Anyway, Geisha.
Geisha is a pretty cool Indonesian band with some really nice tunes. My friend Bethany introduced me to their music a couple of years back. My favorite song is Lumpuhkan Ingatanku (Paralyse my memories), check it out if you haven't heard it before.
One day in mid 2014, I was eating at Pizza Hut in Delta Plaza with my ex-boyfriend Frans. We started to notice that the mall was really busy around the Pizza Hut area. Delta Plaza is rarely busy and the area that Pizza Hut is in is just a few crappy restaurants, a ladies bathroom and an electronics shop.
"Why are there police here?" asked Frans.
I looked up and finally focused on the people gathered around. They were wearing T-shirts with the writing My Geisha (the name of Geisha's fan club).
"Huh, Geisha?" I said.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw Momo Geisha making her way towards Texas Chicken with her police escorts. I felt butterflies in my stomach and my hands started shaking.
"Oh my God! That's Momo".
We hurriedly paid the bill and walked next door to Texas Chicken next door to see what was going on. I'm pretty sure it's the most nervous I've ever been in my life, besides the time I had to read the words at a spelling bee in Surabaya with hundreds of people in the room. I was convinced I was going to fart onstage or something just because I'd never been in front of hundreds of people and I didn't know how I'd react.
It turns out that Geisha were selling their CDs in Texas Chicken and also preforming a few songs. I don't know why in Indonesia there's a connection between fried chicken chains and music here but there certainly is one. A few years back, NOAH released an album and I looked up where to buy it. According to their Twitter account they were for sale in KFC so one day I awkwardly went up to the cashier in KFC and said "Umm, strange question but do you sell NOAH CDs?". And they did. Another complex Indonesian cultural thingy that I don't understand, I guess.
Anyway, back to Texas Chicken. I got to buy a CD from Momo directly which was terrifying because I didn't realise how pretty she was until I saw her up close and I was lost for words. Frans was laughing at me and my shaking hands and how ridiculous I was being. I don't know why I reacted like that. Momo was very friendly and welcoming but I was a little overwhelmed, especially seeming I'd had no time to prepare for this mentally.
After people bought the CD's, Geisha played a few songs which was really exciting because I'd never seen them live. When Lumpuhkan Ingatanku came on I started singing along and Momo realised I knew the words and put the microphone in front of me at one point which was super scary and amazing.
After that night, I started listening to Geisha a whole lot more.
A few months later, Bethany visited Indonesia and she decided to get a tattoo. She got a giant map of Indonesia across her stomach with the lyrics to Lumpuhkan Ingatanku written across the middle. True fan right there.
Last year, I got to watch a full Geisha concert for the first time (actually it was the same day I'd been at that terrifying spelling bee). It was outside Grand City mall and I watched alone so the MC's of the event kept talking to me and asking a billion questions to kill time. People watching the concert kept laughing at whatever answer I offered, I guess because they aren't used to foreigners doing Indonesian stuff. When Geisha came on I didn't really care about that anymore. I really enjoyed that concert actually.
I also follow Momo Geisha on Instagram and a few weeks back I saw that she would be launching her fashion line in Surabaya and selling crab for her restaurant the Naked Crab.
at an event called Kepo Market at Galaxy Mall. The event ran from Friday 29th January until Sunday 31st. The first day of the event just happened to be two weeks before Bethany's birthday so I had a plan to go and ask Momo to make a birthday message for Bethany. I had no idea if she would say yes, but you never know until you try, right?
So on Friday I went straight home after work at 7:30 quickly got changed, ordered a Gojek and left. I'm pretty sure everyone around me on Friday thought I was crazy and I didn't even know if it would work out so I felt crazy too. On the way to Galaxy Mall it started raining and I was just thinking "Oh my God! You can't meet Momo Geisha if you're dripping wet" luckily my Gojek driver had a rain poncho and I didn't get too wet.
I headed up to the 6th floor of Galaxy Mall quickly and nervously and impatiently all at the same time and walked around in circles at the fair until I saw Momo. I stopped about 10 meters away from her and took a deep breath. As I got my iPad out I saw Momo notice me, because I was the only foreigner in there and I was lurking around her stall. I took another deep breath and walked over. This was the incredibly awkward conversation (translated obviously):
Me: Momo.... ummm... Momo yea?
Momo: Hello, how are you?
Me: Um... I'm fine... Uhh, I just want to ask you something.
Momo: Well, today I'm selling crab. Would you like to buy some crab?
(I think this was basically a polite way of saying "If you wanna talk to me, you've gotta buy something" which is fair enough.)
Me: Um. What type of crab is there?
Momo: *points at a menu with 2 things on it*
Me: Uh, I'll try the soft shell.
