My article (in 2 editions) on Sarasvati Magazine, in Indonesian

The cultural magazine SARASVATI commissioned me for an article on classical music, and I came up with the idea of writing about myths and popular (untrue) stories in this field. But it turned out that I found too many of them, so I asked the magazine if I could write a longer article, to be published in 2 editions. They accepted. So, here is the first one, my original (not the published & edited one) on the November edition. The title was originally "What you wanna know in classical music but are afraid to ask" (sorry for referring to Woody Allen's great movie, substituting the word "classical music" with "sex"), but the published title is changed into "Debunking Myths in classical music" (which is in fact better, and inspirational for me to write the second article to be published in December. I will post it in a few days here.) ............................................................................................................................................. Apa yang anda ingin ketahui di dunia musik klasik tapi malu bertanya ............................................................................................................................................. Dunia musik sastra (istilah yang saya kira lebih tepat untuk menggantikan "musik klasik") kelihatan berlimpah glamour, misteri, kompleksitas ... dan mitos-mitos yang banyak dari kita malu untuk bertanya tentang kebenarannya. Saya ingin membahas beberapa di antaranya dalam 2 tulisan berseri. Setelah membaca ini, mungkin pembaca ingin bertanya mitos-mitos yang lain, bisa silakan tweet ke @anandasukarlan untuk saya pertimbangkan di artikel di penerbitan Sarasvati bulan depan. ............................................................................................................................................. 1. "The Mozart Effect" ............................................................................................................................................. Ada "fakta" yang sangat populer sejak th. 90-an bahwa hanya dengan mendengarkan Mozart dapat menambah poin untuk IQ kita, bahkan untuk bayi yang sedang di kandungan. Mitos tentang Mozart Effect ini berasal dari "studi" yang menghubungkan antara nilai lebih tinggi yang dicapai pada tes spasial-temporal tertentu setelah mendengarkan musik Mozart yang banyak dipublikasi di media sosial. Padahal sampai sekarang tidak ada yang pernah bisa membuktikan bahwa hanya musik Mozart memiliki efek yang berefek pada inteligensi. Faktanya adalah bahwa memainkan satu instrumen memang menuntut menggunakan bagian-bagian otak yang biasanya tidak digunakan, karena ini menyangkut aktivitas aural, menerjemahkan not di atas kertas menjadi bunyi, koordinasi beberapa indera, serta menstimulasi sensitivitas terhadap nilai-nilai artistik. Hal inilah yang bisa menaikkan kecerdasan, dan bukan hanya dengan musik Mozart. Kalau cuma soal mendengarkan secara pasif, saya sendiri punya teori sebaliknya: mungkin justru karena seseorang itu kecerdasannya di atas rata-rata lah makanya ia bisa "mengerti" musik sastra yang cenderung biasanya lebih terelaborasi strukturnya dan durasinya lebih panjang yang membutuhkan attention span yang lebih intens. Mendengarkan musik bisa memberikan dampak psikologis jangka pendek, dan belajar main instrumen bisa memberikan dampak jangka panjang. Tetapi bukan berarti kecerdasan manusia bisa meningkat secara instan dan musik juga tidak langsung dapat mengatasi masalah gangguan inteligensi. ............................................................................................................................................. 2. Musik klasik itu kuno, dan bikinan komponis yang sudah mati. ............................................................................................................................................. Fakta ini hanya terjadi di sekitar 50 tahun terakhir. Sampai wafatnya Rachmaninov (1945) mereka masih memainkan karya-karyanya sendiri maupun kolega-kolega semasanya, bahkan terus sampai wafatnya Stravinsky (1971) atau Britten (1976). Tapi sejak itu, dunia ini terbelah dua: mereka yang "mencipta" dan yang "memainkan", antara lain karena lahirnya para "raksasa piano" yang memiliki teknik pianistik luar biasa tapi tidak mencipta musik seperti Artur Rubinstein dan Vladimir Horowitz yang menjadi inspirator utama banyak komponis abad 20. Jadi mulai ada pemain piano, biola dll yang tidak membuat musik, dan "komponis" itu bisa tinggal di rumah saja menulis, karena yang memainkan karyanya adalah orang lain, walaupun sekali-sekali ia masih naik panggung, baik memainkan instrumennya ataupun memimpin orkes atau grup musik sebagai dirigen. Ini juga mengapa saya ingin menawarkan istilah "musik sastra" sebagai pengganti "musik klasik", karena "sastra" itu berarti tertulis (di atas partitur). Itu tidak berarti yang menulis sudah tua / mati ("klasik"). Sekarang fenomena ini sudah mulai balik lagi ke zaman seperti dahulu, dimana komponis adalah juga seorang performer, seperti pianis Marc Andre Hamelin, pianis/dirigen Andre Previn dan juga saya sendiri yang aktif sebagai komponis DAN pemain. ............................................................................................................................................. 3. Bagus tidaknya permainan satu orkes itu tergantung dari dirigennya. ............................................................................................................................................. Bahkan ada pepatah "There are no bad orchestras, only bad conductors". Salah besar. Jika sang dirigen "error" , musisi di grup yang profesional tetap bisa melanjutkan permainan mereka. Memang selalu ada musisi di orkes itu yang memberi aba-aba untuk rekan-rekannya, tapi itu membuktikan bahwa dirigen itu memang diperlukan untuk memudahkan, tapi tidak mutlak. Yang pasti mereka sangat "overestimated" dan bayaran mereka sering tidak masuk akal yang justru bisa membuat bangkrut sebuah orkes, seperti yang ditulis Norman Lebrecht di bukunya "The Maestro Myth" (2001). Bahkan sekarang mulai bermunculan orkes tanpa dirigen, yang sangat menghemat biaya, karena biaya latihan ekstra masih lebih murah daripada membayar "superstar conductor". Sebaliknya, kalau musikus di orkes itu tidak berkualitas baik, siapapun yang berdiri di depan orkes tidak akan bisa membuat sebuah konser menjadi baik. ............................................................................................................................................. 4. Musik klasik itu sedang sekarat. ............................................................................................................................................. Jika anda google "classical music", google akan otomatis melanjutkan: "is dying", yang menunjukkan betapa hip-nya frase ini. Faktanya: 1. dalam 10 tahun terakhir subsidi pemerintah Eropa untuk ini memang telah menyusut banyak. 2. Eropa tidak melakukan regenerasi penonton dengan membuat program-program yang inovatif, jadi penonton muda tidak lagi mendatangi gedung konser. Ini memang berarti popularitasnya sangat menurun di Eropa, tapi sebaliknya di Asia musik ini sedang booming dengan terdatanya lebih dari 40 juta (ya benar, nolnya tujuh!) pianis hanya di Cina saja, dari profesional sampai yang sedang belajar di sekolah musik. Musik sastra tidak akan bisa mati, karena ini tergantung dari produsen dan konsumen, dan balance ini sangat sehat situasinya di Asia. Selain itu, siapa yang tidak tersentuh dan tergugah oleh musik Bach yang ditulis 300 tahun lalu? Keuntungannya, Asia tidak terikat tradisi "European classical music" yang ketat, sehingga para pelaku musik bisa lebih bebas dalam programming. Struktur program konser standar di Eropa itu yang justru membosankan, dan kita di Asia harusnya lebih inovatif. Berbagai masalah juga berbeda, sehingga solusinya tidak bisa semata-mata dengan "menjiplak" Eropa. Orkes simfoni pun disini problemnya jauh berbeda, dan saya selalu mengacu ke konsep saya bahwa Indonesian problem needs Indonesian solution, yang berhubungan dengan cara kerja dan berpikir musikus di sini, cara organisasi perusahaan (baca: orkes) sampai ke pemenuhan harapan publik bahkan kemacetan jalan di Jakarta. ............................................................................................................................................. 5. Guru piano A ahli dalam style Beethoven, sedangkan B lebih mengerti Bach ............................................................................................................................................. Tentu saja tiap komponis memiliki "style" dan ciri khas tersendiri, tapi bagaimana seseorang bisa menyatakan bahwa "main Bach itu harus begini/begitu"? Apa dia pernah dengar Bach main karyanya sendiri, rekaman dari abad 18? Yang betul adalah, interpretasi musik seorang komponis ditentukan bukan hanya dengan mengenal 1 atau 2 karyanya, tapi sebanyak mungkin karyanya untuk lebih mengenal style-nya. Tapi pada akhirnya, klaim bahwa "komponis A harus dimainkan dengan cara begini" itu 100% adalah teori dan pendapat pribadi, kalau memang tidak ada rekaman dari permainan sang komponis itu sendiri. Kita sekarang bisa bicara secara jauh lebih akurat tentang style-nya Rachmaninov, Stravinsky dll karena ada rekaman permainan mereka sendiri, tapi jika seorang peserta kompetisi digugurkan oleh juri karena "style permainan Bach-nya tidak akurat", juri itu dapat didebat dengan mudah: bagaimana anda tahu bahwa style-nya harusnya seperti yang anda nyatakan? (Bersambung)

Memukul Dengan Kepekaan (article published in KOMPAS, November 9th 2015)

