Harry Roesli - 1976 - Titik Api

 

Harry Roesli - 1976 - Titik Api

One of the most brilliant and original characters on the Indonesian scene, Djauhar Zaharsjah Fachruddin Roesli, better known as Harry Roesli, will make an infinite number of albums in the second half of the seventies that earn him the deserved epithet of Frank Zappa of Indonesia. More than in the music itself, the similarities between these two great artists can be found in the overwhelming creativity and originality and in the sarcastic approach in the lyrics and music. Among indonesian artists  Harry is one of the most authentically Indonesian and his music is the one that pays less debt with the West. This is why he could also be the most difficult artist to assimilate.

Roesli debut in 1973 with the release of the first and only Philosophy Gang record, a seminal record for the development of Indonesian prog but quite immature and which still paid debt to Western music. After the Philosophy Gang chapter, Harry begins a very long solo career, a bit discontinuous, but in which he will reach peaks of absolute excellence.

First, in 1973 he founded the Ken Arok theater company, carrying the musical work of the same name around until 1975, when he disbanded the company to go to Holland to study composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory. In 1976 the album "Ken Arok" was released, testimony of the homonymous musical work and manifesto of the poetics that will characterize his subsequent production. "Ken Arok" definitely breaks with the previous album, it is a real rock opera in Indonesian sauce. Elements of the Indonesian tradition begin to make their way into Roesli's music. Although still a little bit unripe, the result is surprising!

With the subsequent "Titik Api", in 1976, the definitive turning point takes place, Harry almost completely abandons Western stylistic features and begins an experiment in an attempt to blend traditional Indonesian pentatonic music with Western diatonic music (an approach that will be taken in ways other than Gurh Gipsy). Roesli and his band wonderfully combine Indonesian traditional music and their instruments with classic rock instruments: bass, guitars, drums and keyboards. In particular, the latter and how they naturally blend with the dynamics of gamelan, are the hallmark of the Indonesian artist's music. Older brother of "Ken Arok", the album "Titik Api" sublimates Roesli's poetics and becomes the absolute pinnacle of his discography and Indonesian prog in general. In “Titik Api”, unlike almost all the Indonesian prog albums of the period, there is no trace of bands like Genesis, Yes, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd or other English prog groups; Roesli defines his style in a unique and original way as no one else has ever succeeded and will succeed in the musical panorama of the archipelago!

In addition to these two works, between '76 and '79, Harry will release an infinite number of albums: "Gadis Plastik" and "Tiga Bendera" ('77), "Jika Hari Tak Berangin", "Daun", "Ode To Ode "and" LTO "in '78 and" Kota Gelap "in '79. In addition, the two records resulting from the collaboration with the vocal ensemble Kharisma.

With "Tigra Bendera" we return a little more to Western music, but the result is still great. There are now references to Pink Floyd, Santana, ELP and especially Gentle Giant, with extensive use of the typical counterpoint of the English band. The following "Gadis Plastik" is a little less progressive and a little more pop, with funk and bluesy streaks, the latter due to the harmonica of his faithful collaborator Harry Pochang (former member of the Philosophy Gang). The 1978 records, albeit inferior, present interesting ideas, continuing along the lines of “Gadis Plastik”. An exception is the splendid EP "Daun" which is certainly the most progressive and not surprisingly published by SM. Between '77 and '78 the two collaborations with the vocal ensemble Kharisma (in which a very young Fariz RM also participates in the drums) also stand out, discs always poised between melodic and more experimental solutions and where in some points involuntarily recalling also the Magma. In particular, the second shows us the most experimental and ingenious Roesli that we had left in Titik Api and Ken Arok.

To close the golden cycle is "Kota Gelap", a disc, not exceptional, with more hard rock ideas that closes the most creative and prolific period of the Frank Zappa discography of Indonesia. He then definitively concentrated on his studies, returning to the land of Holland. He will then work for soundtracks, will engage politically and disseminate Indonesian music, but will no longer produce works up to this period. 

(http://www.arlequins.it/pagine/articoli/corporetro.asp?chi=78)

TRACKLIST:

A1 Sekar Jepun

A2 Merak

A3 Jangga Wareng

A4 Kebo Jiro

A5 Epilog

B1 Prolog

B2 Curah Hujan

B3 Dinding Tulang

B4 Semut

B5 Bunga Surga

B6 Lembe-Lembe

B7 Epilog

Credits:

Bass Guitar – Imang Wandi

Choir [Sinden Pengiring] – Etna (11), Kania, Lenny, Nike

Drums, Percussion – C. Rivet

Fiddle [Rebab] – Bapak Yoyo (track: A3)

Gong [Go'ong] – Entis

Harmonica, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion – Harry Potjang

Keyboards – Yohan Verplak

Keyboards, Electric Piano – Elva Hasbullah* (tracce: B4), Indra Rivai (track: B5)

Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals – Albert Warnerin

Lead Vocals, Lyrics By, Guitar, Keyboards – Harry Roesli

Other – Didi, Dudu, Susan Hobert

Trumpet [Tarompet Penca] – Iri Sutisna (track: A4)

Idir - 1976 - A Vava Inouva

 Idir - 1976 - A Vava Inouva

Hamid Cheriet (Kabyle: Ḥamid Ceryat; 25 October 1945 – 2 May 2020), better known by his stage name Idir, was an Algerian Kabyle singer-songwriter and musician. Referred to as the "King of Amazigh music", he is regarded as one of the more significant modern day figures in Algerian and Amazigh culture, history, and struggle. Along with musicians like Ferhat Mehenni and Lounis Aït Menguellet, Idir helped popularize Kabylian folk music. Initially training to be a geologist, his interest for music was piqued when he was called to sing on state radio as a late substitute. After finishing his compulsory military service, he moved to France in 1975 and embarked on his career in music. Idir took a hiatus during the 1980s before returning in 1993. He was a passionate advocate of the Kabyle and Berber cultures.

