Noah (band)
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Noah |
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Peterpan is an Indonesian pop rock band. The group started in 1997 when Andika Naliputra Wirahardja (nickname: Andika) formed a school band in Bandung, called Topi, together with Mohammad Kautsar Hikmat (nickname: Uki), who plays guitar, Nazril Irham (nickname Ariel) as a vocalist, Abel (bassist) and Ari (drummer). They mainly played Brit Alternative until Ari withdrew from the group that marked the end of Topi.
Andika started to regroup Topi former members on 2000. The drummer position was replaced by Reza (Ilsyah Ryan Reza), a college student from Palu. Loekman (Loekman Hakim), Indra's elder brother's friend, also joined them as their lead guitarist, which added a sense of matureness and enriched the melody in their songs to complete the band.
Andika then suggested Peter-band as the name for the band, Peter referring to a dreamer who wanted to fly, a Disney cartoon character name which according to Andika comes in front of other character names such as Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, X-Men etc. After the name was chosen, Peterpan was formally founded on September 1st 2000.
Street musicians
On 2001 Peterpan played their music on Bandung streets, one cafe to the others with a realistic vision of being a home band in one of Bandung famous cafes. Peterpan often played top 40 songs, rocks songs (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, U2, Creed, etc) at O'Hara and Sapu Lidi (Indonesian for broomstick) cafe. It was in Sapulidi cafe the band was spotted by Noey, a producer who planned to release a compilation album.
Subsequently, Peterpan sent 3 demo songs (Sahabat/Best Friend, Mimpi yang Sempurna/A Perfect Dream, Taman Langit/Garden of Sky). Mimpi yang Sempurna was chosen as one of the songs to be included in a compilation album titled Kisah 2002 Malam (The Story og 2002 Nights). The album was commercially successful and surprisingly it was "Mimpi yang Sempurna" that came as the best song in this album boosting the sales up too 150,000 copies. It is considerably a good achievement for a compilation album sales in Indonesia. Mimpi yang Sempurna was automatically charted in Indonesian Radios top air play and sang by most people, making the song a must know for Street Musicians.
Major label
Musica, Indonesian top major label proposed a contract to Peterpan and in June 2003 their Debut album titled "Taman Langit" was released. Peterpan members' different tastes of music varies with the songs' lyrics and music. Ariel's vocal strength and Peterpan's simple lyrics were noted as Peterpan's main musical strength.
Making record
Amidst their tight schedule in 2003-2004, which climaxed on July 18, 2004, Peterpan planned a mission impossible of performing in 6 different cities in Indonesia over a period of 24 hours. The concerts were titled "Konser Breaking Record" and listed in Museum Rekor Indonesia (MURI, Indonesian Museum of Record), includes concerts in 2 Indonesian major islands: Sumatera and Java. The concerts started on July 18th in Medan of North Sumatra Province, Padang, Pekanbaru, Lampung, Semarang of Central Java Province, and finally ended at Surabaya of Eastern Java Province.
Becoming Indonesia's top band
Afterward, Peterpan released their 2nd album titled "Bintang di Surga" (Stars of Heaven) in August 2004. In its 2nd week of release, "Bintang di Surga" reached 350,000 sales. From this point, Peterpan reached the same level as other Indonesian big bands in the terms of commercial album sales.
In "Bintang di Surga" Peterpan made big improvements in their music which can be felt in each of the songs. Ariel's vocal character was stronger, Loekman and Uki synchronized to each other in playing guitar better, Reza gave more color to each songs, Andika grew his creativity in arranging the album tracks, and Indra bass groove added flavor to the album. By end of 2005, the 2nd album sales had reached the number of 2.7 million copies, a fantastic number in Indonesian recently slow economy and music sales.
Recognizing their success in the music industry, Peterpan received 3 SCTV awards, 1 in 2004 and 2 in 2005. They also received MTV Asia Award for Indonesian Favourite Artist at Bangkok on May 9th 2005. In the Indonesian AMI awards 2005, Peterpan received the title of "Best Pop Alternative Band" through the song "Kukatakan Dengan Indah".
After the 2nd album, on September 18th, 2005 Peterpan released an album as the original soundtrack for the Rexinema movie, Alexandria. The album was titled "Menunggu Pagi" (Witing for Dawn) and the formal release was covered by Indonesian 6 top National TV stations at 11PM. The soundtrack album includes five new songs for the film and renditions of five of their old songs in Bintang Di Surga.
Peterpan were also featured in the song "Menunggumu" (Waiting for you) with Chrisye (a well known Javanese Artist who started his career in the late 70s), the song then used as the theme song of an Indonesian Soap Opera "Liontin 1" and "Liontin 2".
Ariel married Sarah Amelia, the couple had a daughter, Allea Ananta.
The 2 Break-ups
On November 4th, 2006, Peterpan held a conference to formally announce the exit of their 2 members, Andika Naliputra Wirahardja and Indra. Both left Peterpan due to a music creativity difference to the other members. According to Ariel, there were problems since the making of their first album, "Taman Langit." Both Andika and Indra claimed that they have settled the royalty matter with Peterpan and have officially left Peterpan since October 8th, 2006. Now, Andika and Indra are members of a new band, named 'The Titans'. The band is recording under EMI Music Indonesia, an international record company. With their brand new self-titled album ,and first single "Rasa Ini" (This Feeling), The Titans are rockers in Indonesia's music scene.
4th album
On May 25th, 2007, Peterpan released their highly anticipated 4th album, Hari Yang Cerah (A Bright Day). Their new Singles include the hits Menghapus Jejakmu (Erasing your traces) and Bebas (Free).
Controversy
The band's popular song "Tak Bisakah" was allegedly plagiarised by the Indian music director Pritam for the movie Woh Lamhe to be used in the song "Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai". The song went on to become a major hit in 2006, and it soon surfaced that the tune of the song was the exact replica of Peterpan's original "Tak Bisakah". Although there have been many claims of plagiarism by many musicians and fans of Peterpan, and although it is undoubtedly true that the tune of both the songs is the same, and that Peterpan had made the original version, the controversy did not become a headline-grabber, and it is still not clear whether Peterpan was compensated, or whether Pritam and the singer of the Indian version Kay Kay bought the song off.
The line-up
Current Personel
- Nazril Irham (Ariel), Lead vocal.
- Born in Pangkalan Brandan, September 16 1981
- Third and last child in the family
- Planned to be an architect
- Was registered as a student in Parahyangan University, Bandung, for an Architect degree.
- Mohammad Kautsar Hikmat (Uki)
- Born in Bandung
- Played music since Junior High
- Big fans of Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis
- Always wanted to be a superstar since he was young
- Also talented in drawing
- Ilsyah Ryan Reza (Reza)
- Born in Poso, March 11 1977
- Originally went to Bandung to earn a degree in a university but ended up joining Peterpan instead
- Formed Crue 21 with his High School friends and plays God Bless' (famous Indonesian rock band in the '80-es) songs.
- Loekman Hakim (Loekman)
- Born in Cianjur, December 30
- Has a hobby of playing football
- Started to play guitar in high school
Ex Personel
- Andika Naliputra Wirahardja (Andika)
- The founding father of Peterpan
- Previously joined in numerous band such as: Beat Jr, Stupid Cupid and Topi
- Indra
- Born in Bandung, 1977 valentine day
- Used to be a vocalist before play guitar
- Given an Ibanez Bass guitar by his father on his 17th birthday