Spicing Up Night Life in The City of Heroes

What sort of cultural activities does the city of heroes, Surabaya, have right now? There are plenty, actually; regular cultural events are held in Balai Pemuda, and in Cak Durasim, and they generate plenty of attention. But I want more! I want something different to come out of the city well known for its fighting spirit (hence earning itself the title "city of heroes"). I want to take a look at night life. This post is based on something similar that I did about a year ago; a virtual project for Sheffield, England, to promote night life in Sheffield.

A local magazine published in Sheffield, Go Sheffo, always talks about creating Sheffield's own identity, rather than turning the city into a mini London. As they say in their Open Your Eyes article:

“[…] What would I like it to be famous for? Well that's easy too, because it's the same thing. It seems obvious to us: if you want your city to be famous, you have to make it different to other places. The greenery, the music, the friendliness: these make it different to other cities. So it's these that could draw people to Sheffield, make it a place to visit, an individual city.

RIGHT NOW these differences are being hidden ignored. The ideas that are running our city are the same ideas as every other: shopping, office buildings, economics, retail per square foot. These are the ideas that will feature in Sheffield First's new City Strategy, and they will make our city disappear into all the others. […]”

(http://www.dontgo.co.uk/openyoureyes/text.html January 2nd 2007)

So, where am I going here? I don't want Surabaya to follow any other city in Indonesia. Hell, any other city in the world if possible! Looking back at the paragraphs that I posted here, we can pick out the words music, and friendliness, thus that is how the initial idea of this event emerged.
This event, which my colleagues and I call You-Jay, has its foundations on digital art and design. To thicken the plot, and setting it apart from any other digital art and musical events, You-Jay invites the automotive community from Surabaya, and its surrounding regions, to participate by lending their on-board entertainment systems.

First thing's first; why the f**k did we come up with the name You-Jay? We just thought at that time to modify the terms DJ (Disk Jockey) and VJ (Video Jockey) into You-Jay. If you think it sounds corny, then let me know, and help me think of a better name!

• You is meant to point to all the creative minds scattered all over Surabaya by calling out "Hey, y'all (Hey, you all)!" thus stating that the stars of the event are the participants themselves.
• Jay stands for Jockey - as in Disk Jockey, and so on.

So, from the explanation given above, it's more than appropriate to conclude that the name You-Jay means "YOU are the jockey, YOU are the star, YOU enhance the event by doing whatever it is that YOU do best whether it's dancing, music mixing, or even graphics and animation!" EVERYONE IS THE ARTIST!

The basic idea of the event is an outdoor dance party, but instead of hiring monstrous concert-sized sound systems, You-Jay emits the music from the people's heavily modified car and bike audios, using different radio stations. Each radio station plays a different kind of music. To avoid sound overlapping, each type of music will be played in different areas throughout the city. Let's say we have three radio stations, then the three radio stations will play three different kinds of music: for example Pop, Hip-Hop, and Electronic.
The music is relayed from a central source, through radio waves (e.g. hip-hop will be played in area ‘A’ on 94.5FM, Pop in area ‘B’ on 100.9FM, and Electronics in area ‘C’ on 104.7FM note, that this is only an example, if I happen to mention existing radio stations, then it was merely because I couldn't think of any imaginary number...but I am not associated with any of the three radio stations that I have mentioned here!). Other than just to avoid the overlapping of different music, the different locations are intended so that whenever someone feels they need a change of atmosphere, they would have to move to another spot, therefore indirectly ‘sightseeing’ in Sheffield. Bearing in mind that this event will be held during the night, to aid the people ‘sightseeing’ therefore light installations throughout the city would be considered. To make things more interesting, then the three places shouldn't be too far away from each other; best to keep it within walking range, keeping the event arena easy to manage and control by security.

Ok, so...moving on to locations now; where would this event be held?? I would propose somewhere between Tunjungan Plaza (it would be cool if we can do it in the car park), Taman Surya, and along Basuki Rahmat Road, in a triangular formation, and I do think that these three locations aren't too far away from each other (still within walking distance). Or maybe in the industrial areas, or any abandoned warehouses (do we have those?). The idea of putting distance between each location, other than avoiding the over-lapping of sound, is that whenever participants need an atmospheric change, then they will be forced to walk to another location, forcing them to go sightseeing and see Surabaya in a different perspective (especially when between each location, light installations are available as guiding path!) The advantage of using parking lots or abandoned spaces is that the event will breathe a new life to places that were considered shady or creepy, rendering them much friendlier than before.

To attract people’s attention towards the event, various competitions are going to be held as well. The competitions are as follows:

• Poster, Graphics, and Video Competition: The community and the citizens will be invited through the distribution of fliers and posters to design the event logo, event posters/flyers and various graphics. Home-made animations will be uploaded onto the event website. The chosen works will be published (logo, posters/fliers), and displayed/projected throughout the city during the period of the event. The winners will be prized with money, ticket or CDs etc.

• DJ Competition: The name You-Jay practically means that everyone is the artist. People can create their own mix-records at home and then upload them onto the event web-site. An online voting will take place afterwards. The best records will be selected online by common people from and judged also by professional musicians. The winning records will be performed during the event. Those records will be sorted according to their genre, and then sent to the corresponding radio stations. These records are the party music and not relying on the radio stations’ music library (although when the amount of records doesn’t fulfill the minimum quota then the radio stations would have to play their stock records). On the event night, there will also be a competition between fresh, new DJs. Participants will vote for the best performer. The winner will receive an opportunity to record their album. The music played during the event will also be made into a CD. Other merchandise such as event T-shirts and DVDs will also be produced.
• • Other Competitions: Sound quality is not the only concern in this event, car cosmetics (carsmetics) will be judged as well. Categories of judgment are:
  • Best airbrush/paint/graphics
  • Best rims
  • Best looking engine
  • Best interior
  • Best accessories

  The participants are also judged by their dancing skills. A stage is available for those who would like to show-off their dancing skills. Everything will be recorded and published as an event DVD.

  • Reflecting on the Illuminate/Light Night event: The Light Night event was welcomed with large enthusiasm. You-Jay will attempt to follow in the Light Night footsteps[1]. The application of light will be used to enhance the party atmosphere. Only this time You-Jay will push the application of light further by installing sensors which are able to recognize the amount of people that are concentrated in one area and the lighting mechanism responds to that area of concentration. In doing so, it is expected that people will be attracted to the spot, and even spark a bit of group competition (which group can steal the spot light?) heating up the party atmosphere. As for the issue of sightseeing in the night, light installations will be prepared to illuminate the possible routes participants will take to move around from one event venue to another.
  • Everyone can enjoy the party (music): Since the music will be relayed through Sheffield’s radio stations, everyone can enjoy the party music no matter where they are. Whether they are at home, or on the street, as long as they have a radio.
  I expect that this event will be welcomed by everyone, especially the creative community in Surabaya, because this event involves practically everyone who can contribute to it in various aspects (music, graphics, animation, dancing skills, and sound system). Although the event itself may not be able to contribute directly towards the cultural sector, but at least it will be able to strengthen and enrich the city's identity and character of being a pioneer in serving a different kind of night life scene.

Anyone interested in making this event come true, then send me an email at prananda.navitas@gmail.com, and we'll take it from there...

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  [1] The Light Night is an event held on October 2006 where a trail of light exists illuminating a pathway leading to some of the city’s cultural sites. Music, lighting installations, street theaters, etc. breathe life to the trail. Some venues even stay open until late to welcome this event.