Momo: With which sauce?
Me: Is there a spicy sauce?
Momo: Do you want a spicy sauce?
Me: Uh no! Ummm.... I mean I want the non-spicy sauce.
Momo: Okay.
Me: Umm Momo I want to tell you something.
Momo: Yes?
Me: I have this friend.... from England.... and she's a big fan of Geisha and she got a tattoo. And ummm.... just look.
(After realising I was still babbling nervously I just took out my iPad to show her the picture of the tattoo.)
Me: It's the lyrics of your song. See, Lumpuhkanlah...
Momo: (She finally seemed interested) What?!
She turned to a guy holding a fancy camera. "Film this! Look, this foreigner has a tattoo of Geisha lyrics. Let's make a video!" she said. When I asked her what the video was for she said "for TV" and I thought she was bullshitting. On Tuesday when one of my students told me she saw me on TV, I realised that Momo was serious.
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| I knew I'd find myself on one of these celebrity gossip shows eventually... |
The guy started filming. They filmed a 5 minute video of me explaining the tattoo. Momo then took out her camera and took a photo of the picture on my iPad. I realised it's now or never. "Ahh, Momo can I ask a favor? It's my friend's birthday in two weeks. Can I film you saying happy birthday to her? It'll make her so happy." Momo agreed which made me finally feel relieved and made the video.
"Why hasn't your food come yet?" Momo asked and went over to ask about my crab. Later she returned bringing my crab. It's quite nice when one of your favorite celebrities brings you your dinner. I could get used to that kind of treatment.
I didn't get to eat much before they started filming me again. They asked if I liked the crab and then they asked me to sing a Geisha song. "I'm kind of nervous so can you sing with me?" I asked her. "Sure but you start" she said. When I sang the first line of the song she seemed shocked that I really knew it. So I awkwardly sang the song with Momo Geisha and saw several people filming it. This country is weird.
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| I look so uncomfortable.... |
All together I was probably with Momo for a good 30-45 minutes which was really crazy considering all I expected was a 10 second video. I bought a sweater from her fashion line afterwards (kind of felt like I owed her after all that). Anyway, I'm very grateful for her making the video.
I saw Geisha in concert last Saturday. Yes, I left my house on a Saturday night which is actually a big deal and even more shocking was the fact that I dressed nicely and went to a mall. I felt more Surabayan than ever, for real. The concert was literally in the middle of Tunjungan Plaza and I arrived an hour before the show, a little wet from the Gojek ride (seems to be the theme of this story now).
I just milled around TP3 randomly because for some reason I felt that wearing wedges to the mall was cool but it actually just made me slower and reluctant to shop. So I just stood one level above where the concert was to be, sneakily evading an impromptu "so what's it like to be the only foreigner here?" interview that event MC's usually give me. As pre-concert entertainment there was a singing competition going on and I thought I was being racist because literally every singer sounded exactly the same (maybe it was my own twist on the "all Asians look the same" thing?). Eventually, I worked up the courage to go downstairs and stand actually in front of the stage, at which point I realised it was a lip-sync competition, not a singing competition. I guess that makes more sense than 10 singers sounding exactly the same, but a lip-syncing competition at the mall doesn't make THAT much sense.
The event was sponsored by a hardware store so some shameless advertising was mandatory before anything of interest came on. This came in the form of an interactive dance with a video going in the background which made it look as if the dancers were building some kind of office building, and then they ran up stairs and jumped off ran through the street and ended up at the very hardware store that sponsored the event. I don't know why the went there after the building project was completed but these kind of questions almost always go unanswered.
I was standing right by the stage when Geisha finally came on and really I was glad I dragged myself off the sofa on a Saturday to see it. The show was really good. The crowd were really into it. It made me laugh because every time Momo stepped closer to the fans watching, they lunged forward and tried to touch her. Yet just a month earlier I had spent 40 minutes speaking to her and anyone could just walk over and have a conversation with her but no one really did. Now, there were several security guards stopping a crowd from even giving her a high-five.
Anyway, I think this blog post is long enough. I've probably lost most of you by now. I'll just add that I may or may not ever get the chance to watch Geisha again so I'm very grateful that I got to experience all this. Even if it meant dragging myself to four different malls and waiting around awkwardly every time... in the end it has all been worth it.
Thanks for all the blog views guys even though I haven't posted in a few weeks. I really appreciate it! :)
From your experiences met with Indonesian Artists i think you had starstruck.. i know what it feels like, i working at a radio station here in Surabaya and i had dealt with local artists and international artists though, for a while...you need to catch up in my station...if you're wondering what is my station ? it's Istara Fm. Who knows i might could hook you up with your favorite artists in the future... mail me sugi.cloud@gmail.com
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