Nomo Koeswoyo Dies, This Is His Track Record In The Indonesian Music World

Nomo Koeswoyo (Instagram @denny_mr)

JAKARTA - Indonesia lost one of its best musicians. Nomo Koeswoyo, known as the drummer for the legendary band Koes Brothers, died on Wednesday, March 15 in Magelang. Nomo is 85 years old.

Born in Tuban, East Java on January 21, 1938, Nomo was the most distended member of the Koeswoyo family to join the Koes Brothers group. When his brothers; Jon Koeswoyo (bass), Tonny Koeswoyo (guitar), Yon Koeswoyo (vocals), and Yok Koeswoyo (vocals) have been practicing diligently for several years, he is still traveling outside Jakarta.

After returning from Jakarta, Nomo replaced Iskandar in the drummer position. The band, which at the beginning of its journey was named Kus Brothers, managed to record its first album in 1962. One year later, this group changed its name to the Koes Brothers.

Reporting from various sources. Differences of opinion related to the training schedule between Tonny and Nomo became the beginning of the Koes Brothers split. The condition of Nomo, who is married, does not allow him to depend on music. For this reason, he has a side job to support his family. On the other hand, Tonny is still single.

Tonny asked Nomo to choose between music and work because there were often no matches related to the training schedule. Nomo also chose to leave the Koes Brothers in 1969 and his position was replaced by Kasmuri who was later known as Mury. The band's name changed to Koes Plus.

In early 1973, Nomo founded the No Koes group with several other musicians, namely Usman (guitar), Sofiyan (drums), Said (bass), Bambang Arsianti (guitar), and Pompi Suradimansyah (keyboards). This group gave birth to various mulitgenre albums, from pop, dangdut, Malay, Java, and others. Similar to Koes Plus.

The albums they produced included the title 'Sok Tofu', Searched, let Me Travel Through, Missing, Life This is Temporary, Youth & Love, Playing & Counting (pop children), Kulo Nuwun (pop Java), Gondal Gandul (pop Java), Tergoda Asmara, Free, and Full of Mystery (pop Melayu).

In 1977, at the urging of family and fans, the Koes Brothers reunited marked by the song Kembali which was recorded on the album Koes Brothers Seri Perdana in 1977. The success of this album was then followed by the next four albums until 1978.

However, these albums are not very successful in the market. Koes Plus's strong popularity could not be matched by the return of the Koes Brothers. This group finally disbanded and Nomo's three siblings brought Koes Plus again.

The Koes Brothers had united several times and released an album again. They even achieved success with the song You Come Again in 1987. However, in the same year, Tonny died of cancer. Before Tonny died, Nomo and the Koes Brothers had released the album Dia Permata Hatiku.

Nomo then continued his solo career while occasionally reuniting with the Koes Brothers. He spent a lot of his old age in the city of Magelang, Central Java with his youngest son, Reza, who had a family. It was also there that the legend breathed his last.

Goodbye Nomo Koeswoyo....