Chrisye
Chrismansyah Rahadi, better known by his stage name Chrisye, was an Indonesian progressive pop singer and songwriter. In 2011, Rolling Stone Indonesia declared him the third-greatest Indonesian musician of all time.
Born in Jakarta of mixed Chinese-Indonesian descent, Chrisye became interested in music at an early age. At high school, he played bass guitar in a band he formed with his brother, Joris. In the late 1960s, he joined Sabda Nada, a band led by his neighbours, the Nasutions. In 1973, after a short hiatus, he rejoined the band to play in New York for a year. He briefly returned to Indonesia and then went back to New York with another band, the Pro's. After once again returning to Indonesia, he collaborated with Gipsy and Guruh Sukarnoputra to record the 1976 indie album Guruh Gipsy.
Following the success of Guruh Gipsy; in 1977, Chrisye recorded two of his most critically acclaimed works: "Lilin-Lilin Kecil" by James F. Sundah, which eventually became his signature song, and the soundtrack album Badai Pasti Berlalu. Their success landed him a recording contract with Musica Studios, with whom he released his first solo album, Sabda Alam, in 1978. Over his almost 25-year career with Musica, he recorded a further 18 albums, and in 1980, he acted in a film, Seindah Rembulan. Chrisye died of lung cancer in his Jakarta home on 30 March 2007 after a long illness.
Known for his stiff stage persona and smooth vocals, Chrisye was critically acclaimed in Indonesia. Five albums to which he contributed were included in Rolling Stone Indonesia list of the 150 Best Indonesian Albums of All Time; another four of his songs were classified as some of the best Indonesian songs of all time in a later issue of the same magazine. Several of his albums received certification of silver or gold. He received two lifetime achievement awards, one in 1993 from the BASF Awards and another posthumously in 2007 from Indonesian television station SCTV.
Early life
Chrisye was born Christian Rahadi in Jakarta on 16 September 1949 to Laurens Rahadi, a Chinese-Betawi entrepreneur, and Hanna Rahadi, a Chinese-Sundanese housewife from Bogor. He was the second of three sons born to the couple; his brothers were Joris and Vicky. The family lived on Talang Street near Menteng, Central Jakarta, until 1954, when they moved to Pegangsaan Street.While attending GIKI Elementary School, Chrisye befriended the neighbouring Nasution family; he became especially close to Bamid Gauri, with whom he played badminton and flew kites. He also began listening to his father's record collection, singing along to songs by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin. After graduating from elementary school, Chrisye attended Christian Middle School III Diponegoro.
Beatlemania reached Indonesia while Chrisye was in Senior High School PSKD Menteng, and increased his interest in music. Responding to Chrisye's desire to play an instrument, his father bought him a guitar; Chrisye chose the bass guitar, as he considered it the easiest to master. As they could not read music, Chrisye and Joris learned to play by accompanying their father's records and songs recorded from the radio. In time they began playing at school events, with vocals by Chrisye. During this period he began smoking in school; when caught, he was punished by being forced to smoke eight cigarettes at once, in front of the assembled pupils. However, this failed to cure his habit and he eventually became a chain smoker.
Career
Band member and early projects (1968–1977)
In the mid-1960s, the Nasution siblings formed a band; Chrisye and Joris watched them play songs by Uriah Heep and Blood, Sweat & Tears. In 1968 Chrisye registered at the Christian University of Indonesia to fulfill his father's wish that he become an engineer. Around 1969, however, Gauri invited him to join the Nasutions' band, Sabda Nada, as a replacement for their bassist Eddi Odek who was ill. Pleased with his performance, the Nasutions asked him to stay as a permanent member. The group had a regular gig at Mini Disko on Juanda Street and freelanced at birthday and wedding parties. When Chrisye had a chance to sing while performing covers, he attempted to sound as much like the original artist as he could.The group was renamed Gipsy in 1969, which they considered more macho and Western-sounding. The schedule for the band, which had no manager, became increasingly busy, since they had begun giving regular performances at Ismail Marzuki Park. As a result, Chrisye decided to drop out of UKI; in 1970 he transferred to Trisakti Tourism Academy, where he considered the study schedule to be more flexible.
In 1972 Pontjo Nasution offered Chrisye the opportunity to play in New York. Although ecstatic, Chrisye was afraid of telling his father, who he thought would disapprove of the idea. He eventually fell ill for several months, during which time the rest of the band left for New York. After Chrisye discussed his fears with Joris and his mother, his father agreed that he could drop out of college to join Gipsy. After his health improved, in mid-1973, he left with Pontjo to meet Gipsy in New York. That same year he dropped out of Trisakti.
While in New York, Gipsy performed at the Ramayana Restaurant, which was owned by the Indonesian gas company Pertamina. The band, housed in an apartment on Fifth Avenue, performed in New York for almost a year, providing Indonesian-themed music and covering songs by Procol Harum, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Although Chrisye became upset that he could not fully express himself through covers, he continued to work.
Upon returning to Indonesia at the end of 1973 Gauri and his brother Keenan introduced Chrisye to former president Sukarno's son, the songwriter Guruh Sukarnoputra. As the Nasutions worked with Guruh to prepare for their next project, Chrisye began to write his own songs; in doing so he noted that he had difficulty with lyrics that included hard consonants, and worked to avoid them. The following year, he went back to New York with another band, The Pro's. In mid-1975, with several weeks left on his contract, Chrisye's parents called from Jakarta to tell him that his brother Vicky had died of a stomach infection. Unable to return home immediately, Chrisye became distracted by thoughts of his family and began to find playing difficult. As the band returned to Indonesia, Chrisye "cried for the duration of the flight" and sank into a depression.
