Johan Robert Wambrauw who is known as Robby Wambrauw, a keyboardist and the brain behind legendary reggae bands Black Company, Asian Roots and Abresso passed away on Monday, April 12th in Jakarta. Black Company, Asian Roots and Abresso are like brothers by blood. They came from the womb of Jamaican music creativity in Indonesia and became pioneers of this music scene from late 1980s to 1990s.   

Robby is known to have fallen ill over the last year and died in solitary at his boarding house in Jl. Baladewa, Tanah Tinggi, Johar Baru. He was buried the same day in the public cemetery of Semper in Northern Jakarta. Robby went after his compatriots in Abresso, Akon Bonay (bassist) and Boyke Pattipelohi (drummer) who had gone before him.  

Dommy Fenetiruma, Abresso’s frontman, said to Kultur that they are losing someone who makes Papuan music alive. Robby was the man behind the composition and master piece of some Papuan legendary reggae ethnic songs in the albums of group vocal ‘Rio Grime’ such as ‘Wayai Windawe,’ ‘Yawa Uraki,’ and ‘Kawarine.’ The last song mentioned is covered again by one of Indonesian well known reggae bands, ‘Marapu.’

“Uncle Robby is someone who’s very firm and tough in character but whenever it comes to music, he’s a very cool person to work with. He has a Midas touch that to me is very distinctive compared to other reggae keyboardists I knew. He has a good feeling on music when on recording. He can play many instruments except drums. He is the soul to Abresso besides Akon. The two are like minus and plus that when they meet can create such a powerful energy.”

Moreover, Seno Sugiarto, manager and the vocalist of Asian Roots added that Robby is like a brother to his life. They have become friends since Seno was still in junior high school. Their friendship continued until they played music and formed the band ‘Black Company’ and later ‘Asian Roots.’

“We usually call Robby as ‘bapa Raja’ (King) or Mas T (brother T). He would always come with ideas in reggae and I must admit that his passion and soul is so reggae. In some songs in Asian Roots albums Robby gave many ideas in music blocking. The latest, I made a single with the help of Robby and Hansel (guitarist) entitled “Get the world.” Unfortunately, it has not been launched yet. It turns out that this song is inspirational since Robby has already got his new world.”

(yedi)