Lisa Siregar

Malik and D’Essentials performing live at Kama Sutra on Sunday. (Photo: Muhammad Assranur, JG)

Maliq and D’Essentials: 7 Years of Smooth Soul

Angga from Maliq de Essentials during the band's performance at Java Jazz 2009 in March. (Photo: Jurnasyanto Sukarno, JG)

To celebrate the seventh anniversary of their formation, soul band Maliq and D’Essentials put on a special show on Sunday at Kama Sutra in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, South Jakarta.

Fans waited in line for up to two hours to get into the show. The opening acts were Twenty-First Night and Boogiemen, both Jakarta-based bands.

Hard Rock FM announcer Pandji Pragiwaksono kept the audience occupied with quizzes after the opening acts as the stage was prepared for the main event. At a little past 8 p.m., the members of Maliq and D’Essentials took the stage. The male members all wore tuxes, and female vocalist Indah looked stunning in a striped shirt and belted long skirt.

Kicking off with “Intro” and “Sunshine,” two tracks from their debut album, “1st,” the band played an 18-song set that touched on all five of their albums during a show that lasted almost two hours.

Indah said before the show that it was the start of what the band hoped would be a series of shows in Indonesia’s major cities.

“This isn’t a massive concert, because we don’t have a mass of fans yet, but we thought about every little detail in this show and hope everyone is happy with it,” she said.

Although the band’s seventh anniversary fell on May 15, the show was held on June 7, adding a touch of symmetry for a band that is now seven years old and which has seven members.

Maliq and D’Essentials started performing in 2002 with eight members, with Angga and Widi producing and writing the songs as the Maliq part of the group’s name.

Maliq initially stood for “music and live instrument quality.” The D’Essentials at that time were Indah and Dimi on vocals, Satrio on lead guitar, Ifa on keyboards, Jawa on bass and Amar on trumpet.

The group started playing in cafes and lounges with the aim of introducing soul music to local audiences.

In 2005, the band released “1st,” which contained the singles “Terdiam” (“Silenced”) and “Untitled.”

In 2006, the band rereleased the album as “1st Maliq & D’Essentials,” with a few new tracks added. That same year, one of the two female vocalists, Dimi, left to start a solo career and Angga took over some vocal duties. In 2007, Satrio left and was replaced on lead guitar by Lale.

The group’s latest album, “Mata Hati Telinga” (“Eyes Heart Ears”), was launched in March and has only six tracks. The band said that although the album had fewer tracks, it was representative of their music. They also said they planned to release smaller albums each year, instead of full-length albums every two years. “We are more optimistic now, as we know that our music has a place in the local market,” Indah said.

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