This is the article I wrote, commissioned by KOMPAS and published November 9th, about Harry Murti, a master builder of drums & percussion instruments. His contribution, together with the students and members of Jakarta Drum School during my opera CLARA last year was so crucial, and they are participating again in my next opera of next year, Tumirah, Sang Mucikari. Some numbers of this new opera will be performed during the Jakarta New Year Concert on January 10th, at Titan Center, Bintaro, sung by the same vocalists of the actual complete opera next year. The title of this article means "Hitting with sensitivity" :) . ............................................................................................................................................. Memukul Dengan Kepekaan ............................................................................................................................................. Musik pada saat ini seringkali hanya dianggap sebagai "peran pembantu", dalam pertunjukan teater atau ilustrasi film. Dari keseluruhan itu, ada segmen di orkes / grup musik yang lebih dianggap sebagai "latar belakang" saja, yaitu bagian drums dan perkusi. Perkusi adalah segmen dari keseluruhan orkestrasi yang mungkin paling disalah-pahami oleh penonton awam. Fungsinya sering dianggap semata-mata sebagai "penentu/penyokong ritme" padahal sebetulnya (bisa) jauh lebih dari itu. Bahkan drummer dan pemain perkusi sering diejek sebagai "tukang pukul" di orkes. Kenyataannya, perkusi juga punya "warna", dan warna itu bisa menentukan suasana / ekspresi yang sangat sutil, baik ditengah keriuhan para penggebuknya maupun sewaktu dimainkan dengan sangat lembut (ya, ya, perkusi itu bisa berbunyi sangat lembut dan indah!). Dan di aspek ini lah saya salut dengan Harry Murti, seorang master-builder (pembuat instrumen) drum Indonesia yang telah diakui dunia. Untuk berbagai alat perkusi, kayu birch dan maple adalah yang biasanya dipakai sebagai bahan, dan Harry telah menunjukkan kayu-kayu dari pohon di Indonesia yang menawarkan warna dan resonansi yang berbeda: Jati, Sungkai, Makassar Ebony, Bengkirai, Mahogany, Cherry, selain bambu. ............................................................................................................................................. Harry Murti mulai bermain drum di sekolah dasar [1977], dan setelah sekitar bermain 5 tahun mulai melakukannya dengan serius - ia membentuk band, menjadi session player, dll, tapi sebetulnya ia selalu tertarik pada suara itu sendiri. Teknik bermain penting untuk belajar, tapi justru banyak musisi tidak sensitif terhadap suara instrumen itu. ............................................................................................................................................. Sebagai seseorang yang terobsesi, cinta Harry Murti terhadap musik perkusi mendorongnya untuk belajar bagaimana membuat drum itu sendiri. Sebagai seorang "master builder" otodidak, alat perkusi berkualitas tinggi yang diproduksinya menggunakan kayu Indonesia, yang membuatnya memiliki suara yang unik. Bersemangat untuk berbagi pengetahuan musik, Harry juga menciptakan sebuah sekolah musik khusus untuk perkusi, Jakarta Drum School. ............................................................................................................................................. Seperti kebanyakan musisi tahu, instrumen yang berkualitas, dalam hal ini drum dan alat perkusi lainnya itu mahal. Ketika kita pergi ke sebuah studio latihan, kita tidak bisa semata-mata mencatat atau mengingat untuk meniru apa yang kita dengar karena hal itu tidak bisa memproduksi nada yang kita cari -- itu semua harus dipraktekkan, dilatih, dan berkali-kali. Setelah meneliti, Harry menemukan bahwa kayu adalah aspek penentu yang besar dalam kualitas bunyinya, bukan hanya jenis kayunya, tapi juga bagaimana pengolahannya. Harry tentu saja ingin membuat instrumen yang bagus, tapi pada mulanya tidak punya uang bahkan kesabaran untuk menabung -- mengapa hanya orang dengan uang berlimpah yang dapat membeli alat yang bagus? Sejak itu, Harry memutar otak. ............................................................................................................................................. Harry mulai belajar drum itu sendiri melalui majalah dan berdiskusi dengan berbagai orang yang ia temui selama kunjungannya ke NAMM [National Association of Music Merchants, sebuah tradeshow musik]. Selama melalui kuliah aeronautika, kemudian kerja dan menikah, ia mulai bereksperimen membuat drum. Saking bergairahnya, ia mencapai titik di mana ia keluar dari pekerjaan untuk melanjutkan penelitian, ketika ia menyadari bahwa mengkonstruksi berbagai jenis drum adalah jalan hidupnya. Ia membeli drum dengan berbagai ukuran hanya untuk membongkar, menggergaji kayunya guna menganalisa secara mendetail. Ini tentu membuat orangtua dan istrinya resah, karena praktis Harry tidak dapat memasukkan uang untuk keluarganya. Tapi setelah kelihatan hasilnya, satu mukjizat terjadi, seperti yang diceritakan Harry kepada saya. Suatu hari, pada pukul 9 pagi, ibunya yang sakit memanggilnya. Ia akhirnya merestui apa yang dikerjakan anak lelakinya, serta memberinya modal membangun studio. 3 jam kemudian, di tengah hari, sang ibunda wafat. ............................................................................................................................................. Karena ia memiliki latar belakang bidang aeronautika yang dipelajarinya di perguruan tinggi, ia punya lumayan banyak pengetahuan teknis. Setelah ia memiliki pemahaman dasar tentang instrumen, setiap kali ada teman yang memerlukan memperbaiki drumnya, Harry menawarkan jasa untuk memperbaikinya. Ini memberinya kesempatan untuk bereksperimen lebih lanjut tentang aspek-aspek yang berbeda. ............................................................................................................................................. Selama dua tahun ia tidak bekerja, studio "Harry's Drum Craft" yang ia bangun bisa menghasilkan uang sehingga ia bisa tetap fokus pada minatnya. Ia sudah berhasil membuat beberapa drum yang dimainkan pada saat itu, walaupun tidak sampai pada kualitas yang ia inginkan. Sambil membangun studio latihan ia melihat bahwa salah satu pekerja konstruksi, Dali, memiliki keahlian yang besar - dia menaruh perhatian terhadap detail dan konsisten dengan pekerjaannya. Ketika studio selesai dibangun, Harry mendekatinya dan bertanya apakah ia mau membantunya menjadi asisten membuat drum. ............................................................................................................................................. Selama 2 atau 3 bulan kedepannya, Dali dibayarnya hanya untuk melihat, mengamati dan mempelajari cara Harry membuat drum, baru 6 bulan berikutnya ia mulai membuat drum bersama Harry sampai dia mampu membuat drum dengan bimbingan minimal. Setelah sekitar 2 tahun, mereka akhirnya mencapai titik di mana mereka berdua puas dengan produk akhir. ............................................................................................................................................. Kini Harry adalah salah satu kurator yang diseleksi oleh Global Project yang berbasis di Amerika Serikat. Para Master builder Dunia di pilih oleh kurator independent yg sudah qualified. Global project adalah project indie para Master builder Dunia yg ingin berbagi dgn drummer2 yg tidak mampu secara finansial untuk bisa tetap merasakan Drum/snare dgn kualitas high quality. ............................................................................................................................................. Saat ini ada 22 Master builder yg terpilih, dari Amerika Serikat, Inggris, Skotlandia, Australia dll., dan dari Asia sementara ini hanya dari Indonesia yaitu Harry's Drum Craft. Ini adalah pengakuan terhadap HDC sebagai Master Builder Drum di dunia. Disitu setiap Master Builder akan memberikan satu unit snarenya yg terbaik untuk dipamerkan dan dilelang atau langsung diberikan kepada calon2 drummer2 yg berbakat atau bisa membuktikan perjalanan karir yg panjang di dunia drum tetapi belum beruntung secara financial yg akhirnya tidak mampu untuk membeli drum yg bagus. Bulan Desember ini para master builders dan drummers penerima donasi akan berkumpul di New York City. ............................................................................................................................................. Ritme dan Warna dari Pemerkosaan ............................................................................................................................................. Seni datang dalam bentuk yang berbeda-beda. Dalam seni visual anda dapat melihat warna, bentuk, dan ukuran, tapi bagaimana anda menggambarkan suara? Hal ini tidak dapat dilihat, tidak dapat disentuh, tapi dapat dirasakan. Harry mendengarkan berbagai musik sejak ia masih sangat muda - dari Chick Corea, Saga, Genesis, Rush, sampai Casiopea - dan apa yang ia pelajari adalah bahwa drum-set yang berkarakter kuat dapat mewakili karakter dan ekspresi sang musikus. Suara drum yang baik mengilhami dan memotivasi kita untuk bermain, suaranya sesuai dengan musik yang kita cari untuk mengkomunikasikannya ke publik. Ingat, musik lahir dari satu aspek, yaitu ritme. Dia datang jauh sebelum yang lainnya: melodi, harmoni dll. Bahkan ritme lah yang membuat kita hidup, karena detak jantunglah yang mengiringi kita sampai mati. Ritme lah yang memotivasi kita untuk bergerak, dan melahirkan aspek-aspek musikal lainnya. ............................................................................................................................................. Kalau ada satu elemen yang mempertemukan Harry Murti dan saya, elemen itu adalah ... perkosaan. Nanti dulu, pembaca, Harry dan saya tidak memperkosa siapa-siapa kok. Tapi adegan pemerkosaan sebagai klimaks di opera saya CLARA itulah yang mendorong saya mengundang Harry dan rekan-rekannya dari Jakarta Drum School (JDS) untuk mengisi musik di adegan itu, selain beberapa adegan lainnya. CLARA menceritakan pemerkosaan terhadap wanita-wanita keturunan Cina di masa kerusuhan Mei 1998. Kerjasama itu terbukti sangat berhasil. CLARA terpilih menjadi Karya Seni Pertunjukan terbaik 2014 oleh majalah Tempo, dan selain hal itu berkat kekinclongan JDS, saya harus sebut juga bahwa penonton dan pengamat juga memberi pujian tinggi kepada para penyanyi utama Isyana Sarasvati yang memerankan Clara dan Widhawan Aryo Pradhita sebagai Polisi korup dengan nilai artistik yang sangat berkelas. ............................................................................................................................................. Harry memiliki keinginan yang sebetulnya sama dengan keinginan saya di dunia gamelan. Negara kita itu sebetulnya negara tetabuhan. Ada tifa, kenongan dll., dan kami bermimpi bahwa instrumen-instrumen tersebut dapat secara mudah berintegrasi ke grup-grup atau orkes yang "standar". Untuk itulah kita perlu standardisasi, dalam tonalitasnya dan dalam terminologi setiap instrumen, sehingga bisa praktis ditulis dalam partitur / notasi. Mungkin banyak yang masih belum tahu, bahwa kesulitan tertinggi mengintegrasi sebuah kelompok gamelan dengan orkes simfoni "barat", misalnya, bukanlah membuat musiknya supaya tidak menjadi "tambal sulam", tapi menyamakan tonalitasnya dengan instrumen barat yang sudah fix, A adalah 440 Hz. ............................................................................................................................................. Kesuksesan CLARA juga yang membuat Harry dan saya justru tidak puas. Berarti kita harus kolaborasi lagi! Februari tahun depan jika semua lancar, kami akan kerjasama lagi di opera saya yang terbaru, "Tumirah, Sang Mucikari". Seperti CLARA, ini juga saya adaptasi dari naskah hebat Seno Gumira Ajidarma. Kali ini pemeran utamanya adalah Artidewi, penyanyi jazz yang juga berteknik dasar klasik menjadi Tumirah (sebetulnya semua penyanyi --dan pemusik-- yang bagus itu saya percaya karena teknik dasarnya dari aliran klasik, sih), sedangkan para soprano terbaik Nusantara seperti Mariska Setiawan dan Evelyn Merrelita akan jadi "para pelacur"nya. Lagi-lagi akan ada adegan pemerkosaan, kali ini terhadap para pelacur, dan disitu JDS akan berperan besar lagi untuk membangun suasana yang sangar, buas sekaligus mencekam. Seperti juga di CLARA, mereka bukan hanya sibuk memukul drums dari berbagai macam ukuran dan jenis, tapi juga ikut acting. Dan jangan salah, acting sebagai pemerkosa itu tidak gampang, tapi lebih sulit lagi membuat musik yang bisa pas dengan koreografi pemerkosaan itu, untuk membuatnya tidak vulgar. Baik Tumirah maupun Clara adalah luapan kegelisahan saya terhadap isyu kemanusiaan yang masih begitu rendah dihargai oleh pemerintah Indonesia, terbukti dengan belum terselesaikannya pembunuhan Munir, kerusuhan 1998, bahkan kejadian 1965 dan masih banyak lagi. Apakah musik bisa mengubah dunia? Tidak usah dunia deh, negara saja cukup, satu negara saja. Atau, cukup beberapa politikus yang berhati keras dan berdarah dingin. Apa musik bisa menggetarkan nurani mereka? Mungkin tidak, tapi musik bisa memberi harapan. Saat kita ingin mengekspresikan sesuatu yang terlalu dalam untuk disampaikan dengan kata-kata, hanya musik yang dapat melakukannya. Dan ekspresi itu salah satunya adalah harapan yang tersimpan. Tanpa harapan, buat apa hidup ini?

