Mondo Gascaro’s Astonishing Album Launching Party of “RAJAKELANA”
Like what we witnessed during the album launching of “RAJAKELANA” this last Saturday (01/21/17), Mondo Gascaro donned a gray suit while walking to the stage with much ease. It’s like he could not wait to perform all the tunes from his new album and he did a little chit chat prior to the show. Mondo told us that he has traveled a lot with his wife and one of their destination was Siung Beach, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta and other beaches along Nusa Tenggara and Lombok coastlines. Almost all the songs in this album were inspired by beach’s breeze. Since he is fond of listening to Brazillian music, it becomes the underlying theme of his whole quest and travel while making this album.
After deciding to quit from his former band, SORE in 2014, Mondo Gascaro started his career as a soloist. He has made two singles in early 2015 which are “Saturday Light” with a b-side single called “Komorebi”. During the launching party, Mondo was not alone and he’s accompanied by his beloved wife, Sarah, and music expert, David Tarigan, guitarist Lafa Pratomo and RAJAKELANA’s collaborators. David Tarigan gave his opinion about Mondo’s new album and said, “His album is great. Mondo is the successor of Fariz RM, all kinds of music are listened by him.” “Mondo is an architect of atmosphere, and he could create all kinds of it,” praised David. He also said that if Efek Rumah Kaca’s album did not come out in 2016, then RAJAKELANA would instantly become the #1 album.
Being a perfectionist like he is, Mondo Gascaro added that his album is still far from perfect and he hasn’t felt satisfied. Upon hearing this, Lafa Pratomo just shook his head in disbelief and laughed. Inspired by the lyrics of national song, “Rayuan Pulau Kelapa by Ismail Marzuki, RAJAKELANA boasts a number of prominent collaborators including Bonita Adi, Alexandria Deni ex vocalist of The Monophones and Aprilia Apsari from White Shoes & The Couples Company.
“Lamun Ombak”, Mondo’s collaboration with Aprilia Apsari had a little fun fact behind it. He was inspired by the name of one Padang’s restaurant that he visited while he was on vacation with his wife. Thus, the song was titled after the restaurant’s name. “When I created this song I instantly reminded of Sari, only she could sing it,” uttered Mondo at Auditorium IFI Jakarta on the press conference.
“Strum und Drang (fur Ludwig Van)” became the opener for his set and he also did not forget to interact with the audience explaining a little bit of the song that he was going to play. “Naked” was up next on his setlist and he continuously sang song after song including his duet with Aprilia Apsari. “A Deacon’s Summer”, the lead single from the album which will send you to another dimension, became the perfect closure of the launching party. It was then followed with a little announcement saying that RAJAKELANA’s album will also be marketed in Japan starting from February 8th 2017. With an astonishing performances and solid concept, it is no wonder that this album is on the 2016’s best album list. We had a wonderful experience thanks to Mondo and all the team behind him that could make RAJAKELANA album came true. (Writer: Narisha Zulkarnain)
