After 28 years, my high school band Umatilla reunited at the Melkweg in the Leidseplein area of Amsterdam, with a repertoire consisting of originals (including Latitude, Spotlights, Living In Another World, and Angin-angin) as well as covers including Dance (Sun), Suavecito (Fania All Stars), Top Secret (Yellowjackets), and Rame-rame (Nona Padede), a Moluccan traditional made famous by Utha Likumahuwa (and recently by Glenn Fredley). The venue is located within half a mile from Paradiso, where the band played its last major concert in 1982 at the Moluccan Moods Festival.
Umatilla was founded in 1979 by a group of Moluccans (from what is now the Maluku archipelago in Indonesia) in Amsterdam. Later, a few Dutch musicians (including yours truly on keyboards) joined the group. It had a considerable following in Amsterdam, mostly among people of Moluccan and Indonesian-Dutch background. The band initially modelled itself after the then-popular Moluccan-Dutch band Massada, which in turn was strongly influenced by the Latin rock of Santana, but soon started writing its own material, gradually incorporating more soul, funk and jazz/fusion elements.
The line-up at the Melkweg concert consisted of: Steve Inoeng (guitar/vocals), Johnny Wattimury (guitar/vocals), Harold Wattimury (drums), Edmund Vreede (percussion), Ewald Ebing (keyboards), Jay-Tee Teterissa (bass), and guest vocalist Laurens Vitalis. Not present was tenor sax player Robin Verburg, who could not be located.
Earlier line-ups had included bass players Diana Inoeng (Steve's sister, now married to Johnny Wattimury), Edwin Schwarzl, David Brand and Raymond Nunes (the singer/bass player of my other high school band, Furn).
Jay-Tee Teterissa (known as 'Jopie' back in 1982) was a prodigy on bass, who went pro soon after Umatilla split up. He played on the hit Lily Was Here (by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Candy Dulfer) and also recorded with big names including Mike Stern. He recently released a new album, Don't Jay Walk
