Bimbo (musical group)

Bimbo, or formerly Trio Bimbo, is Indonesian religious group vocals.

Early success

In 1967, the group performed for the first time on television program. The group was named Trio Bimbo by Hamid Gruno of TVRI, while the group members, Sam, Acil, and Jaka, considered proper name to be used in the program. The trio performed Consuelo Velazquez's "Besame Mucho" and Elpido Ramirez's "Malaguenna Salerosa" on the program.^[1][2]

In 1969, Trio Bimbo submitted to Remaco several songs written by Iwan Abdurahman, including "Melati dari Jayagiri" ("Jasmine from Jayagiri") and "Flamboyan" ("Flamboyant"). One year later, Trio Bimbo released debut album recorded by Polydor, a label from Singapore. The album consists Iwan Abdurahman and Tonny Koeswoyo namely "Pinang Muda", "Melati dari Jayagiri", "Berpisah", "Flamboyan", "Manis dan Sayang", and "Pengembara". The album also consists international hits such as "Light My Fire" by The Doors, "Once There Was A Love" by Jose Feliciano, "Cecilia, El Condor Pasa" by Simon & Garfunkel, and Jimmy Webb's "I Have Dreamed" and "Wichita Lineman". In this album Trio Bimbo was helped by Maryono, saxophonist from Surabaya. In Indonesia, the album was distributed by Remaco.^[1][3]

In early 1970s, Remaco decided to release Trio Bimbo's album. The songs of the album including Iwan Abdurahman's "Balada Seorang Kelana" and "Angin November", "Sunyi" by A. Riyanto, and "Bunga Sedap Malam" by Koeswandi. Trio Bimbo changed its name to Bimbo in 1973, following Iin 's joining the group. In this period, Bimbo has additional members namely Indra Rivai on keyboards, Iwan Abdurrachman on bass guitar, and Rudy Suparma on drums.^[1]

Style

Musics

Bimbo has unique vocal harmonies. The members said that Queen influenced their vocal harmonies in 1970s. One of Bimbo's song "Di Atas Jembatan Semanggi" even has a similar verse to "Bohemian Rhapsody".^[1][4] Rolling Stone Indonesia describes Bimbo has a heavy melodic structure with wider chords. Bimbo often also plays at minor keys.^[1] Asrat Ginting writes that Bimbo uses various kind of music, from qasidah to pop, while Indonesian litterateur Ramadhan K.H. describes Bimbo's music as "Mozart's music and infiltrates to the heart like Ciganjuran".^{[lower-alpha 1][5]}

Lyrics

Ginting writes that Bimbo's has a poetic lyrics. He also describes Bimbo's works as "full of depth and contemplative".^{[lower-alpha 2]} Bimbo also performed several poems including Wing Kardjo's "Kutulis Lagi" and "Salju", Taufiq Ismail's "Oda pada Van Gogh" and "Dengan Puisi", and Ramadhan K.H.'s "Kehadiran". In mid-1970s, however, Bimbo used social critics, humor, and satirical lyrics. In "Tante Sun" satirize state official wives who abuse the authority of their husbands.^[6]

In 1980s, Bimbo's lyrics were more directed to international events. "Surat Untuk Reagan dan Brezhnev" criticizes about Cold War, "Antara Kabul dan Beirut" tells about conflict in the Middle East, "Balada Tuan Hue Hue" is about Vietnamese refugee, and "Elegi Buat PBB", a song whicih is addressed to United Nations.^[7]

In 2007, Bimbo released an album as a marker to its 40th anniversary. Bimbo collaborated to Taufiq Ismail in this album. One of the songs is "Jual Beli".^[8]

Notes

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Ginting, Asrat (2009). Musisiku. Jakarta: Republika. ISBN 978-979-1102-52-0.