Is classical music really dying, and social media its murderer? (Article on Indonesia Tatler)

Towards the end of the year, I am posting my articles published in "traditional" medias in 2015. This one was published at indonesiatatler.com last November. As you might know, this magazine is now going online, and I am honoured to have been asked to write this essay for their premiere edition. They wanted me to write something about the state of classical music (what else??) and I wrote this. ............................................................................................................................................. Let's admit it. Just google "classical music is" and google will automatically continue with "dead" or "dying". Do it on any computer all around the world (as yours truly had done it) and those words appear before "the best", "cool", "boring" or other words. ............................................................................................................................................. We are living in an era where fame has nothing to do with artistic quality (therefore JB is more associated with Justin Bieber instead of Johann (Sebastian) Bach), and everybody has our 15-minutes of fame through the social media. Let's start with the numbers. I am not including the "crossover" musicians here, only the ones who work exclusively in classical music. ............................................................................................................................................. We could be sure that the most famous classical musician alive today is Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist. His twitter has 276K followers, oh so far from Bieber's 70M. He is followed by violinist Sarah Chang with 138K followers. Surprisingly, very popular figures in classical music have less than 100K, and since I don't have the complete data, I will just take the samples from my favorites such as soprano Renee Fleming (42K) and baritone Thomas Hampson (15K). Fan club twitter accounts do not have huge followers, but they never have anyway, since they totally miss the point of tweeting, which is that the fans could feel they could connect directly with the artists they highly adore. What I would like to pinpoint here is that classical musicians are not celebrities, and we should have a different perspective (and manners) of how we connect with our fans. What the classical music fans really need is our product, not the beauty of our physical appearance or our provocative tweets, so tweeting about what we eat for lunch does not affect their (un)willingness to buy our recordings or attend our concerts. ............................................................................................................................................. The main problem (apart from the others which I will elaborate in the next paragraphs) of the love - hate relationship between classical music and social media is that in classical music, there are only very few people who are doing our job professionally, but EVERYONE is an "expert" on it, and they share their "expertise" on social media. What we post on social media can make or break us. Not only us, but people around us, and to a bigger extent, the field that we represent. Let's go through them one by one. Until now, I still laugh at that question to be overwritten as our facebook status: "What's on your mind?" . Dear facebook, if I write what is on my mind, I would end up in jail everyday. ............................................................................................................................................. Youtube has its deceptive aspect to it. We musicians always want to be unbearably impeccable in our recordings. When a note is just slightly off, we would repeat the whole phrase and even edit it in the studio. We are so obsessed with precision, artistry and minute details. But on youtube, there are so many live performances recorded just with a smartphone. And most artists are ok with that. More than that, there are performances which are below the usual standard but nevertheless get so many views. Well, sometimes I don't feel ok, but through the years I have learned how to tolerate with it. The most epic of all this is even documented, and it's as easy as searching "Bolero trombone disaster" on youtube. And that was played by no less than Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the late genius, Lorin Maazel. For your information non-classical music lovers, Bolero is the most famous music by French composer Maurice Ravel, a 20-minute orchestral work consisting of the same beautifully haunting melody played and repeated 18 times by different instruments, so if one of them is (a bit) off, one would very much notice it. One fact should be added. It was a performance in Madrid, so perhaps one should consider the amount of Spanish alcohol consumed by the trombonist.... and as a musician living in Spain, it has become the no. 1 topic among musical late night drinks up to now . ............................................................................................................................................. Like everything else in life, social media is not good or bad. In fact, one US orchestra actually credits a social media campaign for saving them from complete shutdown. In the fall and winter of 2013, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra was in true danger of collapse. Their remarkable journey to solvency was chronicled in detail on the Milwaukee Symphony Musicians Facebook page. ............................................................................................................................................. On October 15, 2013, MSO posted a photo captioned: “Great art, great artists. Milwaukee is rich in both”. The following day, they posted a link to a disturbing article titled, “Milwaukee Symphony in crisis - again: The MSO is playing brilliantly but struggling financially; what to do?” with a photo of their chief conductor, Maestro Edo de Waart and a link to a recent article in the local Journal Sentinel. A quote from Edo de Waart that they tweeted was crucial for the fundraising to save this orchestra: "An orchestra is one of the organizations in a city that can serve as a catalyst for the rest of the arts". MSO themselves posted a few days later: "Love classical music? Right now is the time to show it. Save the MSO!" Those posts went viral across the US and generated sympathy from classical music lovers and the story had a happy ending. ............................................................................................................................................. Many classical musicians buy their followers, "likes" on facebook and views on youtube. While it looks like they have huge amount of followers, there is one big difference between their followers and those of a rockstar: when you buy followers, they are fake. In other words, they are machines, so the number of followers doesn't automatically translate itself into the number of people who buy the tickets of the concerts. You might look cool, having so many "fans" but the fact just stops there. Even in the best case scenario, social media marketing alone isn’t going to create legions of fans out of thin air. Especially because the majority of people that interact with their adored artists on the social Web are already familiar with those names. ............................................................................................................................................. What successful (classical) musicians share in their online presence is a lack of ego: they do not “magnify” themselves up – they come across as genuine and “normal”, and this is a crucial aspect of using social media. Social media should be used to promote our (artistic) product, not our ego. How do you know if your ego is not involved, and that you are objective enough? Well, if posting is like asking the world – do you “like” me? Am I funny enough, deep enough, smart enough, loveable enough, special enough? How much do you like my opinion about this and that? Even if we’re looking to people we love for these answers we’re entering dangerous territory – let alone if we constantly ask a cyberworld full of strangers if we’re worthy! Not everyone we run across wants to be a fan. We're ok with that. And fans are there for our artistic product, not for our ego. ............................................................................................................................................. Part of what makes social media work (or not) is more the "social" than the "media" of it. On the other side, social media isn't just publicity (although there are plenty of organizations and people that do nothing but); it's about making connections albeit superficially. When fans feel connected, they share that connection with all the people they know. But here starts the danger. ............................................................................................................................................. Social media is not what it appears to be. When you don't get the approval you desperately crave in real life, those "likes" will give it to you. How do you acquire them? By posting something controversial, sensational, provocative. But wait. Those things look great because people either love it or hate it. You will lose half of your audience -- and it will make you look cool and daring, which is ok in the pop world, but do we need haters in the classical music world, where sometimes our existence is like the "p" in "Pterodactyl" ? ............................................................................................................................................. And now, everyone can listen to you free of charge, because you yourself provide it in youtube or soundcloud. OK, young musicians need "exposure" and money comes later, they say. OK, so pianists want "exposure" of them playing a Beethoven sonata which is already "exposed", impeccably by thousands of pianists.Will they get that "exposure"? I seriously doubt it. If no one pays the concert, your video , or audio recording, in the future no one can ever live from the arts. I know no supermarket that give rice and bread in exchange of "exposure". Be not deceived , those who believe that doing so will generate a future benefit is entering a death trap. Believing that your facebook post generates thousands of likes is a success only satisfies a digital vanity. Approvals on social media is as big a trap as money. Nobody needs money, what we in fact need is what money can buy. Facebook "likes" and retweets, no matter how many you have them, means nothing if you can't do anything with them. It is more of a means to an end rather than an end in itself. ............................................................................................................................................. Everyone has 3 lives: the public, the private and the secret ones. Don't let the social media erase the lines that separated those three lives. When you let it happen, then you have pushed the self-destruction button. And not only you will be destroyed, but the whole ship that travels with you.

