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At the Outdoor Main Stage arrived lady of nu soul, Lala Suwages replacing Tohpati Ethnomission. She’s been active in the music scene ranging from jazz, soul to pop for a decade the least. Her soulful voice and ability to write songs have been her strength since then. She has grabbed some remarkable achievements ever since she started her professional career in singing by joining “Tabitha’s Friends”. She participated in International Festival 2003 and grabbed the Major of Almaty prize winner “Voice of Asia” in Kazakhstan, Russia. From there she continued to perform in prestigious festivals such as Java Jazz and JakJazz. She has released two audiophile records, “Devoted to You” and “I Love You This Much”. Both album showed her simple, soulful and chill out music style. These albums were published in Singapore with the distribution coverage went far to reach Hong Kong. The latest album “Langkah Baruku” was the first one released in Indonesia. The single “Tanpamu” became a hit in some major radio stations. The album also featured one very well known song of Fariz RM entitled “Nada Kasih” which she sang together with Joeniar Arief.
Back performing in JakJazz should be something she enjoyed very much, as she gave her all on stage. She brought her songs taken from the album with her soulful voice. The crowds loved it and gave applause many times. Besides having her own song, she also sang Kool and the Gang‘s “Get Down on It” before singing the famous “Nada Kasih” this time in more jazzy approach. - Jazzuality.com
Discography
Albums:
1. Devoted To You (2007)
2. I Love You This Much (2008)
3. Langkah Baruku (2009)
Photos
Bio
This talented singer and songwriter is not a new comer in Indonesian music scene. Lala, whose her special uniqueness stands out in not only her voice, but also her performance, started her very first professional singing career when she joined a vocal group called "Tabitha's Friends" with their hit song called "Gebet Sana Sini". Lala Suwages, her unique voice has brought her to many opportunities. She was involved in the execution of album works for Element (2000), Shanty (2001), and Iwan Fals (2007) as their backing vocal. In International Festival 2003, Lala gained the Major of Almaty prize winner "Voice of Asia" in Russia. Since then, this talented young singer who was born in Jayapura on 15 November 1980, has received numbers of invitations to perform. The name Lala Suwages is often heard in festivals such as, Java Jazz and JakJazz. In Java Jazz Festival 2007, Lala proves her singing ability with "Indonesian Voice of Soul", collaborated with "Daughters of Soul" from Holland. It was also in the same festival that she became one of the agenda fillers for "A Journey of Krakatau". Yet, in JakJazz 2007 and Java Jazz 2009, Lala got to appear on her own stage area performing her works personally. Her love, idealisms, and her huge talent in music are her provisions to exist in singing field. Not only she appeared off-air and recording, she also filled in for jingles in TV commercials and radio. She even takes part in creating a jingle for one of Indonesia's biggest TV production. Lala Suwages unique vocal can be listened in her two audiophile records, "Devoted To You" (2007) and "I Love You This Much" (2009). In the album which each contains 12 recycled songs, offers a music which she called "simple, soulful, chill-out music". This album is special because it was published by Life Records Industries PTE LTD, a label based in Singapore with distribution coverage up to Hong Kong. Currently, Lala Suwages has just released her new album. She calls it "Pertama" (The First), where she fully recorded new songs. For Lala, this is "Langkah Baru" (A New Step), therefore, this album was also given by the title "Langkah Baruku" (My New Step). The album that was produced and released by Sandhora Music and Catz Records which is the label under the flag of TARRA GROUP, who supervises Indonesia's largest Home Entertainment retail network: Disc Tarra and Societie, comes with a full package of nuanced Soul Music, R&B, and Funk. There are touches of Jazz in the chords without leaving the strong pop element. "Pop Soul" said Bobby Sandhora, the producer and music conceptor for Lala's album. "Langkah Baru" (The New Step) is a song which was written by Lala herself, together with Bobby Sandhora and Devi Ramondhi. The singer who is famous for her curly hair and urban style, had remake the song "Langkah Baru" (The new Step) from the compilation album "Supergirls", 2007, with a more fresh title, "Langkah Baruku" (My New Step). There are many other interesting songs to be listened and enjoyed, from the lyrics, the power of improvisation, vocal harmonization and music arrangements. Apart from "Tanpamu" (Without You), "Langkah Baruku" (My New Step), Lala also wrote the song "Hey!" (which she often perform as a gig opening song, "Hey! it's me, back again"), "Terimakasih" (Thank You), and "Maafkanku" (Forgive Me) which is a very soulful ballad. Indra Aziz, the singer of "Jakarta City Blues", proudly presented the song "Mereka Tak Mengerti" (They Don't Understand) to be sung by Lala. May the new step of Lala Suwages become one of the few options from many types of music available in this homeland, as well as providing opportunities for her to keep contributing her talent by livened up and promoting Indonesian music scene.
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