Musikimia

Where Padi temporarily stopped, Musikimia begins.

Given award-winning, million-copy-selling pop rock Padi'€™s hiatus for the past five years, four of the band'€™s members decided to continue making music together by forming Musikimia last year.

Padi bassist Rindra Risyanto Noor, vocalist Andi Fadly Arifuddin and drummer Surendro '€œYoyo'€ Prasetyo were joined by renowned sound engineer Stephan Santoso as guitarist when they established Musikimia on Aug. 17, 2012.

Padi'€™s rhythm guitarist, Ari Tri Sosianto, supported his friends by acting as manager for the band. They decided to carry on working together while the group'€™s lead guitarist, Satriyo '€œPiyu'€ Yudi Wahono, was busy focusing on his own projects.

Despite being slightly vague when asked if and when Padi would be resurrected, each of the four members insisted that Padi had not disbanded.

Musikimia is aiming to reach the heights as a band in its own right.

'€œWe had prepared a full album quite some time ago but we felt this strong feeling of love toward our motherland, so we decided to record and release this mini album,'€ Yoyo told reporters during the album'€™s recent launch at Sony Music Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta.

The mini album titled Indonesia Adalah (Indonesia Is) contains five tracks, namely, '€œIni Dadaku'€ (This Is My Chest), '€œApakah Harus Seperti Ini?'€ (Does It Have To Be Like This?'€, '€œKolam Susu'€ (Milk Pond), '€œMerdeka Sampai Mati'€ (Free Till Dead), and '€œTanah Airku'€ (My Motherland). Yoyo said the album was inspired by some of the topics that made headlines in 2011-2012.

'€œThey were all bad-news stories, which put our country in a really bad light. We felt that we needed to do something to offer some positivity and hope to our fellow Indonesians,'€ he said.

'€œKolam Susu'€ is a cover of a decades-old hit by pop band Koes Plus, while '€œTanah Airku'€ is a national hymn written by Ibu Soed.

Fadly said the decision to include the cover songs was an effort to reintroduce these uplifting songs to the younger generation.

'€œSupporting good Indonesian songs is part of Musikimia'€™s concept. No modern songs are written like these songs; they have a deep meaning. It is our duty to keep these songs alive,'€ said the 38-year-old vocalist.

While the cover songs showcase Musikimia'€™s collective talent as accomplished musicians, the other three songs are quite a different form of rock from that usually associated with Padi.

Padi has often been described by local critics as an Indonesian U2 in reviews lauding the band. Musikimia still has the sound of rockers going all out with their songs, but with a heavier hard-rock sound.

Stephan brought more raw energy to the band with his chugging guitar sounds and thick and emphatic distortions.  These characteristics can be heard clearly in the uptempo '€œIni Dadaku'€ and '€œMerdeka Sampai Mati'€.

In '€œMerdeka Sampai Mati'€, Fadly reads excerpts from poems written by left-wing poet Widji Thukul '€“ who went missing in 1998 amid the country'€™s political and social unrest at the time.

'€œWe secured permission from Widji'€™s family to use the poems. It is our way of showing our respect for him and people like him. They have their own way of expressing their love for and to the nation,'€ Fadly said.

Musikimia promised a different musical style and theme for their first full album, however, which is slated to be released in 2014.

'€œThe full album is going to be different than the mini album. We don'€™t want to get stuck on just one theme; we want to develop,'€ Yoyo said.

'€œIt'€™s going to be a big album. We have big plans for it,'€ Yoyo promised.

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