Three Indonesian Singers Team Up for Heaven

When Indonesian singers Afgansyah Reza, Isyana Sarasvati and Rendy Pandugo team up for the single Heaven, they hit it off like buddies, writes Tahir Alhamzah

INDONESIAN singers Afgansyah Reza, Isyana Sarasvati and Rendy Pandugo clicked like a match made in heaven when they teamed up for the new single Heaven, which was released on Valentine’s Day this year.

“It was an unexpected project for me. The song was supposed to be a collaboration between Afgan and Rendy,” Isyana tells Groove during a recent tele-conversation.

While Afgan and Rendy only got to know each other during a workshop session for the project, both already knew classically-trained singer-songwriter Isyana.

So when they got stuck while working on the single, they rang up the Tetap Dalam Jiwa singer to join them for a chill-out session — and this led to the completion of the tune.

 

FEMININE TOUCH

“When I was asked to help them compose the song, I could feel the harmonious vibe right away. It was as if we were one in frequency. They were both also very open-minded,” says Isyana, 24, who is from Bandung, Indonesia.

She says working with both Afgan and Rendy was an effortless task.

The trio completed writing and composing Heaven within 30 minutes.

“We locked ourselves in the studio and started jamming. We recorded the song’s demo in two hours that evening,” says Afgan, 28, who released his fifth album Dekade, in Indonesia on Feb 21.

The album, which celebrates his 10 years as a recording artiste, has yet to be released here. It is expected to arrive either this month or next.

Heaven is also included in the 14-track album.

 

A LOVE TUNE

“I want to give listeners songs which are a slight departure from the ones they normally associate me with,” explains Afgan.

“So the three of us decided to write a simple song, both in terms of the lyrics and its rhythm,” he says.

Afgan, who has a huge following in Malaysia, says Heaven expresses the simple concept of uncomplicated love, of lightness and calmness.

A couple of months after its digital release, the three are happy the song had been well received by listeners. In fact, it has been streamed over two millions times on Spotify so far.

Afgan recently shared on his official Instagram account when it climbed to the top place in Joox. He wrote: “Yeayyy!! Now single ‘Heaven’ is number 1 on Joox.”

On recording the song in English, Afgan says it will have more potential for exposure and can be received by listeners outside the region.

 

INDONESIA’S JOHN MAYER

“Even in Malaysia, singers like SonaOne and Joe Flizzow have released songs in English,” adds Afgan.

At the moment, they have no plans to record Heaven in Malay or Bahasa Indonesia yet.

While both Afgan and Isyana are well-known in Malaysia, Rendy, 32, has yet to build a larger fan base here.

“I do have a small following in Malaysia. Hopefully, with this collaboration, more Malaysians will know me and start listening to my music,” says the singer whose first recorded number was a cover of his favourite band Sheila On 7’s Sebuah Kisah Klasik in the compilation album #Y2Koustic released in 2016.

He first became known to music enthusiasts in Indonesia when he launched his singing career online via the music platform SoundCloud.

Rendy, who has covered many of John Mayer’s songs, is considered the Indonesian version of the multiple Grammy-winning US artiste.

Courtesy : nst.com
Photo : detikHOT

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