BBC Learning English

London Life
Colin Bass / Sabah Habas Mustapha

Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is London Life. Today the programme
features a London musician and record producer who now lives in Berlin,
Germany and is a successful recording artist in Indonesia.

Colin Bass records under the name Sabah Habas Mustapha and works with a
group of Indonesian musicians called The Jugala All Stars. I spoke to him for
find out how a Londoner became a chart topper in Indonesia. Was it something
he had planned? How did it happen?

COLIN BASS
Just by accident really, like a lot of these things happen. I was just on holiday in Bali in the
mid 80s and suddenly heard this music everywhere that really somehow spoke to me and I
found out later that it came from West Java. I made a decision to go back the following year
and then go to West Java and find out more about the music and then I just made contacts in
the music business there and met a record company chief who allowed me into his studio and
I started to make some recordings just for fun and one of those recordings was a song called
Denpasar Moon and that later became recorded by about 40 different Indonesian artists and it
became a huge song in Indonesia and it seemed to strike a chord with the Indonesian audience,
they seemed to like it so that was it, all by complete surprise to me.

MUSIC

Callum: So Colin didn't really plan to make a recording career in Indonesia. He heard
music while on holiday in one of the Indonesian islands, Bali, which 'spoke to
him'. This means he had a strong emotional reaction to the music – so strong

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 that he went back to find out more and after making contacts in the music
business he recorded a song called Denpasar Moon which he said – struck a
chord with – the Indonesian audience. This expression means people approved
of it, they liked it. The song was so popular in fact that that it has been
recorded by many Indonesian artists, including this one, Maribeth.

MUSIC

Callum: Colin has recorded three albums of Indonesian music. He has experimented
with different styles of Indonesian pop music but also includes influences from
other countries as with this track, Di Nagara Deungeun, In a foreign Country.
Which country's music influences this track?

COLIN BASS
Di Nagara Deungen, this is something I recorded in West Java with West Javanese musicians
and the text is a West Javanese poem but the music I really brought along a kind of an African
rhythm to it, that was me just saying to the guys in Bandung let's play around with this sort of
African style.

Callum: This track was influenced by the styles and rhythms of African music, although
the words are from an Indonesian poem.

Currently Colin is working on his own music and producing a German artist
but he will be returning to Indonesia in the near future to work on new projects.

That's all from this edition of London Life. We'll play you out now with some
more music from Sabah Habas Mustapha and the Jugala All Stars. This track is
Sumbawa.

MUSIC

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