Taman Nada was formed in 2011, January 14 to be exact. The formation process was quite instant: there was a need to perform in one of the Surabaya event at that moment. “I made the band because of my ego. I was offered by a friend to play in his event, but I didn’t yet have any band. Because I wanted to play, I said yes, even though the band hadn’t exist yet. Only after I said yes that I looked for the band members, one by one” explained Atthur Razaki, the vocal as well as the brain behind Taman Nada.

Since then, it has been two years since Taman Nada first tasted the Surabaya indie scene atmosphere with their folk-rock music. Within these two years, the band has changed their format from an acoustic band to a full band. Unfortunately, these musical changes and explorations have not been accompanied by any physical or digital release. So, what is it that we can expect from this Surabaya folk-rock quintet?

Musically, Taman Nada serves crisp acoustic pop music with the addition/help of a few instruments, such as ukulele, pianica, harmonica, bass and drum. They are much influenced by the music of Iwan Fals, Simon and Garfunkel, Ebiet G. Ade, and Fleet Foxes. One of their most crowd pleasing songs, often performed as a climax at the end of their set, is ‘Pulang’ (Going Home), which can be streamed via Soundcloud player below. Even though thus far they have only released a live demo, Taman Nada—which consists of Atthur Razaki (vocal & guitar), Salman Muhiddin (vocal & guitar), Zaki Rifian (guitar & ukulele), Nandiwardhana P. S (harmonica & pianica), Dwiki Putra R (vocal & bass) dan Arya Pratyaksha (drum)—can be considered as a quite established solid band due to their high performing frequency in various events.

Taman Nada is now preparing a tour, together with Cotswolds, that is independently organized together with c2o. The tour is scheduled to hop around 10 cities in Java, and will begin early next month. Prior to the tour, Taman Nada will release their first EP this August. This mini album will have Taman Nada songs in their early format as well as their new format.

This album uses a Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA. You are free to download, process and re-distribute it, as long as you give attribution to the original source of this material, do not use it for commercial purposes, and must use the same license. Download songs and cover from archive.org.

This article was written by Rona Cendera, first published in Ronascent: The Indonesian Music Webzine. English version translated by Erlin Goentoro.

Fase

Selamat pagi, secangkir kopi awali hari
Awan menari melangkah pergi
Di hari yang sama bermekar bunga berpenuh warna
Kumbang bercanda, aku pun gelisah
Reff: Adakah kisah yang sama bila ku pergi
Mengejar mimpi usang oh itu imaji
Dan aku sendiri, terperdaya sunyi
Di sebuah misteri kan jadi histori
Gugurlah sang waktu, runtuhkan dinding-dinding belenggu
Dimensi yang baru, jalan hidupku
Reff
Badai tlah usai, semilir angin menuntun langkah
Di jalan yang beda. Apa kabarmu?

Marilah Mari

Terbang ke awan, susuri samudera
Kicau gereja, eloknya cemara
Sambutan manis untukmu sahabat
Jauhi bising, alam semesta
Duduk bersama bentuklah lingkaran
Nyanyikan pagi, siang dan malam
Lantunkan laut, gunung-gunung, gedung
Haturkan tangan lalu tarikan
Regangkan lelah kitarilah aku
Rentangkan tangan, rengkuhlah angkasa
Sempatkan puja, sisipkan doa
Langitkan harap lautkanlah cinta
Jangan terlelap teruslah terbangun
Sampai habis musim menemanimu
Berdiri tegak, sembuhkan luka
Lanjutkan cinta sebarkanlah kisah
Marilah mari, mari bersama. Ajaklah kawan sanak saudara. Tak takut gelap tak takut hujan,
biarpun lapar kering kerontang. Biarpun lapar… Tetaplah datang

Pulang

Saat kantuk meradang
Dan sadarmu tak lagi lapang
Sepasang mata mengandung rona rumah
Ada kalanya pisah
Dia suntuk sementara
Namun mata tlah merah
Akan kabur di muka
Pulang… Pulang…
Pulang… Pulang…
Pulanglah… Pulanglah…
Lekas Pulang.

This post is also available in: Indonesian