Criticizing Critics

There was a happy surprise last Sunday. I was in Bandung, and while having breakfast at the hotel I opened the Sunday KOMPAS Newspaper, and there it was, a quarter of a page review of my latest CD, "A Virtuosic Christmas". It wouldn't be "happy" if the review weren't praising it as a fresh new look on some Christmas tunes, and a well written one too. And it wouldn't be a "surprise" if I were expecting reviews on it, since we didn't send it to any media and asking them to write about it. Frans Sartono, the critic (I prefer to say the writer of the article; I never think of this good soul as a critic. He writes about music, that's his profession), BOUGHT some CDs for Christmas presents (and apparently for his own listening pleasure). He didn't ask for a free one to be reviewed. And his article is quite objective and ... well, it's an art of writing in itself. It is meant to just analyze the two main numbers of the CD, Fantasies on "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fideles" and gives a concise description of the other works. He wrote it in a straightforward and simple language, which is more difficult than writing in a "complex" and "sophisticated-ish" manner. It doesn't judge. As Albert Einstein said, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." ............................................................................................................................................. Now, there are "critics" who now see the opportunity to "make or break" an artist (oh really? Get real, n get a life, dude). Not only that they see a financial (read: opportunity for bribery and corruption, let alone sexual abuses) chance in it, more than everything, they see the opportunity to get power to control, even in politics (a pathetic one, I must say, but yeah). ............................................................................................................................................. Do we need (music) critics? The answer is simple : we don't. Reason: what's the use of them? If you can answer this, then ok, I will change my mind. I know, I know, they are here to stay, just like criminals, corruptors, architects, doctors, prostitutes, and us artists. But even prostitutes are needed by many people, as I will prove in my next opera, Tumirah, Sang Mucikari. And they have compassion, love, and most importantly, they WORK. They might gossip around, bitching around with their colleagues about the size of their client's penises, but they do it AFTER WORK. ............................................................................................................................................. Now another question : do we need people to criticize us? Yes we do. We always need other people's opinion, although most of the time what we need is an acknowledgement that what we are doing is good. But yeah, we need our parents when we were small to tell us what is wrong and what is right, and when we get older we need friends, colleagues and so on. But they don't have to tell the world about what we did wrong, and so "don't be friends -- or fans -- of this guy. He's awful". Coz the sentence "he's awful" automatically would indirectly continue ".. and I'm awesome". Why? Coz I can pinpoint what he did wrong. ............................................................................................................................................. The worst thing about critics is that they think they represent the opinion of the general public. Well, they try to, but unfortunately they don't. I mean, I don't see myself as an asshole so they could represent me. They should not say "we", they should say "I". And in the case of last Sunday, it was KOMPAS who showed their professionalism. I must tell you, KOMPAS is big, highly respected newspaper in Indonesia . Now if you work in an insignificant fake online media, or even just bitch around in your facebook status or blog, it's the most pathetic thing a loser can do. OK ok, my dear Mr. Critic, you can criticize me whatever you like and I would go on with my life and career, but criticizing a young musician for his/her first concert? Why do someone want to do that? The only answer I can think of is because the "critic" just wanna be like him/her on stage. If you can't do what he does, break him so he can do what you do: criticize, and criticize only. You can't go up to his level, then bring him down to your level. Only then you can be equal. Only then you can be happy. And if you wanna be a bitc .. I mean critic, don't ask for free CDs, or free tickets to a concert. ............................................................................................................................................. I myself prefer to work and BE criticized than to criticize and not do the work.

A new profession -- in classical music?

Well, you know that many new and prosperous professions nowadays didn't exist like 10 years ago, such as social media manager (or consultant) or anything to do with mobile phones and apps. That's how I feel now in Indonesia as a (classical music) composer. My European colleagues who are reading this might feel strange .... but yeah, classical music, in spite of its term, is something new to us Indonesians, starting from the second half of the last century. We do have pioneers of classical music composers, such as Amir Pasaribu (who died a few years ago with 92 years of age, after around 30 or more years of his last years not composing anything) or, still very much around us, the 80-year-young Trisutji Kamal. But now that the classical music scene is so robust in Indonesia, I am working with so many young (and not so young too) musicians who are playing my music, either as part of their educational purposes or with the intention of performing it professionally. ............................................................................................................................................. Before this, classical musicians are faced with music by dead composers only. You have all the materials provided, besides the music sheet. Now with the existence of youtube, you can even have all the historical recordings, you name it, Glenn Gould, Artur Rubinstein even going back to the recording of the composers themselves such as Rachmaninov or Prokofiev playing their own music (which sometimes are not so brilliant as other pianists performing their music. Even Rachmaninov admitted that about Vladimir Horowitz, as you know). So, you pick a Bach French Suite and you can listen to a few hundred different recordings, most of them artistically of high quality. You choose the best according to you, or the one you feel closest too, and there you get a clear concept of the music. You might not be able to imitate it (who could imitate Gould?), but you work on that piece of music with the sound of your favorite recording in your head, but mostly not your own idea. So, you are already conditioned to a specific interpretation of the music, not the music itself. ............................................................................................................................................. With newly written music, you are demanded to have a clear idea YOURSELF of the musical concept and its character. It's perhaps (a bit) easier if you are a singer, since you have the words to start with, although sometimes a poem could be so complex that it's the music that helps you feel the atmosphere between the words. But if it's a piece of instrumental music, well, it does need your musical sensitivity to grasp its idea. ............................................................................................................................................. This is why a new piece of music is very important in music competitions. It's much easier to perform a piece of music that has a "history" ---and like any history, it has so many different versions--- but it is through an interpretation of a really new piece of music that we can really see the artistic abilities of a musician. Nowadays we don't need more musicians who can read notes so well and play it with the nimblest of fingers; it is already expected from any musician. We need musicians who understand what lies between those notes, even though (s)he has never heard that music before. ............................................................................................................................................. So, for you who are performing my piano pieces in the next Ananda Sukarlan Award competition, you might have acquired my newest CD, A Virtuosic Christmas. I play some of the works that you could choose among the obligatory works to play there. But remember, I am counting on YOU to play it better. You've gotta be able to see other points of views, other ideas, other musical concept of it. I played it as an INTERPRETER, not as a composer anymore, as any pianist-composer could tell you when they are performing their own works. I have heard my music performed differently than I had in mind before, and many times. And some of them, I must say, are excellent. There are fresh approaches in some pieces on Henoch Kristianto's recordings of some of my Rapsodia Nusantara, and some performances of Edith Widayani were also more than artistically very admirable. And I must say that until now, nobody (I include myself here) matches the brilliance of Anthony Hartono's performance of Rapsodia Nusantara no. 10. I am just sooo much looking forward to hearing a mindblowing performance of some of my works in the next competition next July.

Unending Dedication, Ending Doubts

I am deeply grateful for Stanley Widianto’s article on me, titled “His Unending Dedication”, which appeared in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 6. He did a great job, and indeed we talked a great deal in depth at my office while I was in Jakarta last month. You can read it here: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/06/ananda-sukarlan-his-unending-dedication.html . It's a well-written article, but there are some aspects that aren't really in accordance with my opinions and perspectives. I am sorry if I inadvertently gave some false impressions as such to him during our interview last month in my office, when I was in Indonesia. So, I wrote to The Jakarta Post concerning the article that was written about me on Friday, 6th of November, to clarify some things. Jakarta Post publishes my letter today Wednesday, 11th of Nov., on page 7 . Here it is . ............................................................................................................................................. I am deeply grateful for Stanley Widianto’s article on me, titled “His Unending Dedication”, which appeared in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 6. He did a great job, and indeed we talked a great deal in depth at my office while I was in Jakarta last month. But I would like to clarify some aspects. ............................................................................................................................................. When mentioning “the government’s consistent orphaning of classical music”, I was referring to previous administrations. Having received the Education and Culture Ministry’s Cultural award this year, the present government has not only shown appreciation for my works but also recognized the role classical music has in the healthy development of our country. ............................................................................................................................................ I am not a proponent of government subsidies for classical music as such measures do not help increase people’s love for it. If the general audience loves it, then they will happily pay for it. Those who do not have a need for or love classical music should not have to contribute their tax money for classical music subsidy programs. In Europe, government subsidies have been abused by artists who usually have easy access and connections to curators and those who cut the subsidy cake. Subsidies for classical music should be used to promote Indonesian classical music to the world, instead of organizing hundreds of concerts with no clear necessity and public interest. In fact, the growing disinterest in classical music in Europe is the result of unnecessary subsidies for particular kinds of “arts”. These subsidies have enabled those artists to stay in their ivory towers without making any kind of public contribution. ............................................................................................................................................ Classical music is for the “segmented field”, as Stanley wrote, but I would like to add that this is only the case in Europe. In Asia, we can change the situation before it is too late. I believe that the future of classical music is in Asia, since it is not tied by tradition. Therefore, we can be more innovative and daring in its presentation to the public at large. ............................................................................................................................................ Of course, we have different problems than those in Europe. The way Indonesian musicians and audiences think is so different than our European counterparts. Indonesian problems need Indonesian solutions. Moreover, the solutions offered by European artists and government proved to be ineffective in maintaining public interest in classical music, as evidenced by the demographic profile of its listeners. In Europe, the majority of the genre’s listeners are aged 50 and older, while in Indonesia listeners are mostly young people. ............................................................................................................................................ Last but not least, I am so far from frustrated and tired. On the contrary, I have found the greatest job on earth. Classical music is still new to this region, therefore there are so many things to work on and that is exciting! ............................................................................................................................................ Ananda Sukarlan, Composer and pianist

What's in my new CD for Christmas?

