DENNY FRUST

Richard Denny Nahazon Nope, or better known as DENNY FRUST, surely is not a stranger in the Indonesian Reggae and Ska scene, and the man with both East Nusa Tenggara and East Java blood running in him is even dubbed as the Indonesian Prince of Ska by the masses. Denny Frust started his musical career in the mid 1990s in Surabaya and moments later set his eyes on Jakarta to set foot on a much broader and bigger musical realm. In 2009 Denny Frust joined and gained fame with the Jakarta based Ska band, MONKEY BOOTS. Together with Monkey Boots he released two albums, Big Monkey (2010) and Interaksi (2015), where most of the lyrics from both albums were written by Denny Frust.

However, in 2016 DENNY FRUST felt the need to create and to express himself independently from MONKEY BOOTS. He aimed for something grander. After parting ways with the band, Denny Frust released a mini album called Tiada Beban (2016) and received critical acclaim in the Indonesian music scene.

DENNY FRUST’s musical journey kept on reaching new heights and even opened new doors that enabled him to experiment more on his music. His music is not a joy for the Indonesian people’s ears only, but fans from various Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam flocked to attend his Tiada Beban mini album tour. DENNY FRUST even received the honours to open for the Jamaican Godfather of dance-hall reggae, Johnny Osbourne’s concert, in the Kilo Lounge, Singapore, on May 2017.

After completing his tours and promos for his mini album, on July 2017 DENNY FRUST launched his Full Length Album, Jangan Lupa Bahagia, the album consists of 10 songs, “You are My Home”, “Tersenyumlah”, “Tebarkan Kasih”, “Merindu”, “Make You Groovin”, “Keluargaku Semangatku”, “Janna Lupa Bahagia”, “Bunga yang Indah”, “Beri Wanna”, and “Datanglah Kepada-ku”, the last being one of the best hits-single from the album.

Each track from the album has different musical characters and colours that varies and are notably different that of the previous DENNY FRUST pieces. DENNY FRUST explores more and had other fellow musician friends involved to add more distinctive colours to his music. Lyrically speaking, DENNY FRUST entertains us with simple phrases with a Biblical feel that becomes his trademark in the storytelling of his experiences, feelings, ideas, and what he sees in everyday life in his surrounding neighbourhood.

The song “Datanglah Kepada-ku” is the first single from Jangan Lupa Bahagia for a good reason, it is for the listeners to get to know DENNY FRUST’s strength and trademark in writing Biblical nuanced lyrics in this album better. He tells a story of the journey of man in living everyday life undergoing obstacles, big and small ones alike. As a human being, we are to return to The Almighty, to confess and to give in, in order to find a solution or a way out from the problems faced in life. Because, “if your heart is clouded and heavy, come to Me (Him)”.