History Of Dewa 19: The Story Of The Three Songs Demo Memuka Dapur Rekaman

Dewa's initial formation 19, from the left: Ahmad Dhani, Andra Ramadhan, Ari Lasso, Erwin Prasetya, Wawan Juniarso. (Instagram/@ari_lasso)

JAKARTA - The career journey of the band Dewa 19 has achieved a complete success. The band fronted by Ahmad Dhani (keyboards, vocals), Erwin Prasetya (bass), Wawan Juniarso (drums), and Andra Junaidi (guitar), and Ari Lasso (vocals) had to rack their brains to succeed.

Moving to Jakarta is the main option. They are confident that the material for the three-song demo (Kangen, Dewa, and Kita Not Making Love Again) can amaze the record label. Dewa's 19 efforts were successful, even though Dewa 19 was rejected here and there.

Music was considered unable to guarantee musicians to live in the future. This assumption is corroborated by the number of young people who fail to be famous and bury their dreams as musicians deeply.

In fact, this assumption does not apply to a group of SMPN 6 Surabaya State Junior High School (SMPN) teenagers. They were actually motivated to form a band and were serious about being a musician in 1986. The band was called Dewa which came from an acronym for the names of its personnel: Dhani, Erwin, Wawan, and Andra.

The band Dewa can be new. However, their guts in music are gone. They dare to compete in music competitions held throughout East Java. They were able to come out victorious.

Either that when he brought the name Dewa or Down Beat (when Wawan came out for a while). Dewa started to get serious. They completed the band by calling Wawan back and a young man who had a distinctive voice in 1988. Ari Lasso's name. The presence of Lasso further adds to the color of Dewa.

The first time was formed by four students of SMPN 6 Surabaya in 1986. The names Dewa have two meanings. First, Dewa is an acronym for the names of its founders, namely Dhani Ahmad, Erwin Prasetya, Wawan Juniarso, and Andra Junaidi. The second meaning, Dewa shows something high, wahayan beings.

This means that the founders of Dewa, who are on average 19 years old when they struggle to make their first album to become a top band, carry mixed music between pop, jazz, and rock. They dominated various festival stages, including the Youth Jazz Festival in East Java, the First Champion of the SLTA 90 band Festival, and the second place winner Djarum Super Fiesta Muhidin M. Dahlan and his friends in the book1000 Indonesian Music Concert (2018).

It could be that Dewa is famous throughout East Java. However, that popularity cannot promise many things. They also thought hard. The material of the song matured until one answer emerged. At that time, the only option to succeed was to immediately move to Jakarta.

Dewa also recorded his songs in the early 1990s. Studio 15 Petojo, Central Jakarta, witnessed Dewa's hit song being recorded. Among other things, the song titled Kangen, Dewa, and Kita are no longer making love which was later made as a demonstration.

The three-track demonstration strategy is in fact accurate. The studio operator where Dewa recorded his song, Edi Gombing, handed over the demo cassettes to Team Record officials, Jan Djuana. He was interested in the songs performed by Dewa.

Mainly Kangen's song. He saw Kangen's song has the potential to become one of the famous songs that can make Dewa 19 a big band for Indonesia. Jan Djuhana and Team Record expressed their interest in working with Dewa.

However, Team Record is constrained by poor financial conditions. They can't afford the master of the song Dewa. Therefore, Team Record was only able to finance the procurement and distribution of songs. Team Record's decision made Dhani and his friends try to bring the demo of the song to various record labels first.

The effort turned out to be in vain. No one is interested in orbiting Dewa. The option of cooperation with Team Record is inevitably done. Even though the master of the song was not bought and both parties then wanted a profit-sharing system.

The results are stunning. Album 19 (later often called the album: Dewa 19) was born. This figure was given because when the album process was worked on (in 1991) all personnel were still 19 years old. The album was then a huge success on the market since its release in 1992.

The song Kangenkesohor is everywhere. The song became a tool for Dewa 19 to achieve great success. Even in the midst of that success, the bankrupt Team Record was immediately acquired by Aquarius Musikindo to continue Dewa 19's songs to his fans, Baladewa.

Executive producer and record financier Harun was finally willing to give the album's distribution and doubling rights to Team Records, but he still holds the master. A meeting with Dhani and his new friends took place in Pasaraya, Blok M, South Jakarta, to discuss album cover designs. While having lunch, we chose the design, which finally fell into a realistic image by Lesin Wangsajaya."

Band, who finally realized his dream of having this album, looks happy, far from being arrogant and arrogant. Dewa's album 19 vang was given the title 19 (generally known as Dewa 19) which was finally born in April 1992. Kangen's song became the first single and was in first place and this song was famous very quickly," said Jan Djuana as written by Frans Sartono in the book Behind Bintang: Jan Djuana in the Indonesian Music Industry (2022).