Peterpan is a multi-award winning Indonesian pop rock band currently consisting of Ariel, Andika, Loekman and Reza.
The group started in 1997 when Andika (Andika Naliputra Wirahardja) formed a school band in Bandung, called Topi, together with Uki (Mohammad Kautsar Hikmat), who plays guitar, Ariel (Nazril Irham) as a vocalist, Abel as a bassist andAri as a drummer. They mainly played Brit Alternative until Ari withdrew from the group and marked the end of Topi.
Andika started to regroup Topi’s former members in 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 Peterpan 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.
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 Sapu Lidi 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), and 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 of 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 popularly known, making the song frequently performed by street musicians.
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.
Afterwards, Peterpan released their 2nd album titled ‘Bintang Di Surga‘ (A Star in 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 Awards for Indonesian Favourite Artist at Bangkok on May 9th 2005. In the Indonesian AMI awards 2005, Peterpan received the award of “Best Pop Alternative Band” with the songKukatakan 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 titledMenunggu Pagi (Waiting for Dawn) and the formal release was covered simultaneously by Indonesia’s 6 top National TV stations. The soundtrack album includes five new songs for the film and renditions of five of their old songs inBintang Di Surga.
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. The break up came at a difficult time for Indra as he had lost his child just before the break up. 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 has established themselves well in Indonesia’s music scene.
On May 25th, 2007, Peterpan released their highly anticipated 4th album, Hari Yang Cerah (A Bright Day). This album includes hit singles Menghapus Jejakmu (Erasing your Traces), Bebas (Free), Hari Yang Cerah Untuk Jiwa Yang Sepi (A Bright Day for a Lonely Soul) and Sally Sendiri (Lonely Sally), all of them constantly air on radios and entered the music charts.
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