Sandhy Sondoro

Biography

Sandhy Sondoro, was born on the island of Java, Indonesia. Came from a musical family, where the house provide the likes of American pop, folk, Jazz and blues tunes coming from his Mother’s or father’s guitar everyday. Those were the joy that shaped his talents . It is not traditional Indonesian music that influenced him but rather soul and blues. Sandhy Sondoro is not only an excellent singer, song writer, and guitar player he also has many other talents like drawing and cooking. In Indonesia...

Sandhy Sondoro, was born on the island of Java, Indonesia. Came from a musical family, where the house provide the likes of American pop, folk, Jazz and blues tunes coming from his Mother’s or father’s guitar everyday. Those were the joy that shaped his talents . It is not traditional Indonesian music that influenced him but rather soul and blues. Sandhy Sondoro is not only an excellent singer, song writer, and guitar player he also has many other talents like drawing and cooking.

In Indonesia Sandhy Sondoro started to play in a band at high school. They did mostly covers of Van Halen and Mr. Big or The Black Crows. At the age of 18 he went to visit his uncle in California and stayed there for a while. Over a year later he went to Germany to study architecture. He first had to improve his German proficiency to be admitted at the university. He graduated in interior design but his passion for singing and playing the guitar was stronger than the wish to work in an office.

His first experience as a street musician was gained in Biberach on the Riss in Baden Wurttemberg in 1996. The international flair of Berlin attracted him and inspired him. In 1998 he moved back to Berlin and started his career as Sondoro singing and playing the guitar in bars, clubs and in the metro. His famous song Down on the streets was inspired by the experience gained in Berlins metro. He performs also in famous theatres like the House of World Cultures in Berlin, plays at music festivals like at the Bode museum isle festival. He has fans in Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and many other places in Germany.
Sandhy Sondoro’s music is influenced by American and British rock legends like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. The power of his voice reminds us of Curtis Mayfield und Marvin Gaye. Sandhy sings ballads which express love and his longing for peace. When singing rock songs his voice can turn into a powerful volcano that sounds like Joe Cocker or Roger Chapman. Sandhys voice is so flexible that he is sometimes called the Ben Harper of Jakarta.

The Berlin-based artist Sandhy Sondoro was one of the participants in Stefan Raabs song contest SSDSDSSWEMUGABRTLAD and finally ranked 5th in December 2007. On April 25, 2008, he published his first CD Why Dont We. After this first TV success the number of visitors of his MYSPACE page www.myspace.com/sandhysondoro increased every day. Messages come from Japan, Italy, UK, USA and of course from Indonesia. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.