This is what I wrote in the booklet of my new CD, "A Virtuosic Christmas", available to public on the second week of November. ............................................................................................................................................ Sorry that it's not quite a Silent Night anymore. ............................................................................................................................................ This CD contains my two virtuosic piano works based on Christmas songs that I have always loved, and still do until now. Apart from that, I had so much fun recording my shorter piano works from Alicia's Piano Books, but since this release is related to Christmas time, I chose only those that are related to love. As I am working with the extremely talented young vocalists Mariska Setiawan and Nikodemus Lukas for my bigger projects these days, I kindly asked them if they would like to record my songs that they have sung in the past, and they happily agreed. I have written hundreds of vocal works about love (and sometimes its absence) too. The songs featured in this CD are their own choice, I just asked them that the theme should be related to love. ............................................................................................................................................ The "Adeste Fideles" Fantasy & Passacaglia was written during the days when I was "dry" during my first few weeks of writing my opera, CLARA. Clara had a difficult start, since I tried to change the structure of the story into a flashback. Even with the structure carefully planned, I was still feeling insecure even until I already wrote down the first few (even many!) notes. The theme doesn't help either. It's so painful, not the usual "mental" pain as in unrequited love, but a physical one, since it's about rape and death. Everything is so violent, and I have so much fear for violence. I tried to make this opera as a therapeutic method for me to deal with things that I fear so much in me. So, I wrote a variation of the passacaglia every time I dried up or was incapable of writing .... which proved that those days were a lot! "Adeste Fideles" turned into one of the longest pieces for piano that I've written. ............................................................................................................................................ The original "Silent Night" is perhaps the only musical work that is remembered from the German composer Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863). On the Christmas Eve of 1818, Joseph Mohr, an assistant pastor at St Nicholas, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816. They were both working in that church at Obendorf, near Salzburg. He asked Gruber to set the poem to music. The church organ had broken down so Gruber produced a melody with guitar arrangement for the poem. The two men sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time at Christmas Mass in St Nicholas Church while Mohr played guitar and the choir repeated the last two lines of each verse. In later years, Gruber composed additional arrangements of the carol for organ and for organ with orchestra, as well as scores of other carols and masses, many of which are still in print and sung today in Austrian churches. There are no royalties involved in these two songs, and I have liked the tunes since I remembered, so writing paraphrases on those tunes proved to be really fun. I just hope that they are fun to play as well! ............................................................................................................................................ I learned a lot mostly from Rimsky Korsakov's work Variations and Fugue on B.A.C.H in writing my own music music, Fantasy & Fugue on B.A.C.H. both of which I performed in a concert at the Juan March Foundation in Madrid, in my concert with all works based on the 4-note theme B.A.C.H., where H is the note for B in German, and B itself is B-flat as we know it. The program also included the works of Alfredo Casella, Arnold Schoenberg's Suite op. 25 and a new work by Spanish prominent composer Santiago Lanchares. My piece turns out to be so different from Rimsky's, but from his work I learned the harmonic wealth and possibilities from that motif. And also I realized how it could be so diatonic, chromatic and atonal at the same time. My piece lasts for about 5 minutes or so, it is quite virtuosic and perhaps it's the most "atonal" sounding of my works till now (apart from some short pieces in Alicia's Piano Books), but I hope its virtuosity would compensate its atonal dissonance, especially the fugue which lasts for only about 1,5 minutes. ............................................................................................................................................ Apart from writing a series of Rapsodia Nusantara based on Indonesian folkmusic (my target for now is to write 34, as we have that many provinces in Indonesia), I am writing a series of Love Songs too. There were personal love songs, using the names of the people who are in love (such as Henoch Kristianto & Yenny which is recorded on Henoch´s CD, and Karini & Wahyu in this CD), but what I meant here are abstract ones, just with numbers. While Rapsodia Nusantara pieces serve as virtuosic works, Love Songs explore easy(-ier) piano techniques, but they will focus on 1 or 2 techniques only. So, they would serve as a kind of etude, sometimes not in the finger techniques but in balancing the voices, in developing sensitivity in tempo and timing etc., which is highly important for young pianists but now often forgotten in the musical education for the young that focuses only on the "fast fingers". ............................................................................................................................................ As for my vocal works in this CD, they speak for themselves. I can only add that the 3 poets whose dainty poems I use in my songs with harp are "new friends". I met Adimas Immanuel, Bernard Batubara and Didik Siswantono during the ASEAN Literary Festival 2015 and I had the pleasant surprise of discovering their imaginative worlds they depict through their poems. I now bring the collection of their poems that will keep inspiring me everywhere in my travels. ............................................................................................................................................ @anandasukarlan , October 2015

September Updates

Well, it's all over. It's been a very busy month. Balance : for the educational tour, I have worked with more than 140 young musicians (mostly pianists, except in Jogja where there were vocalists too) in 4 cities in Indonesia : Jakarta, Makassar, Jogja and Surabaya. I gave masterclasses, mostly with them working on my own piano works in all cities except Makassar, where the Ananda Sukarlan Award (ASA) Junior Piano Competition was held. Unfortunately the ASA could not give the 1st prize of the highest category, but we did have good talents joining it. Since this was the 2nd ASA Junior, so we only have Ayunia Indri Saputro as the only winner of this competition, from 2013. She is leaving to pursue further studies abroad next year, I heard. ............................................................................................................................................ Anyway, the "heavy" ASA, which is the International Piano Competition will be held next year on 27th to 31st of July. Please join our facebook page "Ananda Sukarlan Award International Piano Competition" on facebook, or follow @ASAPianoComp at twitter. We would post regularly again starting now. For the moment, I have stated the obligatory works for the Senior & Junior Category only . ............................................................................................................................................ And concerning composition, I haven't done a big deal for the last month. My opera "Tumirah" was stuck last month anyway, so it was good that I had a break from composing for about a month. Many of my works were premiered: My 2nd Chamber Symphony (two movements are uploaded by I-dunno-who on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEJScz3B2jU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsSVj6rIqzc ) was premiered at the Goethe Haus after receiving a private premiere at the residence of Indonesia's former President Mr. B.J. Habibie who commissioned it. It was also recorded during the rehearsal and the performance, so we could expect a CD coming out soon, a result of the editing of the live rehearsals and concert. ............................................................................................................................................ Another work premiered was AMISTAD, for the unique pan flute (played by flutist Andika Candra who had to learn how to blow this instrument), string quartet and piano. It was written for the concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of Indonesia and Peru's diplomatic relationship, organized by the Peruvian Embassy in Indonesia who commissioned me the whole program. There are a few songs too premiered there, sung by soprano Evelyn Merrelita and the Peruvian baritone Rudi Fernandez-Cardenas. Writing Amistad was that thing you can't learn in the conservatory. Nor there are any models for it. I think it was the first time that someone dares to intertwine (or weave, or marry, or whatever you call it) Peruvian folk-sounds with West Javanese folk music. I decidedly took the theme "Es Lilin" from West Java, although I gave it a more Aeolian treatment to match it with the Peruvian folkmusic. Someone also uploaded it on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uzo9a70RM ............................................................................................................................................ Several vocal works of mine were also premiered by young vocalists, soprano Mariska Setiawan and tenor Nikodemus Lukas who have been singing so many of my songs in the past (and I wouldn't be surprised if they are sick of it!). But the special thing is that these songs are written specifically for voice(s) and harp, and it was the 17-year-old Jessica Sudarta who worked hard in accompanying them. They all did a great job, I must say, and I hope they would record these songs. ............................................................................................................................................ Next is the audition for my opera Tumirah, on Sunday, September 27th. We still need good baritones, a tenor and a supporting role who is an alto. Are you one of them? Well why don't you join us?

