A documentary film about Igor Tamerlan, a pioneer beyond his time, only to be forgotten.
New compilation celebrates the music of francophile Igor Tamerlan
Set for global release in early 2026, the compilation marks the first full retrospective on the late musician, who often seemed a fish out of water in the local scene due to his pioneering musical and technical style.
M. Taufiqurrahman
11/10/20251 min baca
The Jakarta Post Monday November 10, 2025
Born Igor Tamerlan Djoehana Wiradikarta in 1954 in The Hague, the Netherlands, he spent most of formative years in Paris. But in 1986, he suddenly left France and relocated to Bali. His life journey in Indonesia would be as audacious as his time in the Fifth Republic.
"He wanted to settle in Indonesia and marry a local girl," Igor's brother Anda Djoehana tells an upcoming documentary on the musician's life and work.
During his brief stint at Sciences Po in Paris, Igor spent most of his time hanging out at recording studios and rubbing shoulders with the likes of singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman and Michel Polnaref. In the early 1970s, he had a brief encounter with The Rolling Stones at the Château de Thoiry studio.
But Igor's musical education and occidental eyes appeared ill-suited for Indonesia. His first record Langkah Pertama (First Step), released by mainstream label Musica, was met with a shrug and became a commercial
dud.
He moved to Bali and set up a state-of-the-art recording studio in Sanur, across the street from Southeast Asia's first boutique hotel where luminaries like Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Sting, Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr holidayed.