Chrisye stopped playing altogether until the Nasutions invited him to rejoin Gipsy for their new project with Guruh, who offered Chrisye several songs in which he would be lead singer, with lyrics written especially for him. Overcoming his depression, he joined the group as they practised at Guruh's house in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. The band often rehearsed late into the night; the indie project mixed Western rock and Balinese gamelan and was produced collaboratively. Recording took place in mid-1975, with only four songs completed in the first several months. It was released to critical acclaim in 1976, with a production of 5000 copies. The success of Guruh Gipsy convinced Chrisye that he could sing as a soloist.
In late 1976 Chrisye was approached by songwriter Jockie Soerjoprajogo and Imran Amir, head of Prambors Radio, who asked him to provide the vocals for the Prambors Radio Teenage Songwriting Competition; Chrisye refused, as he did not want to sing an Indonesian pop song. Several days later Sys NS, an employee of Prambors, approached Chrisye while he was meeting with Guruh and Eros Djarot. Sys emphasised that Prambors needed Chrisye for "Lilin-Lilin Kecil", composed by James F. Sundah. After hearing the lyrics, Chrisye agreed. The song was recorded in Irama Mas Studio in Pluit, North Jakarta, and included on an album with the other contest winners. Originally the ninth track, "Lilin-Lilin Kecil" was placed in the lead position to increase the album's marketability after the original format sold poorly. The song then took off, receiving much airplay; the album was the best-selling of the year.
After the success of "Lilin-Lilin Kecil", in mid-1977 Pramaqua Records approached Chrisye and offered him a contract for an album, Jurang Pemisah. Working with Jockie, Ian Antono, and Teddy Sujaya, Chrisye recorded seven songs for the album; Jockie did two more. Although he was pleased with the results and had high hopes for the album, Pramaqua decided it was not commercially viable and refused to promote it until Chrisye's subsequent album Badai Pasti Berlalu took off. After his unsuccessful attempt to buy up all the stock, the album was released, but because the general public considered it a sequel to Badai Pasti Berlalu, the sales were poor. Although the cassettes reached radio stations throughout the country, Chrisye later described the album as selling "as warmly as chicken shit".
That same year, Chrisye and several artists including Djarot and Jockie recorded the soundtrack for the film Badai Pasti Berlalu over two months. After the soundtrack won a Citra Award at the 1978 Indonesian Film Festival, Irama Mas studios approached the group to do a soundtrack album for a flat fee. With Chrisye and Berlian Hutauruk on vocals, the soundtrack was rerecorded in album form in Pluit over 21 days. It was released under the same name as the film, with a picture of actress Christine Hakim on the cover. The album included Chrisye's first songwriting credit, "Merepih Alam", but sales were stagnant for the first week until radio stations began to play the singles.
Early solo and film career (1978–1982)
Chrisye's tenor voice and performance on Badai Pasti Berlalu led Amin Widjaja of Musica Studios to ask him to sign with Musica; Widjaja had been scouting him since the release of Guruh Gipsy. Chrisye agreed on condition that he be allowed creative freedom, to which Widjaja reluctantly agreed. In May 1978 Chrisye began work on his first album with Musica, Sabda Alam, incorporating several songs by other artists and some written by himself, including the title song. He recorded it after locking himself in the studio with the sound engineer and arranger; despite Amin's wanting to monitor their progress, Chrisye refused to allow him access. The album, greatly influenced by Badai Pasti Berlalu and drawing on the double tracking technique pioneered by the Beatles, was released in August that year. Heavily promoted in a campaign during which Chrisye was interviewed on the national television station TVRI and on radio, the album eventually sold 400,000 copies.The following year Chrisye recorded Percik Pesona with Jockie. Produced after Amin's death, the album featured songs written by Chrisye's close friend Junaidi Salat, as well as Jockie and Guruh. The album's title was chosen by vote; the titular song was not released as a single. Percik Pesona, released in August 1979, was a critical and commercial failure. After discussing the issue with other artists, Chrisye blamed the album's failure on its similarity to Badai Pasti Berlalu. As a result, following a period of contemplation, he began branching out into different genres. That same year he was on the panel of the Prambors Teenage Songwriting Competition, held on 5 May.
After deciding that romantic pop songs influenced by easy listening would suit him best, Chrisye began recording his next album, Puspa Indah. All but one of the songs were composed by Guruh Sukarnoputra; the album also featured the English-language "To My Friends on Legian Beach". Two of the songs, "Galih dan Ratna" and "Gita Cinta", were used in the 1979 film Gita Cinta dari SMA ; Chrisye played a minor part in the film's sequel, Puspa Indah Taman Hati, as a singer. Due in part to the popularity of the film, Puspa Indah was well received and sold well; "Galih dan Ratna" and "Gita Cinta", released as singles, were also commercially successful.
In 1980 Chrisye appeared in the Indonesian film Seindah Rembulan ; at first reluctant to accept the role, he was convinced by Sys NS that it would be fun. He later regretted the decision, considering the film crew unprofessional and often fighting with director Syamsul Fuad. The following year, he released Pantulan Cita, a collaboration with Jockie. After the album flopped, Chrisye took a long sabbatical.