Enjoying Sweet Ska with Songs and Album from Skastra
One thing that always pops up when people mention ska is a fast paced Jamaican beats that encourage the listeners to dance and move their bodies on the dance floor. When we first heard about Skastra, we never thought that this kind of ska music is unique. The band hailing from Depok have just released their album with two singles “Delusi” and “Hilang Asa” that have been out earlier this year. The album named “Minor 7” was released in June, signifying the band’s full lenght effort in making record after releasing EP “Renjana”. The LP contains eight songs in Indonesian plus one instrumental song, so it has 9 songs in total. Different from the usual fast paced ska rhythm, Skastra delivers a mellow and mid-tempo ska songs that sounds almost too sweet to be included in this genre. They said that they infused several influences of other genres in this album and we could clearly tell the effect of it. You can hear the fusion between jazz, rock, blues, keroncong, pop, and swing on the songs in this album. Alduri Asfirna (vocal), Ibrahim Rahman (drum), Rasmana Raga (bass), Adi Ahdiat (guitar), Fazrin Mustakin (guitar), Hanung T. Wibawa (keyboard) and Taufiq Alkatiri (trumpet) are not afraid on making an inbreed music and it resulted in an album that is easy listening, light, and uplifting.
As explained on their press release, “Hilang Asa” and “Rumah” have rock-steady rhythm combined with jazz melodies. While swing vibes can be heard on “Seratus Persen” and “Lagi-Lagi”. Skastra try to combine many facets of music, but still putting forward ska as their main appeal. “Ska can be said as an old genre. That’s why we try to re-create ska music, so it could sound fresh and sexy once again, especially for young listeners,” said Hanung, Skastra’s keyboardist. Moreover, the band also revealed that their music was inspired by Japanese ska bands like Miceteeth and Tokyo Ska Paradise. They are not fixated with ska’s traditional norm and often infuse jazz and other genres with ska. The singles “Delusi” and “Hilang Asa” can be enjoyed on digital streaming services, with “Hilang Asa” got its own lyrics video. The whole debut album of Skastra “Minor 7” is also available on JOOX, Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, Apple Music and many more.
