An NZ band enters Indonesia...will it be a stayer?

Introducing Dear Frontier, a husband and wife duo from Wellington, New Zealand, who recently played a gig in Jakarta on August 13. This is probably the first New Zealand sound that entered Indonesian realm since probably Bic Runga, who didn't make a big impact. Dear Frontier got exposure to the Jakarta crowd mainly thanks to the fact that Hana Miller, one half of the band, is half Indonesian and used to be a frequent Jakarta Post contributor.

Whilst I personally find one of their singles, "Space Age Ending Now", catchy I'm not so sure about the band's future in Indonesia. The typical Indonesian music listener is not into, or not yet used to, "raw" sound that Dear Frontier plays, which is rather commonly found in the NZ music scene. Indonesians are into neat orchestrated sounds, and by "orchestrated" I don't strictly mean orchestra a la Erwin Gutawa and Addie MS.

I'm also not sure about Dear Frontier's "smart" sound. Their EP, which is released online, is called "Post Capitalist"....Indonesian market is not smart enough yet to figure out songs with subtle references to capitalism and Franz Kafka. Or they just don't want to. They are more into beautiful poetic lyrics about simple things in life. For references to neat orchestrated sounds and beautiful lyrics about simple things in life, YouTube KLA Project, Afghan or Maliq & D'Essentials, the famous band which helped Dear Frontier record the whole three songs in "Post Capitalist."

Whether or not Dear Frontier wants to seriously tap into the Indonesian market, Lord knows. My own personal verdict is that they most likely want to keep their "uniquely NZ" sound, despite help from Maliq & D'Essentials and other famous Indonesian musicians whose help they'll probbably enlist for their next projects. If you listen to Dear Frontier's "Problem", you'll agree that there's an undeniable Maliq & D'Essentials involvement there, but as a whole the sound is the duo's own. This way, maybe it doesn't matter that Dear Frontier and the Indonesian market will never fully embrace each other.

Meet Dear Frontier...



Oh, and here's hoping Dear Frontier will stick to its name. Too many NZ bands or solo artists changed their names after some time. Cases in point: Charlie Ash became CASH, Bionic Pixie became Zowie, Phony Bone became Graham & The Zoo...

First hi in 2011 - the twin edition...

Happy new year everyone! I learned last week, as The South Jakarta Community Choir (of which I'm a member) entered a new season, that it was ok to exchange happy new year wishes at the end of January.

I started the year 2011 being stalked by a psycho. Long story. Thank God he's out of my life now.

It's just dawned on me that all my life, I've been surrounded by identical twins. I have triplet cousins on my dad's side of the family and identical twin cousins on my mum's side. My paternal granduncles were also identical twins. My two good friends, photographer and occasional Jakarta Post columnist Will Wiriawan and Kiwi filmmaker Leo Woodhead, have identical twins. In Leo's case, I'm also friends with his twin, Max. Even my former suitor back in Auckland days, whom I won't name, had an identical twin who died in infancy.

What's God trying to tell through all this?

First hi in 2010

Hey guys!
I have to delete the last post because it was too long and didn't look good on this blog. The last post was a sample article, I've decided sample articles (to be sent to such big name publications as The Jakarta Post) should belong to Facebook notes. The sample article on band reunions that I put here and then deleted was edited and put in its rightful place - the Facebook notes. Many of my other sample articles are there as well, for your enjoyment.
Simply comment and ask to be added if you want to be my "friend" on Facebook!
I've sent two different sample articles to Free! and Kompas thus far. Yes I'm serious about pursuing journalism as much as I'm serious about making Vintage Reading big!