Published first in 1997 by his Kartini label, Jalan Kopo is the second and perhaps nicest of three Indonesian-pop fusion albums made by Mustapha Sabah Habas Mustapha, whom some call "Colin Bass." The first of these, Denpasar Moon: International Dangdut was released in 1994 on the German Piranha label, likely because Bass, though English, lives in Berlin. This album, which features Bass's vocals, mixes the modern Indonesian pop forms dangdut and degung with a number of international pop and world music influences. Despite the different flavors, Denpasar Moon has a very sweet homogenized pop sound, and it became a hit in Japan. The third album, So La Li was reviewed by GMR and is a more ambitious, more conceptual project. Jalan Kopo lies in the middle, to some extent a crisper version of Denpasar Moon.
Jalan Kopo was recorded in Bandung, capital of Sunda, a hundred or so miles east of Jakarta. The title of the album is taken from the street called "Jalan Kopo" where the Jugala recording studio is located. The music on the album is somewhat similar to that on the first half of the classic Smithsonian Folkways album called Music of Indonesia 2: Indonesian Popular Music. These tracks feature a pop/rock hybrid called dangdut, mostly performed by the legendary vocalist Rhoma Irama. Bass used some of the same Jakarta musicians who backed Irama on Jalan Kopo; he tried to used the best musicians he could, he mentioned especially Madi on gendang/tabla and Suki on bamboo flutes (you will hear them on the last track which was recorded in Jakarta).
Almost all the tracks on Jalan Kopo feature Saba Habas Mustapha on vocals, backed by a fusion of those pop sounds, sweet as Indonesian food, and various international styles, though because pop has been around so long there, it is difficult to tell what exactly is being fused. What is coconut and what is corn syrup? Is this fusion or exotica? I'm not an ethnomusicologist so I don't know. What matters is that what makes the album so good is the smoothness, the crispness, the variety, and the skill in musicianship, composition, production , (the latter two both by Bass) whipping those birdlike bamboo flutes and kecapi zither in line with bass and keyboard guitar.
The fast track I always liked best is perhaps "Tennessee Ernie Ford fusion." "Too Much Luggage" is about trying to get from Bandung to Surabaya with too much luggage for the train. It features, as some other tracks do, Jadi playing the wavering Sudanese one-stringed fiddle. "Waduh" is Java-funk again with fiddle. The six minute mostly instrumental title track, "Jalan Kopo" pits techno drums with those pretty flutes...certainly a "dance" tune. Ismet Ruchimat's omnipresent zither and those bird-flutes...and western- sounding drums... begin the album on "Bandung." Bass sings to an exotic mysterious melody about walking the streets of Bandung:
"Behind Closed doors and alleyways
We tried to hide from the eyes of the day
Til Mata Hari sees the sun go down
Sleeplessly waiting for the day.
In Bandung."
The last track, "Habibeh", is recorded in Jakarta with Orchestre Puspita and has a slightly more fluid sound, but that is hard to say with so much diversity!
Jalan Kopo lazed for a while on the European world music charts. A number of people I know, including myself, really liked the album and still do.
Some of my remarks come from a phone interview I did with Sabah Habas Mustapha in 1998. You can find it transcribed on my web site.
Who knows where Sabah Habas Mustapha is now? But you can find Colin Bass and his Kartini label here.
