KOMA, Duo with a Unique Tunes

​KOMA is duo consists of Reno Renatama and Rulli Putra. Since 2016, they already rock the underground scene in Jakarta. We met them before their performance at JENJA Club Jakarta to know more about the duo.

Before forming a duo, both Reno and Rulli already make themselves known in underground scene in Jakarta. They met through mutual friend during Enter The Void event at Colosseum Club, where Rulli worked as talent coordinator back then. Both Rulli and Reno are producers. With similar style in music, they collaborate together. Through their collaboration, the track called Kupu Kuwi was born.
 
“The track was unique because we use the real sinden (traditional singer) which we found at Cilegon,” said Reno. Kupu Kuwi is a children folklore song from Java. Apparently, Reno’s mother knew the composer. He met the composer to ask permission to use the song.
 
“We always want to fuse ethnic element with Techno,” said Reno. As long as a sound can be made from an item, that sound is music.
 
“You want to combine the sound of broken glass with other sound, that’s music. Music is universal,” said Reno. That uniqueness made Kupu Kuwi nominated as Track Of The Year at Paranoia Awards 2016.
 
“We never thought that the song would receive positive response,” said Rulli. When they released the track, they haven’t use KOMA yet.  They still use their names.
 
“KOMA actually is the name of an event that I started back in 2013. The event is to accommodate the wish of Tech House and Tribal music fans in Jakarta,” said Rulli. The event went to hiatus because of Rulli’s activities at ETV.
 
After some time, Rulli was able to revived KOMA. From the beginning, KOMA event is meant for jamming. That’s why he asked various communities to jam at KOMA, and the respond was good.
 
Rulli also jamming together with Reno few times for the event. After an event at Jenja, they were recommended to become a duo, hence KOMA as duo was born.
 
Combining two heads for having same vision is not easy. That’s why Rulli and Reno routinely jamming together outside an event. Not necessarily make a new track, but also make new beats or mixing some tracks. 
 
Both Reno and Rulli has similar style. Reno’s interest is in Techno sound combining with ethnic element, while Rulli more into drum percussion and groovy sound. Both interests connects really well in KOMA. “Both of us are not really a purist,” said Rulli.
 
Looking back to when and why they want to be a DJ, they have different story. “Back in 1999, my friends took me to my first ever rave party. When I listened to Solarstone song called Seven Cities, I immediately hooked,” said Reno.
 
Another influence was Trainspotting movie. “When I listened to Underworld’s song Born Slippy, it hit me. I have to know how to make a music like that!” said Reno.
 
From the school time, Rulli loves to play music in a band. He joined a school band during his teenage years. “When I have to move outside of Indonesia, it was hard to form a band,” said Rulli.
 
Rulli met with people who loves DJing. He loves to explore new music and in the end Rulli decided to become more than just a DJ. “Lots of people become a DJ, but not so many people decides to become producer,” said Rulli. He took short course in music production to gain more knowledge in it.
 
Talking about influence, Reno inspired by music such as from Victor Ruiz, Dubfire, Jamie Jones, and Oliver Huntemann. While Rulli chose 1MAN, Mihai Popoviciu, and Seth Troxler as his favorites.
 
KOMA is preparing new track. “The production take some time due to our works. Sometimes it’s hard to sync our schedule,” said Reno. The track production is part of their plan for KOMA.
 
“At least we produce a track once a year and hopefully will be release in international label. We also hope to have international gig,” Rulli explained. With those plans ahead, we wish nothing but success for KOMA.