AkustiChrisye

Chrisye and Erwin Gutawa, a conductor who had coordinated Chrisye's first solo concert in 1994, began working on what was to become AkustiChrisye in 1995.^[1] Realising that Western artists such as Frank Sinatra had found success in rearranging their older songs, the two decided to do the same with Chrisye's older work.^[2] They chose the songs "Kala Sang Surya Tenggelam" ("When the Sun Set"), "Anak Jalanan" ("Street Child"), and "Smaradhana" ("Passion") from the 1978 album Sabda Alam, as well as "Gita Cinta – Puspa Indah" ("Love Song – Beautiful Flower"), a remix of two songs from the 1980 album Puspa Indah. The album also saw several new songs, written by other artists.^[3]

The album focused on using acoustic music, which Chrisye described as simple but still requiring serious work.^[4] At the time the genre had seen a resurgence in Indonesia, with the state broadcaster TVRI carrying several shows which featured acoustic music.^[5] The audio was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney, Australia, with a full orchestra providing backing in a period of three hours. Gutawa had chosen to record in Australia as better equipment was available there,^[4] and, although expensive, Aciu Widjaja of Musica Studios agreed immediately.^[2]