Ian Antono

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Jusuf Antono Djojo
Born	October 29, 1950 Malang, Indonesia
Alias(es)	Ian Antono
Genre(s)	Rock
Affiliation(s)	God Bless
Label(s)	Sony Music BMG
Notable guitars	Hamer, Kramer Tracer, Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez JEM77
Years active	1969 - Present

Jusuf Antono Djojo or Ian Antono (born October 29, 1950, Malang, Indonesia) is an Indonesian guitarist and songwriter. Although he has collaborated with many other musicians, like Iwan Fals, Anggun Cipta Sasmi, Nicky Astria, Doel Sumbang, Gito Rollies, Ebiet G Ade and Ikang Fawzi, he is best-known as God Bless's lead guitarist since 1974. Other notable collaboration was Gong 2000, which was established in 1991 until 1996. Ian Antono also recognized as one of the very first rock guitarists in Indonesia.^[1] In 1999, Ian Antono was invited in a Formula-1 event, which was also a collaboration with G3 (Joe Satriani and Steve Vai) and rock legends, Jethro Tull.

1 Childhood
2 Music Experiences
- 2.1 Earlier
- 2.2 Professional Career
3 Equipments
4 Awards
5 Tribute
6 Sources

[edit] Childhood

Ian Antono was born in Malang, East Java, Indonesia to Indonesian father and mother. Originally, he was interested in drumming and began to learn to play drums since his earlier years. However, later when he started to listen to The Shadows's music, he changed his mind and began to learn to play guitar.

[edit] Music Experiences

[edit] Earlier

In 1970, Ian Antono went to Jakarta and joined a band called Bentoel which was a session band for singer Emilia Contessa and Trio The King. Later, his popularity was increased while he gained many experiences that made him joined his present band, God Bless.

[edit] Professional Career

The first step into professional music career was when he joined an Indonesian legendary band called God Bless with Achmad Albar, Donny Fattah, Ian Antono, Yockie S. and Teddy Sujaya. With Ian, God Bless has released Huma Di Atas Bukit (1975), Cermin (1980) and Semut Hitam (1989). Because of these albums, Ian's popularity had gained drastically because at that time, rock music had not become an atmosphere in Indonesian music. So while God Bless pioneered rock music in Indonesia, Ian Antono lead the way into a new rock guitarist world.

However, soon after the last album with God Bless in 1989, Ian Antono decided to formed a band called Gong 2000 and released three albums, Timur (1991), Laskar (1994) and Prahara (1996).

His style of playing in Gong 2000 was different compared to the one in God Bless. With Gong 2000, Ian tried to include Balinese music into most of his songs. This was proven on every single of his performance with the band that at least 20 Balinese musicians were involved. Later, Ian decided to back to work with God Bless in 1997 with another Indonesian guitarist, Eet Sjahranie. This concept of duo guitarists took media and listeners attention although the album "Apa Kabar?" did not get high success.

Besides became a lead guitarist for God Bless and Gong 2000, Ian has also written many songs for many different solo singers. Some of their names are Indonesian most famous artists, for instance, Iwan Fals, Anggun C. Sasmi, Nicky Astria, Doel Sumbang, Gito Rollies, and Ikang Fawzi. Moreover, the songs that he has created for other musicians become some of the most popular song, like Zakia and Panggung Sandiwara.

[edit] Equipments

[edit] Guitars

During his professional career, Ian has used so many guitars and he often varied the guitar that he uses. Some of the guitar models he has used are Hamer, Kramer Tracer, Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez JEM 77, Washburn N-4, Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, Ovation Elite, Gibson Chat Atkins, Martin CMF, Martin EST 12 strings and Seagull. Back in the story when Ian met Steve Vai at a Formula-1 event, Ian studied most Steve's equipments which he will not gain in Indonesia. Apparently, because of this reason, Ian has owned an Ibanez JEM77, a Steve Vai Ibanez series.

[edit] Amplifiers

Messa Boogie Strategy 400
Marshall JCM 900 1960
Trace Elliot AC-100
Messa Boogie Quad
Messa Boogie Tri Axis

[edit] Effects

Roland GP8
Harmonizer Eventide H-3000S

[edit] Awards

BASF Award (1987 - 1988) for the best arranger and composer Terbaik for an album called Gersang (Nicky Astria).
HDX Award (1989) for the song Buku Ini Aku Pinjam (Iwan Fals).
BAFS Award (1989) For the album Bara Timur (Gong 2000) as The Best Selling Album and The Best Arranger & Composer.
HDX Award (1994) for the album Laskar (Gong 2000) as The Best Album.
Diamond Achievement Award (1995) for his dedication and success in music industry.

[edit] Tribute

His contributions and efforts in Indonesian music has made some Indonesian younger musicians to start a project called A Tribute To Ian Antono, which later an album was released with the same name. Some of the younger bands involved were EdanE, Sheila on 7, Padi, Gigi, Cokelat, Boomerang and /rif. Also there were many solo musicians involved, like Glenn Fredly, Audy and Achmad Albar, his fellow bandmate in God Bless.