My original article for The Jakarta Post : An Open Letter for the Foreign Embassies

Yeah, my original title is that one you see above. Anyway, this article was published at The Jakarta Post on Saturday, August 29th, and here I post my original one, unedited. ............................................................................................................................................ For dozens of years, we Indonesians have enjoyed so many great performances by fabulous international artists, thanks to the generosity of the foreign Embassies in Jakarta. Those performances have opened our minds, broadened our insight and deepened our (artistic) knowledge. They are also usually presented mostly free of charge, so the people who are really interested and have the necessity to learn from them but are not so prosperous could have access to the performances. They provide the lay audience to come, see, experience and taste these art performances for the first time. In fact, during my childhood coming from not such a wealthy family I was one of those lay audience, and thanks to the classical music performances by The British Council, Erasmus Huis, Goethe Institut or Centre Culturel Francais (now IFI) I found my interest in classical music -- and just look what I am doing right now. ............................................................................................................................................ But is the impact of those free performances 100% positive? This is the issue I have been discussing with many foreign diplomats residing in Jakarta, mostly the Cultural Attaches. Of course it is the best way to introduce their culture, arts and artists. And cultural diplomacy is, as we know, perhaps the most effective way to build a strong understanding and solidarity among the people between two countries. But free performances unfortunately do not support the development of art in a sustainable manner. For the last few years, we see a real boom in the quantity and quality of concerts by local artists and local organizers. This becomes a major problem because classical music performances initiated by local organizers are unsubsidized, so we depend a lot on the income from the public. The writer, as a performance artist who also encourages performances by young Indonesian musicians, has received hundreds of messages through these years which are basically just variations on the same theme: Why should we pay to go to concerts by Indonesian (classical) musicians, if we can go to see Western musicians for free? And after hundreds of times explaining the reason behind it, they still (naturally) prefer to go to free concerts. Not that my concerts lack audience, but I know many cases where people complained that "this" or "that" concert could have been free. Especially in Indonesia, where I feel that there is still this feeling of "everything-western-is-better-than-our-own" by many Indonesians, therefore many prefer "western" art to Indonesian ones -- especially if they are free! That is not certainly the case with other things in life: nobody reserves a table in a restaurant and ask: can my girlfriend and I have 2 free meals? Since music is not tangible, or even edible, it doesn't mean that it is free. ............................................................................................................................................ Consciousness to invest in the arts must be built since our early ages, and free concert phenomenon destroys this very concept : that art belongs to everybody, and if one needs it (and certainly we all need it!), we should pay for it, just like we need food or other forms of necessity. Certainly it cannot be built by distributing free tickets to the performance. Free concerts also means that the willingness of the audience to pay to attend a similar concert in the long run will not be developed and encouraged, therefore it is unhealthy to the continuing situation of the arts. What is more, is that the appreciation to any kind of free things are usually low. "Free" often means "disposable", just like when we are handed out free snacks on the street, we often just taste it a bit and then we do not necessarily eat it again or even immediately discard it, after establishing an opinion that that thing we just ate is "cheap" and "not worth eating again". ............................................................................................................................................ A solution, if Embassies are prohibited by the governments to charge tickets to the audience, is to donate the income from the tickets to a cause. The tickets doesn't have to be necessarily "entrance tickets", they could be in a form of invitation "with a donation". The audience should be educated that every kind of art is a production, and any kind of production costs money and we who enjoy it should contribute to it. That is how artists earn our living. The price of the tickets -- or donation in this case -- can also be very cheap. The fare is not what matters here since the purpose is not to cover the production cost; it is the feeling that art is not something free which is important. The amount can be just a symbolic sum, perhaps equal as a cinema ticket, but one will appreciate the performance differently when we know that we, too, contribute to the existence and preservation of what we are enjoying. If its price is even lower than a piece of sandwich, then we know which persons really do NOT care for the performance. ............................................................................................................................................ Contributing to the arts means also contributing to the betterment of the society. Now that the arts subsidies are hugely cut in European countries, this issue will not only be an Indonesian problem, but a widely international one. The arts and culture will go back to where it really belongs : from the people, by the people, for the people. But it could be too late before we realized it.

Changing Partners, all in 1 month

September will be a month of my "infidelity". I will change partners almost every week ! ............................................................................................................................................ September will start with the closing concert of the month-long program "Inspired by the Master" which is successfully invented and realize by ID_Camp. It is a company founded by Dewi Atmodjo and Irene Widharma, both are musicians with certain inquietude to better the music education in Indonesia. On Sunday, 6th of September I will perform my "Pieces of Cakes" duets with 6 selected students out of 33, but you will have a chance to hear them all play their solo works too, PLUS (this is very exciting) you will hear some winners from the Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award recently held in Makassar. This will be divided in 2 sessions, from 2-4 p.m., and 6-8 p.m., each session will feature around 16-18 (very) young and talented pianists. They have studied my music, directly learn from the composer and now they know that it is of utmost importance that they have their own ideas and interpretatins of the music. That's how music grows and stay alive! I will play one Rapsodia Nusantara in each session too (different for each session, obviously). Wanna enjoy a Sunday with your kids? Come then. It takes place at Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki. ............................................................................................................................................ Starting 2 days later, I will perform some of my works based on literature, as well as my newest Rapsodia Nusantara numbers in 2 concerts in 1 week. It will be a kind of retrospective of the two aspects of my compositional activities that I focus on lately. For this event I've invited some of the best young Indonesian classical singers namely, soprano Mariska Setiawan, soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita and tenor Nikodemus Lukas. In addition, harpist Jessica Sudarta (17) will also feature in one of the concerts. The concerts will take place on September the 8th at Usmar Ismail Hall at 7 p.m. (in collaboration with the Embassy of Peru) and September the 13th at The Dharmawangsa Hotel at 4 p.m (in collaboration with the Rotary Club, Central Jakarta). Here are the details (I am copy pasting from the press release by the organizers) : ............................................................................................................................................ The Embassy of Peru has entrusted Ananda to make the celebration concert for the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Peru. Naturally, the elements of both countries and cultures are present in this concert. Peru will invite its top baritone, Rudi Fernandez Cardenas and Indonesia will be represented by soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita. Not only that, there will be a World Premiere of a brand new musical work by Ananda, "Amistad" ("Friendship") for flute, piano and string quartet which contains an interesting and highly unique combination of Peruvian and Indonesian musical elements. The program includes works based on Peruvian poets Cesar Vallejo and Jose Luis Mejia, as well as Indonesian poets Sirikit Syah, Wiji Thukul as well as music by composer Mochtar Embut. The interesting element here is that the Peruvian baritone will sing some Indonesian songs, and the Indonesian soprano will sing some Peruvian (Spanish) songs, so this is really a symbol of exchange of cultural understanding. This unique concert will take place at the USMAR ISMAIL HALL (Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan), on Tuesday, September 8th at 7 p.m., preceded by a Peruvian typical cocktail. ............................................................................................................................................ Ananda will play for the first time in Indonesia his three brand new numbers of the highly virtuosic Rapsodia Nusantara which will be one of the major attractions for the event. Ananda and friends will also present the transformation of great masterpieces of literature to music, such as "La Ronde" (from the famous poem by Sitor Situmorang), Darkness and My Lover (on "The Sleepers" by Walt Whitman) as well as poems by Didik Siswantono, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Bernard Batubara and Adimas Immanuel. The best of Indonesia's younger generation singers are represented here: winners of the National Vocal Competition "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Nikodemus Lukas (tenor), both in their early 20s. Mariska & Niko will also perform famous classical works such as O Mio Babbino Caro (from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano) and La Donna e Mobile (from the opera Rigoletto (1851), music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo). ............................................................................................................................................ This concert is a fundraising event for the charities which Rotary Club Jakarta Sentral supports. It will take place at the Bimansena Club at Dharmawangsa, Jalan Dharmawangsa Raya No 23, Kebayoran Baru , on Sunday, September 13th at 4 p.m. As the theme of the concert is "Tea with Ananda", the event will start with “High Tea” commencing at 3.30 p.m. The capacity of the venue is limited to 150 seats. ............................................................................................................................................ These series of concerts might be the ones that give me the most satisfaction, since I admire each and every one of my partners. From good musicians, each with their own personalities however weird, they inspire me, and I learn a lot from them. Yeah yeah, including those kids who perform with me at the "Inspired by the Master". I believe in young people, since I learn a lot from my daughter since she was very small. They have their own way of looking at this world, and that is very stimulating and reinvigorating for me. And the future of classical music in Indonesia is in their (small) hands! (photo, from l. to r : Mariska Setiawan, Jessica Sudarta, Nikodemus Lukas)