Idir was born in Aït Lahcene, Aït Yenni, Tizi Ouzou Province (part of French Algeria at the time), on 25 October 1945.He originally studied to become a geologist and worked at an oil and gas field. In 1973, he was asked to be a late substitute for Nouara on Radio Algeria. He sang "A Vava Inouva", a lullaby that incorporated the "rich oral traditions" of his Berber culture. Although the song became popular, both in Algeria and abroad, Idir did not learn about this until after he finished his military conscription. In 1975, he left for France to begin working on his debut album, also titled A Vava Inouva. The title track was translated into seven languages and became a major success. Idir would later comment how "the song had chosen [him]". The song A Vava Inouva – inspired by a traditional story about a young girl trying to save her father from danger – carved out a new juncture at the intersection of several pathways. These included worldwide movements of decolonisation, revalorizations of cultural heritage, and new technologies like the cassette tape. Idir also sought recognition of his Tamazight language and Amazigh culture, in opposition to Algeria’s dominant Arabo-Islamic ideological orientation. 

These pathways came together in A Vava Inouva. It turned out that Idir’s return to the village was inspired by what he saw happening in the world. A Vava Inouva is built around the sung refrain of a story that grandmothers had long told throughout Kabylia. Idir set the well-known refrain between new verses penned by Ben Mohamed. In typical village scenes the grandmother spins her tale, surrounded by family members engaged in their own activities, snow falling softly outside. When the song hit the Algerian airwaves, it was electrifying: a friend reported seeing people walking backwards down an escalator to hear it playing over a store’s ground-floor speakers.

It was also the first Algerian song to play on French national radio, in 1975, coinciding with the first visit of a French president (Valéry Giscard d’Estaing) to Algeria since Algerian independence in 1962. From there, the song took off, reportedly selling some 200,000 copies by 1978. It would be translated into over a dozen languages and taken up by groups around the world.

After releasing the album Ay Arrac Nneɣ, he took a break from writing music throughout the 1980s. Idir re-entered the music industry in 1993 when he released the album Les Chasseurs de Lumières ("The Light Hunters"). He became known as an ardent advocate of the Kabyle and Berber cultures. In 1995, he performed together with fellow Berber Lounès Matoub, who was murdered three years later. His 1999 album, Identités, featured him singing with Manu Chao, Dan Ar Braz, Maxime Le Forestier, Gnawa Diffusion, Zebda, Gilles Servat, Geoffrey Oryema, and the Berber National Orchestra. It was ultimately a widespread success. Idir's release of the album La France des Couleurs ("France of Colors") coincided with the 2007 French presidential election, in which Idir championed multiculturalism and immigration. He released his final album, Ici et Ailleurs ("Here and Elsewhere") in 2017. The following year, he returned to his native Algeria after being away for 38 years, since 1980. He held a concert there in support of the Algerian protests that eventually led to the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Idir died on 2 May 2020 in Paris at age 70. He had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and was hospitalized two days before his death. News of his death was first announced on his official Facebook page, apparently posted by his children. A message of condolence conveyed by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the President of Algeria, via Twitter praised Idir as "an icon of Algerian art" and stated that the country had "lost one of its monuments".

Idir participated in many concerts supporting different causes. For example, on 22 June 1995, more than 6,000 people attended a concert for peace, freedom, and tolerance performed by him and his friend, singer Khaled, initiators of the association "La France, la Vie" ("France and Life"). Idir also took part in the concert in memory of Lounès Matoub, the Kabyle singer who was assassinated in 1998. In 2001, Idir defended his national identity once again at "Le Zénith" in Paris at the "21st Berber Spring", a celebration of Berber culture. On 8 July that year, he organised a special fund-raising concert to support the population in Kabylie, at a time when anti-government riots were taking place in the predominantly-Berber region. Idir was joined by a number of stars and thousands of French fans who turned out to "Le Zénith" to support the population in Kabylie. In Algeria, Idir’s songs gave Kabyles a sense that their culture counted: that Amazigh customs and traditions were not backward or outmoded but could form a part of a modern Algerian nation. The songs helped lay the foundation for the widespread revalorisation of this heritage in later decades. At the same time, they created a sense of rootedness and a feeling of home for the many Algerians living in the diaspora.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idir_(singer))
(https://theconversation.com/idir-how-a-song-from-the-village-took-algerian-music-to-the-world-141418)

TRACKLIST (1976):

A1. A vava inou va4:25

A2. Alger2:10

A3. Cfiγ ou cfiɣ3:36

A4. Tamacahuţ n'tմe kurt3:55

A5. Zwiţ rwiţ3:25

A6. Muqueγ ou muqleɣ3:15

B1. Azwan2:55

B2. Ssendu4:10

B3. Ise fra4:05

B4. Rsed ay ides3:05

B5. Tagrawla3:05

B6. Tiγri bbwgdud2:20

Credits:

Directed By: Claude Dejacques

Engineer: Maurice Valensin

Photography By: Boccon-Gibod

Liner Notes: Amokrane

Drums: Dede Ceccarelli

Flute: Gérard Geoffroy

Guitar, Bass, Vocals: Omar Meguenni

Synthesizer: Jean Musy

Vocals, Guitar, Percussion: Idir