Freedoms Jazz Award 2016

Tesla Manaf plays his psychedelic piece in Freedoms Jazz Award 2016.

The consistency of a few people in the industry has led them to hosting a music award for the young and talented musicians whom they are so dedicated to find in this country. These people are some of the first who spotted Joey Alexander. And after hosting Freedoms Jazz Festival last year, iCanStudioLive reintroduced similar concept in August 2016, but by adding a score in holding Freedoms Jazz Award 2016 as the closing remark. They carved themselves a name among other notable recordings in current development of jazz in the country, a music genre that is still favored by a limited audience and less-indulging to the majority population, albeit a belief by a Jakarta indie band frontman that all music is genuinely pop, yet with a differing use of instruments. 

It was not coincidental, then, to hear Benny Likumahuwa, who made an opening act to the event with Indonesian All Stars in Usmar Ismail Hall, 28 October, and who said that there is no jazz as we know it. To baffled moderate number of audience that evening, he explained shortly that  there is only pop or rock at a particular time, played with jazz disposition, or bahasa jazz, he described.

Indonesian All Stars play classical tunes with sweet improvisation in the opening of Freedoms Jazz Award 2016.

Figures of his class such as Margie Segers and Oele Pattiselano were beside him on the home-like stage, quite as attentive as the listeners. His son, standing on the other end of the stage as a host, was one of the four members who made this entire event came to be. 

17 days of music festival in conjunction with Independence Day, culminated in the Youth Pledge Day, Irsan Wallad, Lucy Willar, Harry Murti, and Barry Likumahuwa deliberately clearly made it look patriotic. But while introducing themselves together on the stage, a studio boss, an entrepreneur lady, a drum maker, and a bassist, there is a sense of common pride in each of them, in that they have played a role in running a commercially-driven music institution. The night was a n achievement in their own class.

So to winners of seven Freedoms Jazz Award categories. For best newcomer, for instance, the award went to Kevin Suwandhi, who learned piano since 9, had a music lesson in Farabi in his teenage years, and later on at New School, New York, to study jazz. There are also AbsurdNation from Semarang, guitarist Tesla Manaf who had his album produced by US recording, and many other participants of the festival. 

People who has earned some popularity recently also share some joy in the evening. The Youtube music video Jakarta City Blues singer Indra Aziz, Lantun Orchestra lead singer Nesia Ardi, who is a part of a jazz band famous for their support of traditional music. She won the Artist of the Year award.