Klarifikasi berita ASA Junior 2015 dan pengumuman ASA International 2016

Terima kasih saya ucapkan kepada para peserta, juri dan penyelenggara Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award 2015 di Makassar. Mengorganisasi suatu kompetisi piano tingkat nasional bukan suatu hal yang mudah. Dari pihak saya maupun organisasi tentu tetap ada kekurangan, namun saya sangat-sangat berterimakasih kepada seluruh tim Grazioso Music School yang dipimpin Eveline Philips dan "tangan kanannya" Riz Ramadhan, serta Chendra Panatan yang semua dapat menyelesaikan segala hal dengan baik dan besar sumbangannya dalam meletakkan Makassar dalam peta musik sastra Indonesia. ............................................................................................................................................ Saya ingin mengklarifikasi beberapa berita di media yang keluar setelah kompetisi. Ini bukan cari-cari alasan, tapi saya ingin menceritakan keadaan setelah 3 hari yang sangat intensif, terfokus dan konsentrasi terhadap banyak hal yang tentu sangat melelahkan. Di saat-saat seperti itu, saya harus melayani puluhan pertanyaan dari wartawan melalui WhatsApp atau telepon, yang dapat menimbulkan kesalahpahaman data, salah eja nama pemenang, atau salah kota dari mana mereka berasal. Ada beberapa berita yang kurang data, atau rancu, yang dapat mengecewakan beberapa pemenang / peserta. Saya tidak ingin menyalahkan penulis berita di media tsb., karena saya bertanggungjawab atas segala kejelasan data untuk semua yang tertulis di media resmi, baik online maupun cetak. Tapi saya TIDAK bertanggungjawab atas segala tulisan orang lain di media sosial. Untuk ini kami mohon maaf. Mohon cek link ini yang singkat dan akurat, karena interview kami lakukan dengan TERTULIS lewat email. http://www.ciputranews.com/event/surabaya-dominasi-kompetisi-piano-nasional-ananda-sukarlan-award-junior#.Vdsy6v1YK8Q.twitter ............................................................................................................................................ Perkenankanlah saya di kesempatan ini untuk menginformasikan 2 hal untuk ASA International Piano Competition tahun depan. Walaupun kami akan mengundang juri dari luar negeri, selain dalam negeri, ASA 2016 akan diperuntukkan HANYA UNTUK PIANIS INDONESIA (yang artinya berkewarganegaraan, atau memiliki paspor Indonesia). Ini karena kami mempunyai tanggungjawab moral untuk memperkenalkan pianis bangsa kita, dengan mengirimnya ke negara lain seperti kesempatan yang kami berikan kepada Anthony Hartono, pemenang ASA International 2014, ke Perancis. Kami harapkan pemenang ASA akan dapat menjadi duta musik negaranya, baik di dunia internasional maupun di negara kita sendiri. Baru minggu lalu, seorang pemenang kompetisi vokal nasional "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" yang kini telah memiliki karir yang cukup berkembang, soprano Mariska Setiawan, menuliskan essay yang bagus sebagai tulisan perdana di blognya sebagai pemusik Indonesia yang sedang belajar di luar negeri. Silakan cek : https://mariskasetiawan.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/halo-dunia/ ............................................................................................................................................ Kami juga mengadakan 1 kategori NON-KOMPETITIF di ASA International 2016 nanti : Kategori untuk pianis DIFABEL dan DISABILITAS (penyandang cacat fisik, mental, atau keduanya). Kategori ini bertujuan untuk memberi mimbar / platform bagi mereka untuk menunjukkan pentingnya peranan musik dalam pendidikan, perkembangan dan bagian dari hidup mereka yang dapat dibagikan kepada publik. Info lebih detail akan kami sampaikan lebih lanjut dalam beberapa minggu kedepan. ............................................................................................................................................ Demikian keterangan dari saya. Silakan menjadi member facebook kami untuk mengetahui berita2 lebih lanjut : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ananda-Sukarlan-Award-International-Piano-Competition/639403892799464?fref=ts

Me and My "Prostitutes"

In fact I had not wanted to talk about my next opera, but since there is this open audition for the singers and the enthusiasm has been mounting, now it's like everybody talks about it. So I better write a bit on it, mostly to clarify what it IS and it is NOT about. From its title "Tumirah, Sang Mucikari" (Madame Tumirah, the Pimp), most people would assume that there are many sexually (pretty) explicit scenes in it. WRONG. Yeah, the female main roles are damn beautiful and nice to look at (apart from the fact that they sing like angels), but don't expect to see lots of their naked body parts! Yeah, the words "f*ck", "org*sm" and the likes are abundant, and as with Seno Gumira Ajidarma's other works, the language is pretty direct and less poetic. But this opera, in the end, is about love, and its difference from pure sex. And it is, like most of Seno Gumira's works, a social criticism, not only about the industry of sex, but about social justice. ............................................................................................................................................. The "judges" for the audition will be me and Chendra Panatan, my manager and also the choreographer & director of this opera. Please note: the voice remains the most important aspect for us, but also the gestures and appearance will have something to do with our decision to accept the singers. They don't have to dance, but they will be required to do some moving around and certain gestures in the opera. But remember, the crucial issue is still the quality of the voice. ............................................................................................................................................. In fact, there is another very important thing, but one cannot get it through auditions, and that is ATTITUDE. Remember: what is needed from artists is our PRODUCT. If you think people are more interested in your ego, your charisma, your selfies, you are dead wrong. If one acts like a diva but sucks in his/her product, whether it's the singing or whatever, one better not consider a career in classical music. But of course during the audition I cannot measure your attitude. So, just sing like an angel, and if you happen to be a divo/a, well, the rest of the musicians will have to eat that shit you give us. I am sorry for myself and the whole team to have to put up with Your Fabulousness. But remember, being a selfish diva and think that one is the center of the world is disgusting. OK, OK, we understand you are the best and the rest suck, but show it with your voice, with your ARTISTIC PRODUCT, not with your judgemental tweets or facebook status or condescending attitude. But hey, if you can sing well, do you still need to be an asshole? ............................................................................................................................................. Many amateur singers still think that an opera is like a musical : they sing 1 or 2 numbers, and that's it. The rest of the time they can use it for gossiping or criticizing other singers. WRONG. Each singer should be "on" almost during the whole opera, and one interacts with each other through recitatives and dialogues. So, one really got to know the music, the score. And the attitude affects other people in the production ; rehearsal time is limited, so each and every one has to be extremely prepared with his/her own parts. ............................................................................................................................................. For now we have the main roles, which are played by Artidewi (she has a unique voice which can sometimes sound "rocky", which will be exploited here) as the protagonist, "THE PIMP". Next are her prostitutes, Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Evelyn Merrelita (coloratura soprano). They will be accompanied by a few female dancers, also acting as prostitutes. And then there is the tenor Widhawan Aryo Pradhita (who rocked Jakarta as "the police" in my previous opera, CLARA, and contributed to grab the award for Best Performing Arts 2014 by the TEMPO Magazine). We would need some male singers and still an extra "prostitute", but she will have to be an alto to complete the female voices. Anybody?

The Power of (Grandma's) Love

This is just a short entry, but a meaningful one, at least for me. Since I came back from my holiday in Madrid, I've started writing the actual notes for my new opera. It's not easy I must say, since I am still having doubts with the structure of the work ; it's a complex one, and I gotta change the order of some scenes from the original play. There are some instrumental interludes and long arias which would work for the original drama staging, but would be disproportional if one sets it to music. Anyway, I also had that problem in my 2nd Chamber Symphony recently finished : I was stuck, and then I realized that the flaw lay in the basic structure. I just changed the form during the ongoing process of composing, and it turned out ... err .. OK, I think (the premiere is still exactly 1 month from now, so I shouldn't say anything yet!). So, I concluded that I'd stop worrying, I just gotta start writing my opera, and if I get stuck later, I will just go back and see if the problem would be in the changing of scenes. ............................................................................................................................................. Anyway, I see that this opera is no small issue, so I was hoping that I could ask to postpone its World Premiere (due to be in February next year). To be honest, I was having trouble in beginning to write it. I felt clueless and scared in front of the blank, white music paper. Before I told my disquietude to the producer, I chatted with one of the sopranos for that opera about my anxiety. I shall quote her reaction, literally: ............................................................................................................................................. "Ooooh nooo ! My grandma [who lives in Germany] would visit Indonesia in February, and she was already so excited to know that it coincides with my operatic debut. If it were postponed, she would miss it, since she couldn't come in any other period to Indonesia. She'd be so disappointed!". The point is, she lives in Surabaya, so even though she would be in Indonesia in February, she still would have to fly to Jakarta to see her beloved (and very talented) granddaughter for the premiere. Yeah, that's how great the love of a grandma is. ............................................................................................................................................. Needless to say, this conversation immediately revoked my decision to talk to the producer, and my motivation to sit my ass and work got a big boost! Grandmas rock!

A Second Chamber Symphony, as if it were my First

It's a rule that I established for myself to be obeyed by me and only me: When I do something for the second time, don't repeat what I had done for the first time, even (or especially) if I had done it well. We tend to repeat things to establish a comfort zone, and in fact Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone. At least for me. And that's where the fun is. You call me stupid? Well, perhaps I am. Coz I still feel like a little kid, and I still have dreams of flying. If you want to fly you need to grow up, to grow up you need to be a kid again. To be a kid again you have to just be yourself; so come out of your cozy comfort zone, break the boundaries your are stuck in.. Only then you can fly. ............................................................................................................................................. I did it with each of my 5, going on 6, operas. I did it with my Rapsodia Nusantara that has reached 18 now (yeah yeah, some of them end with a fugue, and every 4 of them is a Theme and Variations, but I did them in different ways). And now I am doing it with my Chamber Symphony no.2, especially because the commissioner of this work is the same as for my First, which is Indonesia's 3rd President, Mr. B.J. Habibie through his Habibie - Ainun Foundation. I just don't want to give him a copy - paste of my First Chamber Symphony! ............................................................................................................................................. But let me contradict myself first. There are some similarities with my First. The most important is the instrumentation. Both are scored for a string quartet plus piano, percussion & harp, and 3 woodwinds : flute, oboe (doubl. english horn) and clarinet. But that's where the challenge lies: to explore other possibilities with the same instruments. While my First is more of a kinda Piano Concertante, this Second is more a Concerto for 10 instruments. There are important solos for many of the instruments. It is also more virtuosic (read: flashy). This time I am focusing more on the dreams of Mr. President : that Indonesia should acquire the glory we deserve, although in many things we are so much behind other countries. I immediately think of that famous phrase : Per Aspera Ad Astra (From the dust to the stars). When I designed the work's structure, I had it in mind, but then I apply this concept only for the First Movement. And for this, I use that simple motif, the most basic thing when we learn a musical instrument : the scale do-re-mi-fa-sol . And then the triad. Why am I doing this? It's because I am using the theme "Anging Mamiri" (a folk song from South of Sulawesi, the birthplace of Mr. Habibie) as one of its material, and the main melody Anging Mamiri starts with that perfect triad. Therefore I try to symbolize how a beginner starts playing the do-re-mi-fa-sol and do-mi-sol themes as the first step to later play exhilarating, sizzling variations on it. ............................................................................................................................................. Another similarity with my First, is that the central movement of the Second is a Love Song. But in the Second, I am putting a childlike character and even a playful section in it, and I do think that I focus more on the happy aspects of Love this time (which I almost never did in my hundreds of previous works!). This movement is full of duets between instruments; the whole group plays together only in the climax. My idea is that this section is full of couples in love. I want the listener to keep track and focus on which duet of instruments are playing every time. It is also an interesting sound world, combining two different instruments every time. And those duets play different roles : sometimes one instrument is accompanying the other, but other times they are both playing melodies. The beginning starts with the violin exposing its theme, answered by the cello, but other times two instruments are involved in a dialogue. I gave the title simply "A Love Song", but in fact it explores many different aspects of love. ............................................................................................................................................. This work will be, as in my First, in 3 clearly defined sections, or movements. It wouldn't be a work which many people would grasp in the first hearing, I think, in spite of its attractiveness in its flashy virtuosity. It has quite a complex structure, like the First also had, but in a different way. But hey, what would happen if you give yourself permission to do something you’ve never done before? There’s only one way to find out! ............................................................................................................................................. My Chamber Symphony no. 2 will be premiered on the birthdate of Mr. Habibie's late wife Ainun, on the 11th of August this year in his residence. The public performance of it will be on the next day, Wednesday the 12th of August at Goethe Haus, Jakarta. Jot it down in your agenda!

