Tong Tong meets Erasmus Huis Jakarta

Annabel Laura is an independent musician, artist and yoga teacher based in the Netherlands. She lives with many passions and translates her inspirations into music, drawings, paintings and guided movement and meditation. She travels the world with a healthy jungle fever, inspired by nature and pursuing a sustainable lifestyle, making music everywhere. Annabel Laura has a second base in Bali and often travels to the country of her ancestors Indonesia to tour and get inspired. In 2017, she released her first album Ibu Pertiwi, which means ‘Motherland’ in Indonesian. Her first music video See the Beauty premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival and toured extensively through Europe and Indonesia.

Jessica Manuputty is a Dutch singer of Moluccan descent. In 2008 she graduated cum laude from the Utrecht Conservatory.

She released a record in 2017 with Moluccan songs that she played with her family. As a freelance singer she has worked for artists such as Postman, Barry Hay, Karin Bloemen, Hans Teeuwen, Het Metropole Orkest & Jacob Collier and others.

From 2013 to 2017 she sang in the live band of the eccentric and versatile artist Jett Rebel. She has toured sold-out clubs such as Paradiso and major festivals including Pinkpop, Lowlands, North Sea Jazz and Sziget.

In 2017 Jessica presented her first solo album TOMA! (produced in collaboration with Jett Rebel) at the Tong Tong Festival. Her second album will be released in the late summer of 2021.

Ciao Lucifer is the funky singer-songwriter duo Ciao Lucifer, Willem Wits and Marnix Dorrestein from the Netherlands: the musical result of a high school bromance. Their music can be described as surreal art-pop, inspired by the music of the early nineties. They play lo-fi power pop, which sounds like Unknown Mortal Orch

Bottlesmoker is a dance/electronic duo from Bandung, Indonesia. Anggung Suherman (Angkuy) and Ryan Adzani (Nobie) produce music that allows you to dance, laugh and chill at the same time. Their musical explorations span from tribal to techno, from pacific vibes to psychedelic, from downtempo to ambient, the sound and visual palettes continue to grow and add more flavors to the mix.

Robin Block is a poet, musician and theater maker. His work straddles the interface of language, music and performance. He also maintains a weblog about the history, art and traditions of Indonesia and the former Dutch East Indies. Robin played the solo storytelling show both in the Erasmus Huis and at the Tong Tong Fair. He is the founder of the music theater group Project Wildeman and part of the Dutch-language pop duo WOLKEN. He also writes columns for the Indonesian magazine Moesson. His performance Manual for the Displaced premiered on August 11th this year.

Storyteller tells a story in colors and sounds, about a journey full of unexpected encounters. BOI AKIH effortlessly interweaves modern jazz and improvised music with folk traditions from all over the world. She create an unconventional yet completely recognizable and accessible sound of its own. Acoustic sounds and electronic soundscapes mingle with the versatile, warm voice of Monica Akihary, who sometimes sings in English, sometimes in Haruku, the language of her father’s island (Moluccas/Indonesia/Melanesia). She is a special singer, who immediately touches the heart of the listener.

In Storyteller, Akihary and guitarist and composer Niels Brouwer, who together form BOI AKIH, play together with the Hungarian recorder player Dodó Kis and the Guinean kora player Sekou Dioubate. With musical curiosity, recorder player Kis moves nomadically between styles and traditions, from improvised to Early music and Hungarian folk music. Dioubate plays a 35-string kora, with additional chromatic strings, specially designed for the BOI AKIH repertoire. He combines his knowledge of the West African musical tradition with an inquiring mind and the desire to integrate diverse musical influences into his playing. These four musicians evoke a world where boundaries dissolve and distances between places, times and traditions seem to exist.

“Storyteller is full of musical tales that are exciting and charged, but also fairytale-like, theatrical, carried and even solemn. Ten world stories brought together on one imaginative CD, with a luscious array of music that can easily last a whole year!” (Music Frames Dec 20)

“..balance, daring, new musical insights and an intriguing mix of composed and especially improvised music” (Jazz Nu Jan 21)

“Boi Akih has always had a fascination for special sounds, produced by unusual instruments. Boi Akih’s music is timeless and magical.” (Jazzism Feb 21)

Shishani means ‘crown’ in one of Namibia’s native languages. She is an exceptional talent whose music transcends genres and cultures. Shishani is a singer, guitarist and songwriter who is loved for her soothing and powerful voice; a voice that shoots straight to the heart.

During her career, Shishani has received multiple awards and nominations and toured internationally. Her roots are Namibian and Belgian, but she grew up mainly in the Netherlands. Through her work these worlds come together. Her vocal sound has both a mystical lightness and the power to pierce the soul with the spirit of an activist running through her lyrics.

Shishani has performed internationally at Glastonbury Festival (UK), Africa Festival Wurzburg (Germany), Amsterdam Roots Festival, Lake of Stars (Malawi) and several countries, including France, Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland, Greece, Italy, India, Morocco, Moldova, Latvia, South Korea, China, Jordan, Kenya, South Africa and its home countries the Netherlands, Belgium and Namibia.

This year she made Shishani & Sisterhood for the Erasmus Huis, part of which will be performed in the program of Tong Tong meets Erasmus Huis Jakarta.