MIKA: The Origin of Love Jakarta Concert 2013

Friday, May 10th 2013, my years of being a crazy fan tweeting Mika have finally paid off. Jakarta’s The Origin of Love 2013 Concert held at Skeeno Hall Exhibition, Gandaria City. It was a cloudy afternoon and I rushed from office with butterflies flying in my stomach.

His first gig in Jakarta packed in a more of an intimate setting. It was a simple stage compare to his circusy grander decoration, with light boxes backed the band and Mika’s piano at the center of the stage surrounded by cool hanging bulbs. The band played the Italian part of The Origin of Love when Mika entered the stage, but instead of continue the song, he opened his concert with Relax (Take It Easy) and second later we were magically spelled into his charisma.

He finished the first song with a big smile and said, “Jakarta can sing”. Right! I was also so shocked by the audience. At first, based on where the promoters sale the presale tickets, I think they who’d come just want to be there for the sake of being cool, but apparently they were all donkey’s devoted fans. Skeeno Hall might not a full house but those people definitely knew how to sing and eagerly move their hips until the very last song. Psyched!

Last night was a mixed across Mika’s three records played in a powerful lively performance. He clapped, danced, swayed, jumped, leapt around the stage and joked around with his band mates. God, I wonder how his body could be that stretchy. The high-pitched vocal range heard in harmony with the band’s instrumental beats. He’s very communicative and never forget to made the audience part of the show. He knew how to build the tension in his performance; played it mellow in Stuck in the Middle and Happy Ending, made a flirty piano session to open Big Girl (You Are Beautiful), playfully sing some songs with one damn lucky girl choir (I’m green with envy, damn those girls!), in the end of Love Today he fooled around with Max, the pianist/bassist, then bashed the audience again with Celebrate, he even danced and laid down on top of his piano in several songs. He sang Lollipop twice and closed the night with the more upbeat one.

Mika’s definitely made to be a performer. An amazing one.

One thing noted, one hour and a half is not enough! Say that I’m greedy but 17 songs weren’t able to feed my thirst of his appearance. It felt like an anti-climax because he went away without any last word. It turned out because he must perform in X Factor Indonesia. Fuck it.

Well, after all it was an ocean amount of fun.

Thank you for coming to Jakarta and I’m looking forward to see you again, Mr. Penniman!

Set list:

Relax, Lola, Lollipop, Billy Brown, Popular Song, Stuck in the Middle, Rain, Big Girl (You are Beautiful), Origin of Love, Underwater, Emily/Elle Me Dit, Happy Ending, Love Today, Celebrate, Grace Kelly, We Are Golden, Lollipop (Encore)

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Mika: 3 albums short review & Jakarta’s concert preview

From ear to heart, Mika stole my attention through Lollipop which brought me to the Life in Cartoon Motion (2007).  His music’s so danceable that you’d take as light and easy listening yet also stunned you with deep great lyrics. His amazing high-pitched voice and singing style were a fresh breakthrough from regular male singers that day. Mika’s not just sung but expressed his feeling through the songs. He sad when it’s sad, he knew when to scream and dance. He’s not just singing, he is performing and you’ll feel it though you don’t see him perform live. He’s album speaks. Pitchfork may gave this album 1,5 but what did they know? It’ll hypnotize your soul. Mika knew how to make us sing along with his everyday-life-experienced lyric, from Stuck in the Middle, Relax, Take It Easy, to My Interpretation. He made sensitive issue as an interesting story in Billy Brown. Through Love Today, he made you dance in the morning and for myself, he gave me the confidence in Big Girl (You Are Beautiful).

Mid 2009, he’s back with The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Good, this boy knew how to keep me on his charm. The album’s so lively and cheerful. We Are Golden brought the youth in your rotten soul and give youngsters the bright days because “we are not what you think we are, we are golden”. He gave us the melancholic feeling through I See You and By the Time, two tracks that have strong piano element mixed the deep feeling in his voice. We could hear that this album has bolder arrangement yet still give us his theatrical character.

Then last year The Origin of Love (2012) came out. Mika stated that this album will be “more simplistic pop, less layered than the last one” and it’s true. Not that it’s less good; it’s just calmer than two albums. One thing that you can see clearly that there is a grown up Mika in this album. Beside the calmer music, he write beautiful ode to God in The Origin of Love, on loving himself in Emily and grown up love like in Step with Me. Fun yet serious Mika found in Love You When I’m Drunk where you want to get out from lie relationship. This album pictured the responsibility and how it feels to grow up without scare you. He shows us what the real origin of love is. He picked up nowadays electronic arrangement and France influence here and there mixed up with his character bring us these damn good tracks.

Early this year, he announced that he’ll have concert in my city, Jakarta. I’ve been tweeted him for years so he could change his mind because rumor has it that he’s scared to come to my country for safety reason but it’s happening now! Finally the boy came to Jakarta on May 10th 2013 and will have his performance at Skeeno Hall Exhibition, Gandaria City.

See you soon, Mr. Penniman!

pic source here

The Sun – Leonardo

Sejak pertama kali mendengar single pertama dari album ini, Insecure, di radio, saya jatuh cinta.

