Inspired

The word, as where it comes from, remains a mystery. Just as the whereabouts of the Malaysian Airlines MH 370 which has been lost for exactly 7 days now. Inspiration is a word that is both under- and over-valued in the art world. .............................................................................................................................................. I am a true Indonesian, in the sense that I need the sun in my life. Winter always makes me gloomy. Spring officially arrives next Thursday the 20th, but we already feel it here. It brightens my days, it brightens my brain. 3 days ago I had an idea, which quickly turned out to be a pretty vivid musical structure, of a piece, a Rapsodia Nusantara-like one, based on that beautiful long melody by Indonesia's celebrated songwriter, Ismail Marzuki. His song, Rayuan Pulau Kelapa (The seduction of the coconut island) came to my mind, perhaps a little bit due to some homesickness (yes, I still call Indonesia home). I immediately set aside my present work, and started working on it. These last 2 nights were quite productive, and I almost finished it. It's a set of variations on the melody. Since it's originally a loooong melody, divided into the main and the "refrain" as we say in pop songs, at the moment I couldn't make more than 6 variations. In fact it's 5 variations, plus 1 short interlude which perhaps can't be called a variation, preceding the last variation. As you know, the more elaborate the theme, the less we can develop it. But I am not doing so bad. Perhaps after I try the whole piece on the piano I'd decide to write more variations .. who knows. And it's pretty strange that I am attracted to a long, winding tune to develop something out of it. Usually I am more attracted to simple themes, like the folk melodies I developed in my Rapsodia Nusantara. .............................................................................................................................................. Maybe these highly inspired 3 days are not only because of the bright spring days, but also due to my friend Henoch Kristianto's deadline to record my second volume of Rapsodia Nusantara. I asked him 3 days ago if he would like to replace the last Rapsodia which he hasn't recorded or even started practising with this new piece, and he agreed. I dunno if I can give away to you which Rapsies he is recording (maybe I'll let Henoch do it, it's his CD so I should not say too much about it now), but I can tell you that the no. 8, yeah that now very popular one, will be included in this CD. In fact, I have heard his recording of it, and my reaction was just "wow". I wish I could play it as he'd done it for this CD. So, I am gonna send him part of my new piece, Variations on Rayuan Pulau Kelapa after I finish writing this entry. I finished the 4 last variations, and that's what he'll receive from me for this moment. Yup, I have this habit writing a piece from the end. So he has a material to start working with, while I can take a break this nice afternoon. Spring is definitely coming, and I'm gonna take my usual sunset walk, with a light jacket for the first time this year. In fact, many of the chords and atmospheres in this new piece (like the interlude before the last variation) owe their colours to the numerous sunset colours around this valley where I live that I recorded both visually and aurally.