The year was 1996 and 8-year-old Ilham Priananda was listening to the radio, searching for his musical identity.



“Back then, the only outside musical influence on Indonesia was grunge bands like Nirvana, or local bands that I didn’t like,” he says. “Then I heard Oasis.”



The song was the band’s “She’s Electric” and it changed his life forever.

“It just sounded so different to anything I’d heard before,” says Ilham. “It was bright, uplifting, fresh music.”



It was also music that was fast gaining ground the world over. In 1996, the five-member Britpop outfit from Manchester in the UK, led by guitarist Noel Gallagher and his brash younger brother Liam, was just hitting its stride.



A year earlier, Oasis had released its second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, which went on to sell 4.3 million copies. 

Today, hits like “Live Forever”, “Wonderwall”, “Some Might Say” and “Roll With It” are part of the furniture when it comes to the soundtrack of the UK in the 1990s.



Soon after hearing the band for the first time, Ilham headed to a local flea market in South Tangerang.

He bought the CD single “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, which turned into one of the band’s most famous songs.

 It was the first piece in the collection that would become Ilham’s Molek Lane Museum, which has since become a spectacular sea of Oasis memorabilia, all driven by Ilham’s love and devotion to the band.



“I dedicate this museum to Noel and Liam Gallagher,” says the 24-year-old, who is clad in an Oasis T-shirt and sports a self-styled haircut that wouldn’t be out of place in the Manchester live music scene.



The museum, which opened in 2010, has since welcomed hundreds of patrons, most of whom heard about it through word of mouth or Twitter. 

There are around 500 items on display, including CDs, cassettes, vinyl, videos, official merchandise, T-shirts, posters, calendars, magazines — and even a set list that Ilham caught when Noel Gallagher threw it into the crowd at a solo gig in Singapore recently.

Ilham also saw Oasis in 2009. “They were great,” Ilham says about the gig. “And when Noel emerged on stage and said hello, it sounded great, man. It’s like he was saying hello just for me!”

Ilham orders most of the music items from the UK via the Internet, whereas he gets his hands on official merchandise via other Oasis fans in Thailand, Latin America and, of course, the UK.

Most of the pieces are still unopened in their plastic casing, as Ilham aims to preserve his Molek collection. Even that first “Don’t Look Back in Anger” CD bought by Ilham in 1996 is still, unbelievably, in perfect condition.

Traces of other artists can also be found, but these are mere additions to this Oasis shrine, as Ilham explains. “If there are other bands in here, it’s because they’re linked to Oasis in some way. Some have had a massive influence on Oasis, some have members who were part of Oasis, while others are bands that have been influenced by Oasis.”

After selling an estimated 70 million records worldwide, the band split in 2009 after relations between Noel and Liam fell into disrepair, but the death of Oasis only served to heighten Ilham’s interest in
the band.

In January 2013, Ilham caught a flight to the UK and walked the streets of Manchester to see the roots of the band with his own eyes. “I was living the dream,” says Ilham. “It felt like I was going on my musical haj. I’m a Muslim, but Oasis is my first religion.”

Ilham donned his parka, braved the cold Manchester weather and sought out the house where Noel and Liam grew up in Burnage. He visited the plot of land that once housed The Boardwalk, the nightclub where Oasis played its debut gig. He headed to streets featured on the band’s album covers.

He visited record shops mentioned in the lyrics of the band’s songs, stores where Noel himself used to get his musical fix before the guitarist found his way to fame.

Then Ilham made the six-hour journey from Manchester to a beach in Bournemouth on the south coast of England, which is the scene pictured on another of the band’s greatest hits, “All Around the World”. He even picked up a handful of sand, put it in a glass jar and took it all the way back to Indonesia, where it now sits in the Molek Museum.

Ilham is one of the foremost Oasis collectors in Asia and every item in his museum is referenced.

Last year he was invited to Urban Fest in Jakarta, an event that showcased various fan communities. He was asked to fill a booth with his Oasis collection — according to Ilham the first such booth in Indonesia.

And if all this wasn’t enough, over the last three years Ilham also organized four Oasis tribute gigs in Jakarta and Bandung to honor the band, with almost 2,000 fans showing up in total.

The gigs, which are free, go by the name of “Gallagher Bank Holidays”, but as Ilham explains, not just any band can turn up and play. They must first earn the right to take to the stage by passing an audition presided over by Ilham.

“In the auditions, I choose the songs for the bands to play,” he says. “I don’t want to hear bands just churn out the usual hits, like ‘Wonderwall’ or ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. I was doing this when I was 10.”

Never compromising, Ilham pushes bands to delve further into the Oasis catalogue with the simple message: if they do it well, they’re in.

While Ilham likes Indonesian indie music — citing Naif and The Brandals as favorites — underlying everything is his focus on Oasis, always unerring, or — perhaps — living forever, as the band’s famous song goes.

For years, Ilham dreamed of meeting Noel Gallagher, the man widely considered to be the brains of the band, figuring out exactly what he would say if the chance ever arose.

“You’re God for me, and if I die now, then I want to live in your hell, because there I’ll see you and your brother Liam again.”

This month, Ilham’s dream come true, when he crossed paths with Noel in the UK.