also won the runner up winner at Yamaha Folk Guitar Competition 2016 in Jakarta. Resulting, she has got contracted by Yamaha as guitar demonstrator starting April 2017 for one year.

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Tesla Manaf

Influenced by the peculiar type of music in classic, contemporary, jazz and progressive rock—under the name of Krzysztof Penderecki, John Adams, Steve Reich, Gyorgy Ligeti, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Pat Metheny, YES, ELP and Gentle Giant—Tesla Manaf, who grew up in a family with no background music but has diverse taste, particularly from his father, has given him a liberation to utilized the time and space to developed his skill up to 9 hours per day—ignoring the school hours at the moment. No wonder the tiny Tesla were able to record his name as a winner at many festivals award by Yamaha Music specialized in guitar classic, which has accompanied him until the age 19th, the moment when he opened the new chapter by learning Jazz after escaping to Bandung, where the resolution of his life to be a professional artist in music field had been declared.

In these five years period of his artistic career, he arouse the achievement he got back then, mentioned as the best newcomer at the one of the oldest jazz festival in the world, Jazz Goes to Campus Festival and selected for nomination in reader’s poll at the prestigious jazz magazine, Downbeat, in four nomination; Guitarist, Composer, Jazz Album and Jazz Artist.

Along with that accomplishment, New York Based Music Label, Moonjune Records, owned by Leonardo Pavkovic, has got attracted by Tesla’s captivating charm that he represented in each movement on his music by being his helping hand on distribution for his newest album. The world consent to be the same mind with Leonardo’s objectives. Many reviews Tesla got from his international debut self-named Album “Tesla Manaf” (2015) such as Progbrasil (Brazil), CultureJazz (France), Kakereco (Japan), DistritoJazz (Spain) and AllaboutJazz (US).

Making music with sensitivity to surroundings formed personally before reaching the universally desirable result is his leading principle. Music as a generosity how he develop his humanistic sight. He embraces the experience he lived by, whether it’s harrowing or fortifying, he gets to translated it into notes, designing the plots and movement, then convey it in a wholehearted rendition.

This perspective is quite essential for being an artist. Performing at Lanjong Art Festival 2015 has given him the chance to turned up this internal ingenuity that he gained the same in art residency project in Babayan Culture House, Cappadocia, Turkey in November 2015.

At the beginning of 2016, he has his own concert at Komunitas Salihara, Jakarta, which has thoughtfully successful as the part of presenting the independent alternative jazz music scene in Indonesia. The concert was held in the middle of managing his own funding through phenomenal social campaign with the medium of crowdfunding by musicians, fans, partners and colleagues to fulfil the chance that had been awarded to him for having a Tour Concert self-managed by the fans of him in Japan, who is the combination of tour manager and musician. The tour performance happened through the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya and Osaka held in 10 days with 7 performances and begin as an initial intention of presenting the music of Tesla Manaf and the networking through labels and booking agents and festival promoters.

For him, live is a story, being alive is how to retell it. He shows his intention by engaging himself as performer and composer to the society of music industry, attentively in sound engineering, music album producing and film scoring. And being the leading man on the stage, he gathers the chemistry by any collaboration set he could hold, in some way ensemble, traditional instruments with culture mixture and acoustic format could provide.

He enhanced his domain essentially by two remarkable album, The 3rd Album of his life; “It’s All Yours” (2011) ft. Mahagotra Ganesha—a traditional Balinese gamelan ensemble, which had given a contribution to describe the dialogue among human, God and nature. And the last, “A Man’s Relationship with His Fragile Area” (2014) which has lead his presence advanced toward our extent; “Most definitely one of the best CDs of the decade forwards and backwards,” as once has sentenced by Acoustic Music, Netherland.

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