Hot Jazz Musicians Returning to Cool Bromo Mountain’s Slopes for Festival

The cool, misty slope of Mount Bromo in East Java will play host to the second Jazz Gunung (Mountain Jazz) concert next month with more musicians in the lineup.

The one-day event at the Java Banana Bromo, a lodge, cafe and gallery at Bromo, Probolinggo, East Java, on July 3, will be hosted by prominent Indonesian artists Butet Kartaredjasa and Djaduk Ferianto.

“We are holding Jazz Gunung to attract more people to Bromo. We want them to know there is more to Bromo than just the beautiful sunrise,” said one of the organizers, Sigit Pramono, who is also the publisher of the Jakarta Globe.

“At Jazz Gunung, we want to perform jazz using ethnic instruments,” Butet said.

Djaduk and Butet are two of the three founders of Kua Etnika, a group that presents ethnic music, traditional Javanese and Balinese styles with a modern twist.

Another performer who displayed his own particular guitar style at last year’s event is I Wayan Balawan. The Balinese-born musician will perform his tapping technique, using piano technics to play the guitar, blending it with a traditional Balinese gamelan ensemble.

New faces at the concert this year will include Syaharani, one of Indonesia’s leading female jazz vocalists, and guitarist Donny Suhendra, with whom she has worked on several albums and projects since 2006.

The organizer expects 500 guests to attend the show, with tickets available from Rp 100,000 ($11). The event drew a crowd of about 400 last year.

“This is not some kind of exclusive event, more like a folk party,” Sigit said.

“The Tenggerese [local] people could even watch this from the street.”

The 2,329-meter Mount Bromo is an active volcano that forms part of the Tengger mountain range in East Java and is also part of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.

It sits in the middle of the vast Sea of Sand and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java.