The Beat talks to Igo from local band, Telephone about life and things going on in his world. He looks exactly like he does in the press releases. I am not sure what to expect from this dark-eyed stranger. His face is intense. When Igo sits down, and starts to speak about his music, the passion is clear, yet he is surprisingly easy to talk with. The songwriter and singer of the band Telephone, which got together January 12, 2003, Igo’s background is one of words - it’s the lyrics in the songs he listens to that really get into his heart. “What I want is more people to listen to my music and to read my lyrics. I hope I can help them or give them inspiration. That is my goal…my aim.” After studying English at Udayana University, he joined up with Fish (guitar), who has a mixed Balinese/Javanese background and they all teamed up to follow the challenging road of the musical lifestyle together. Each song is an ethno cosmic journey. Incorporating electronic music (sampling, drum loops, synthesizer bass), ethnic instruments including didgeridoo (Australia), sitar (India), trumpet, gamelan, Jembe (African drums), and rocking lyrics, Telephone creates a unique sound, varying greatly with other popular Indonesian artists to date. With the release of their second album, Selamanya (the first album having been released on an independent label last year) the 12th of May, 2004, their communicative adventure is really underway. Igo gave Telephone’s first CD to his friend, Adithya (now the band’s manager), who in turn gave it to his boss at Dwisurya Jaya Enterprise to have a listen. It struck him so much that he wanted to produce it. Telephone was signed to the DSM label, and the band headed to Musika Studio in Jakarta to record Selamanya. Only a few months after the album release, the band is already getting air-time on Mustang, I Radio, and Hard Rock Radio in Jakarta, Ardan and Oz in Bandung, and on Colours, EBS, and Istara in Surabaya. Their first video clip for the single Selamanya is on the nonstop hits on MTV Asia. They are going to continue their playing tour of Java, and hope to start promotions in Bali when the political climate surrounding the elections seems to have calmed down. Igo says he loves performing because, “It’s the real time that I can share what I want to say to other people. It’s the real moment.” 90 percent of the lyrics originate from personal experiences. Igo, Key, and Fish work together on creating melodies, and then Igo listens to the music and lets the auditory voyage bring the lyrics to him. He listens to “what the music wants to say. I feel if it is sad or aggressive, and add lyrics to strengthen the feel.” I listen to the first song on the album, Gadis Galixy, and I hear exactly what he is talking about…I feel like I am floating in outer space. When the flow of verbage gets bogged down in his mind, Igo jumps on his 1956 vintage motorcycle, “Black Dog,” and lets the wind inspirationally whisper into his mind. The songs are mostly about his relationships with love and with god. I asked him why so many people write about love. For him, “love is like a trigger. Love can make war. Love can make everything.” In relation to God, Igo talks about “the condition when we must forget about the past, and go forward with a new life.” He credits God with making him believe he had a new life path, and now he says that if he wants to do something, he lets god decide it. “I just work as hard as I can.” He writes songs in Indonesian instead of English because of the added challenge of lyricism brought about by the limited vocal range of vowel sounds in Indonesian. He feels this makes him work harder to get the sounds to flow with the accompanying music. With influences from tragic - genius musicians including Blind Melon, Sublime, and Bob Marley, I get the feeling from Igo that he wants to take this band into legendary status, not to chase fame, but to share his words and the messages contained within. They chose the name Telephone for two reasons. Electronic sounds are the musical backbone of the band, so they needed a name closely tied with this theme. Telephone was the most appropriate because they also wanted a name that echos their drive, which is a desire to “communicate what we feel, what we have been through” to others. “We want this band to be a telephone; we want to call everybody and say hello.” I’d say they are well on their way to making a significant introduction to Indonesia. Pick up their CD Selamanya and take an inspirational ride with Telephone.

Telephone muncul lagi di album yang cenderung lebih tergarap. Dengan lagu lagu baru tambahan untuk melengkapi sebuah album. Konsep Cosmic atau cosmo music yang mereka tawarkan semakin menunjukkan karakternya disini. Dimana terjadi paduan antara musik etnik dan modern yang diolah menjadi jenis musik yang cukup unik. Aransemen didominasi oleh bunyi bunyian keyboard, plus instrumen instrumen etnik seperti suling, tabla, raga dll.. yang ditabrakan sedemikian rupa, sehingga terdengar menyatu dengan cukup baik. Melodi melodi gabungan gabungan di tiap lagu terdengar sangat segar dan menarik... menambah semangat ....ayo teriak HOREEE.... bagaimana mungkin sebuah band dapat mengolah Suling, Terompet, synthetizer, plus teriakan paduan suara menjadi begitu menimbulkan semangat dalam lagu “ingin”... angkat jempol satu yang tegak untuk mereka... Begitu pula semangat , dalam melodi melodi yang sederhana namun menyejukan dan membangkitkan gairah seperti angin pantai sejuk, di lagu yang bermuatan religius ini “denganMu” ...”.. gemgamlah tanganku, tunjukkan padaku surga yang pernah kau janjikan untukku...” mengingat mereka dari Bali, they live in Heaven already folks. Lagu “keliling dunia” bakal gue angkat satu jempol,, hmm ngga... gue bakal angkat dua jempol... buat backing vokal yang dengan mistis nya dapat Membangkitkan gairah sekali lagi... segar... Ayo siap berlompatan dalam lagu berdistorsi masif dan agresif serta kental dengan Hardrock ini berjudul “sandy”,, what a great scream backing vocal choir.... damn hunny...lupakan saja orang yang sudah menyakiti hati mu dan ayo berteriak keras keras HOI HOI HOI HOI..... yeah.. hore.. Siap kan diri untuk jatuh cinta pada pandangan pertama, dan berubah sedikt melankolis gara gara ‘pesona’ Gue ga bisa menciptakan kata kata lain selain bahwa aransemen mereka memang asik... mungkin saja jika vokalis Igo dapat lebih bersemangat dan sedikit lagi lebih lepas dalam bernanyi, dan mungkin lebih banyak berlatih membentuk vokal yang pas dengan musik musik bersemangat ini. mereka akan jauh lebih baik dari ini.. (bukan berarti jelek.. cuma memang perlu polesan dikit sih...) Bayangkan Pop, Rock, Elektronika, Etnik, Gairah, Sederhana, Rumit, World Music, Semangat, Angin Sejuk, tradisional, modern. Semuanya ditabrakan... inilah mereka... Eric Wiryanata www.deathrockstar.tk