The Sun dibuka dengan Insecure yang akan menjerat telinga anda dengan petikan gitar dan ketukan drum nan halus. Dilanjutkan dengan Wondrous Sky yang memiliki tempo semakin melambat dan memberikan kesan nyaman, seolah ingin menghanyutkan pendengar lebih jauh, ditambah dengan vokal berat-seksihnya Leonardo. Aih. Pada track ketiga ada Lights over Me yang seakan membangunkan kita kembali dari buaian lagu sebelumnya dengan beradunya petikan gitar akustik dan elektrik, ditambah bunyi tamborin, tepuk tangan dan suara mantap nan jernih Kartika Jahja (Tika & The Dissidents) sebagai backing vocal. Selanjutnya, anda harus bersiap dengan kejutan-kejutan yang diberikan oleh sembilan lagu lainnya.

Lagu kesukaan saya dalam album ini adalah Lights over Me, Blantant dengan lirik sinisnya yang Leonardo bawakan bersama Lani (Amazing in Bed) dan Midnight Hooray, teriakan Hooray-nya benar-benar klimaks.

Leonardo sebagai pencipta lagu juga sukses menghasilkan lirik yang beragam, anatara lain bercerita tentang kebahagian, kegalauan, dan kegetiran dalam percintaan juga kehidupan secara garis besar. Dalam lagu-lagunya, kita ngga hanya akan mendengar instrumen musik, tapi Leonardo juga membubuhkan efek lain, seperti suara batuk, siulan, pemantik api sampai suara rokok yang baru dibakar. Setiap lagu memiliki cerita dan kekuatannya sendiri. Leonardo mengajak pendengarnya untuk menggoyangkan kaki, kepala, berjoget semangat dan termenung sedih dalam album berdurasi 55 menit ini.

Saya yakin dua belas lagu yang disajikan dikerjakan bukan dengan main-main, terbukti dengan 2 tahun lamanya proses pembuatan album ini dan keterlibatan Anda dan Dharmo Soedirman sebagai produser, Andre Harihandoyo, Emil (naif), David Tarigan, Ricky (WSATCC) dan nama besar lainnya yang saya kurang tahu, mengingat pengetahuan musik saya yang sempit ini *uhuk*. Hahaha.

Singkat kata, The Sun adalah album yang kaya dan bisa menjadi pilihan bagi anda yang jenuh dengan musik Indonesia garapan stasiun tv swasta. Menurut saya, 30 ribu rupiah adalah harga yang sangat, sangat murah untuk menghormati karya anak bangsa sendiri.
Ingat, BELI bukan unduh.

Selamat menikmati! 4/5

East Japan Earthquake Press Photo Exhibition

Yesterday i saw this photo exhibition at Plaza Senayan. It is held from 10-18 March 2012. You can see how Japanese people survive from tsunami last year.

Didn’t take much pictures but this one broke my heart the most. Too bad it’s not in a good quality. Made by a son as a sign to find his father. It says, he’ll never leave his father alone.

A Wishing Tree. As i didn’t know what to write, my card written “be happy :)”, but i thought about this song:

Life is just a bowl of cherries, sometimes it’s afraid filled with worries. Don’t be afraid, when things go wrong, just be strong! When thing seems up in the air and everything is so unfair, and you stumble and fall. Just pick yourself up and sing! If one day you lose your way, just remember one thing, my friend. When you’re under a cloud just visit music and sing! If one day you lose your way, just remember that i’m here to stay. Don’t you give up, keep your chin up,and be happy! – Happy, Mocca.

x

Cerita Cinta Enrico (Enrico’s Love Story) – Ayu Utami

pic from

The book tells about Enrico’s life since he was born until his marriage about fifty years later. Mostly speaks on his relationship with his mother, how it affects his life. Describes a son point of view in seeking Mom’s love and attention, how complicated his world as he grew up from being a boy to become a man. Since I am a girl, I’ll never know how it feels to grow up as a boy but I think this was written pretty much far from cliché.

Ayu always wrote her writings as the reflection of what happened in the real world, focus on Indonesia’s historical background and social issues. Through Enrico, who was born from a military Dad and modern Mom and he was pushed to involve in one of Indonesia’s historical event since the very first day he opened his eyes, we learn to see that our nation’s history as the inseparable part of our life and influences the steps we take in life. Most interesting issues in this book for me: Ayu’s point of view about sin, marriage and the equality between women and men in the marital institution.

I am a big fan of her thoughts, bought this book precisely on Feb 7 and only take two days to finish it. Proud. Beside the story, I love the cover as well, so bright, bold and fun. 4/5

Review: 100 kata dalam 100 kata

Kumpulan cerpen yang ditulis oleh delapan pengarang ini menjadi bagus ketika mereka dapat mengemas cerita hanya dalam 100 kata. Kisahnya beragam, cenderung ringan dan mengenai kehidupan sehari-hari. Jika dibagi secara genre, mungkin, drama dan misteri bisa merangkum semuanya. Gaya penulisannya tentu saja kreatif, namun dari segi isi, saya rasa tidak semua bisa dibilang ‘wah’.

Penulis yang paling saya sukai adalah Laila Achmad dan diantara semua tulisan beliau dalam buku ini, “Menunggu Ibu” Pulang adalah favorit saya.