Continuing with Trisutji Kamal's music

My newest CD, "Islamic Inspirations" is a continuation of my first 2 CDs of piano music by Trisutji Kamal, one of the pioneers in Indonesian classical music. Those 2 CDs were released almost 10 years ago! I hope we can release the complete CDs of all her piano music before she turns 80 next year, in 5 CDs in total. This is certainly the most ambitious project in Indonesian literature music up to date : recording ALL the piano solo works by Indonesia's most prolific, most important and groundbreaking composer who will celebrate her 80th birthday. I use that string of superlatives for many reasons : ............................................................................................................................................. 1. If one should define what is Indonesian literature music, then Trisutji's music definitely fits the definition. Yes, there were and are other composers such as Mochtar Embut (who, if hadn't been cut short by his premature death, would have produced a huge quantity of high quality works as well), Amir Pasaribu or even me, but Trisutji's music spans more than 50 years of creative process in searching its identity, not only for its individual character, but also the "indonesianness" of it. ............................................................................................................................................. 2. Trisutji's works (especially for piano solo) have been established as part of the repertoire of Indonesia's pianists : students, teachers, performers. I don't know any Indonesian pianist of my generation who has not played or learned her works. ............................................................................................................................................. 3. Although living in Europe in the 50s and 60s, Trisutji allowed herself not to be dictated by the "avantgarde" dictatorship which , though powerful until as late as the 80s, proved never to be accepted by anyone oustide its small circle and therefore disappeared together with, or even before the death of its "composers" . Therefore her music remains truthful to her expressions without being afraid of being critized by her colleagues. ............................................................................................................................................. 4. As a composer born and brought up with a rich culture of her country, she could assimilate all that she naturally absorbed and integrate it to her highly original musical language, applying a "Western" compositional technique and musical structures. This is, in a way, paralel to the artistic achievements of Toru Takemitsu as a Japanese, Aaron Copland as an American or Peter Sculthorpe as an Australian, being pioneers of establishing the identity of (classical) music of their own country. ............................................................................................................................................. This collection is a result of many years of hardwork and collaboration between the composer and myself. Many of her work remain unpublished, and even the published ones have many errors in its printing. To make things worse, the composer is an incurable perfectionist who keeps on revising and changing notes, harmonies, phrases .... as the great Paul Valery admitted , "A poem is never finished, only abandoned". Therefore, recording her works forces her to "abandon" her masterpieces and present them in their final form . Every note, every nuance and even every silence of this recording has been discussed and carefully re-thought, although some of them have survived the test of time as they were written as early as in 1951 when the composer was only 15. ............................................................................................................................................. Composers like me and others of the next generation owe a lot from Trisutji ; we are just continuing what she has begun. We just enter the door which she has opened. We just affirm what she has convinced us, that Indonesia does have its own identity in literature and classical music.

How does Islam Musically Inspire? (Introduction to my new CD)

While preparing for the recording Trisutji Kamal's "Islamic Inspirations" piano pieces which will be released in 10 days (hey! That's someone's birthday! Hehe, yeah, but this date is picked due to the fact that the Ramadhan Holy Fasting Month is arriving on the 16th of June, so this CD is to celebrate THAT and also the Idul Fitri celebration that closes the Ramadhan month), that question popped up in my head, and we are so lucky that today we could just search the answer in the internet. We know that there are Psalms, Gregorian chants even Christmas Carols that were born inside the Churches, but we don't really know about the Islamic music so well. There are even some "religious" beliefs that music is prohibited in Islam. Questions as to the admissibility of music apparently are not unique to the Islamic tradition: one can also find heated religious debate concerning the role of music in Western history as well. In the Middle Ages, so-called Gregorian chant was formulated under strict rules of musical structure called "counterpoint" that had foundations in Catholic religious beliefs, restricting the use of certain musical intervals, like the tritone for example, for their supposed evocation of the devil. In ancient times, also, Plato had mapped out certain musical modes and scales in his Republic that were considered illegal for evoking certain undesirable and dangerous kinds of emotions. St. Augustine, furthermore, a Christian ascetic, had spent much focus trying to define the point at which music distracts the listener from reflection of God, at which point music thus becomes sinful. ............................................................................................................................................. So how about Islam? And how did Trisutji compose music that sounds "Islamic" ? ............................................................................................................................................. First, it is first important to distinguish that Muslims do not use the term "music" in the same manner employed in the English language and in other Western languages. The Arabic term for "music," musiqa, does not apply to all types of artistic vocal and instrumental arrangements of sounds or tones and rhythms; rather, the Muslims term this general case "handasah al sawt" or "the art of sound." Musiqa, or "music," applies rather "only to particular genres of sound art, and for the most part it has been designated for only those that have a "somewhat questionable or even disreputable status in Islamic culture" (al Faruqi, Isma'il R. and Lois Lamya al Faruqi (1986), The Cultural Atlas of Islam). "Handasah al sawt" is a recently coined term used by Muslims to separate their Islamic conception of "music" from that held in the Western and non-Islamic world, which, as we will see, often contrasts in very fundamental ways. ............................................................................................................................................. Muslims seem to create intricacy with extremely melismatic melodic lines and ornamental rhythmic figures, extensive use of trills and slides from one pitch to another, durational ornaments such as constant shifts of accent and tempo changes, and also in dividing the octave into more than twelve tones so as to include several microtones in between them. The extreme nature of this intricacy is used to steal focus from any single line of development and thus to strengthen the abstract and nondevelopmental form of the music. The lack of single themes and their elaboration and the lack of fixed meter "explains why foreign listeners unfamiliar with this music sometimes regard [Islamic music] as formless improvisation" (Touma, Habib Hassan (1996), The Music of the Arabs). Even Free Jazz has met with similar criticism. ............................................................................................................................................. Other techniques that Muslims use to realize abstraction and thus tajwid are extensive use of repetition and the creation of infinite patterns. From single notes, to motives, to whole sections of music, outstanding usage of repetition is characteristic to Islamic music. This repetition is used to evoke a sense of the eternal and thus the divine: "Extensive use of repetitions is not the result of a poverty of musical ideas... instead it is a structural feature necessary for the creation of infinite patterns. Repetition denies individualization, but also contributes to the never-ending quality that the aesthetic expression of tajwid should manifest" (al Faruqi). Examples of extensive use of repetition are also abundant in modern Western art music, especially in a movement known as "minimalism" that employs "minimal" use of musical materials in repetitive ways that change very little (note: limited dynamism, as in Islamic music) and try to thereby recapture the essence and meaning of musical materials in Western music: composer like Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich or Philip Glass to name a few. 20th-century French composer Olivier Messiaen, furthermore, was especially intrigued with the creation of "infinite patterns," as in his piece entitled The Crystal Liturgy, in which mechanisms of repetitions would take nearly two hours to get back to its starting state. Messiaen had a "concern with time beyond time—with the presence of the eternal in the transitory", which is derived from his strong Catholic beliefs and focus on God, much in the way the Islamic ideal of tajwid influences Islamic music. ............................................................................................................................................. But a composer writes his/her own music. (S)he doesn't write Islamic, or Catholic or Hindu music. All these religious elements are just influences from outside that would help to shape the music which has already a strong identity in itself. The Spanish composers David del Puerto wrote a "Nusantara Symphony", Jesus Rueda wrote a "Kecak" Piano Sonata but it sounds as their other works that have no Indonesian elements. Now that very few young people in Western Europe seriously study European Classical music these days, Asians thus adopt the highest cultural achievements of European civilization at a time when many people of European descent themselves appear to be on the verge of forgetting them. And Trisutji Kamal is one of the very few (few? To be honest I couldn't mention another name) composers in the world who derives her inspiration from Islamic elements. And as you can hear in the other CDs of Kamal's piano works that I have recorded, these "Islamic Inspirations" sound just like Trisutji Kamal's other works. The listener might not know the programmatic backgrounds behind the music, or even the title, but for me, it doesn't matter. The music speaks in its abstraction, mystery ... and powerful expressivity.