Abresso as one of the pioneers of reggae music in Indonesia is not just an urban legend. There are quite a number of sources of writings and statements that underlined Abresso’s role. Kultur summarizes some facts to get closer to knowing this fascinating outfit.

 

Coming from the east to the west, hit the ‘metropolis centre’ and spread the spirit of Jah music. Abresso is a band whose members are mostly Papuan youths in Jakarta. The band underwent several name changes and line ups in their early days. Started as Airmood, a pop rock and R&B outfit. Airmood began to “blow” in the early 1980s, with a line up consisting of Akon Bonay (bass), Dicky Mamoribo (keys), Ian Gebze (guitar), Coca (drums), William Rumbewas and Becheq Muabuay (vocals). They started their way by participating in TVRI’s (Indonesia’s National Television) legendary program at that time “Aneka Ria Musik.” Armed with simple musical instruments, they passed the audition led by veteran musician Christ Pattikawa and appeared several times in the event. Airmood released two albums; 1981 & 1984 with repertoires such as: “Masuk Putih Keluar Hitam”, “Gaya Intermeso”, “Tiket Bis Malam”, “Pasrah Ombak Putih”, “Unlike Woman” dan “The Man Come Upon the Town”. Airmood often shares the stage with big names like God Bless and SAS.

Robby Wambrauw (keyboardist of Abresso and Asian Roots) told kultur that after being on hiatus since the second album, finally in 1986 Airmood was back and transformed into Black Airmood with a new line up: Akon (bass & vocals), Ian (guitar), , Sandy Bethay (vocals), Boyke Pattipelohi (drums) and Robby himself (Keyboard). Sandy is the former vocalist of the Legendary Black Brothers and the younger brother of Benny Bethay (Black Brothers’ bass player), and Boyke is the younger brother of Jochie Pattipelohi (Black Brothers’ Keyboardist). They then appointed Seno Sugiarto as band manager. Sometime later Jimmy Ignacio also joined, a percussionist from Curacao, a small island nation that was a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean. Black Airmood later changed its name to Black Company since Jimmy’s arrival and “gradually” started playing reggae.

They started their early gigs in various jakarta’s night clubs such as cafes in Kemang Raya, Chicago pub Blok M. This chapter marked when they headlined a ‘reggae night’ gig at the Taman Impian Jaya Ancol art market. This historic gig was made possible by the collaboration between Kasuari Enterprise, owned by Ian Gebze and Taman Impian Jaya Ancol as well as a tobacco company sponsor. This is an important momentum because “live events” are a form of “deterritorialization” of public spaces that are still unfamiliar with reggae. Furthermore, it also shows how crucial the synergy between cultural capital and money-capital is; into providing space and place for the sake of “survival” or the continuity of performing arts and its actors. Although at that time it was not very promising for this type of side stream music. The nightlife business such as cafe and pub as well as Ancol reggae night, (although not as grand as Sumfest and Sunsplash), has become a “stepping stone” in an effort to make memorable and seductive introduction that fuel its growth and development in the country.

Robby added that around 1990 the Black Company was divided into Abresso (Akon, Dicky Mamoribo, Ian, Sandy, Boyke), and Asian Roots (Jimmy, Dewi, Robby, Ade Zairi, Cendi Luntungan, Morgan, Iskandar, Hendro, Akhir and Pram). However, in practice, these two groups work hand in hand as the personnel support each other in a line-up exchange.

Even though they have many references, Abresso often appears covering several hits from Birmingham’s finest, UB40 like Red red wine, Kingston Town and Here I am. At that time, UB40 was a major act in Indonesia to influence much alike reggae outfit. One of them is UB-2 led by Anci Laricci, the vocalist who sounds like Ali Campbell with their flagship hits such as Susi, Nona manis, dan Beda rasa.

Dommy added, Abresso has a very unique sound because it is not oriented to Jamaica or England as the ‘gateway’ for reggae. Instead, Abresso finds its own colour.

Its Papuan reggae signature can be traced through a collaborative album with vocal group Rio Grime before Abresso officially formed. Almost all of Abresso’s personnel became session players in the process of making the album. The touch of the Abresso’s duo, Akon and Robby as the music director on the three of Rio Grime albums with JK Records created a unique masterpiece composition in integrating reggae into ethnic music style.

This joint force gave birth to some original works inspired by the herky-jerky beat from Yosim Pancar (Papuan Traditional Dance). They also went smooth to bring magical yet hypnotizing hits like Irsinggit, Sewirya, Hendang mak hendang, Wayawai windawe, Kawarine, and Yawa uraki. They genuinely produced the tracks instead of doing just a mimicry.

They delivered their work into a sublime state, not just a fetish for repetitions that had already existed. That is what can be described about this collaboration version of reggae. “With honesty, singing from the heart, (hopefully) it will have a place in the heart. Yes, this is our motto”, Dommy explained. 

Unfortunately, throughout their musical career, Abresso only produced one album which was released in 1997. This album was produced by Leonard Kristianto, the son of Judi Kristianto, owner of JK Records which is said to be the first project upon his return from music school in America. Besides that, in these compositions, the pop influences are actually stronger than reggae making. It’s like 50% pop and 50% reggae. Abresso is not playing reggae purely. This EP contains 8 songs: Ada apa, Mari bergoyang, Aku tak percaya, Gombal, Sa tra mau (I don’t want to) dan I’ve been thinking of you.

After the album, Abresso went on hiatus for a long time until its revival in 2005 with new line up from several newcomers such as Dommy Fenetiruma (vocal), Jacoba Womsiwor (vocal), Pilatus Daisiu (guitar), Jonna and Ari (backing vocals). They were still performing through various stages and were about to record their second album. But after the death of Akon and Boyke Phu, Abresso’s steps seemed to have stopped.

Even though they did not embrace the national-scale fame, Abresso has played a pivotal part in influencing the birth and development of other reggae groups in Indonesia such as Rastafara and Jamming, to name a few. And this is still continuing with various outfits today. Abresso’s name deserves to be imprinted in the history of Jamaican music in Indonesia.

(author:yedi, editor:sam)