Hi everyone! This is Sally Jo from Saharadja and this is my first newsletter because our previous manager Eric is no longer working with us. Rio and I will be organizing Saharadja from now on so you can contact us if you would like to work with Saharadja. I am now in charge of all the emails at info@saharadja.net and management@saharadja.net. All phone enquiries should now go to Rio at +62 818346545. If you do not wish to receive our newsletter please let me know and I will immediately take you off our list. We are really looking forward to being in direct contact with all of you.

I’ve been very busy working on www.myspace.com/saharadja so please take a look and let me know what you think. You can view our videos and photos, hear our music (you can even download a couple of songs for free!) and our schedule there is always up to date. I am constantly updating it so check it out every now and then to see what’s happening in Saharadja’s world. It would be great if you can tell all your friends about it too.

So since the last newsletter you received from Eric, a lot has happened…

On the 28th March we played for the Qatar Airlines launch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Jimbaran. There were a variety of musicians and dancers performing for the opening and then Saharadja took the stage just as the 400 or so guests finished their dinner. It was a spectacular show and the audience really appreciated our mix of world music. There was a great response from the audience and Qatar airlines were so impressed that they invited us to play for another Qatar Airlines event in Doha.

We had a grand celebration for our 5th anniversary with about 200 of Saharadja’s dear friends and fans in our favorite night spot in Bali Obsesion.  We were joined by the lovely Marina on vocals and our great friends Komang, Nelly, Jack, Burhan, and Ray put on a spectacular fire show on the street out the front. We were also very lucky to have Malinke percussion group come along and jam with us on a few songs. We played until 2.30am and partied until sunrise!

KUDETA on Easter Sunday April 4 was a beautiful warm day and the outdoor beachside restaurant was jam packed with parents chilling out as their children joined in the Chocolate Egg hunt and coloring competition. Saharadja performed on a nice big stage set up in front of the ocean. A very relaxing afternoon.

On the 17th April we played on a huge stage by the beach outside Discovery Mall for the launching of the new Ford Escape. We always love the big stage and this was no disappointment. Despite a few problems with the sound system we managed to put on a great show for about 500 guests right in front of the beautiful Kuta beach.

On the 29th April we performed for the 146th Inter-parliamentary assembly at Westin hotel in Nusa Dua. Guests included Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla as well as more than 300 politicians from all countries of the world.

It was very exciting for us to play in new territory on the 22nd March at Jazz Bar and Grille in Sanur. We loved performing for this crowd as they were full of appreciation and they all stayed right up til the last note was played. We have been invited to play there once a month so we’ll be back on the 20th April.

If anyone has any photos or videos of Saharadja, we would really appreciate if you can send us some copies! We’d love to have some to add to our myspace and for our new website that we plan to make.

If any of you have any CDs with traditional music from your country or from somewhere else we would love to have a copy. We are always looking to explore new types of music so it would be great if you can help us!

Please feel free to email us if you have any comments, queries or suggestions!

Thank you for supporting Saharadja.