In memoriam Brigifine Ediansyah Syams

This bloody Covid 19 has been more than a year with us, and it has taken a lot of lives dear to us all. The latest was my friend, the piano teacher Brigifine E. Syams just 2 weeks ago in July, and her mom followed her to heaven yesterday (also of Covid 19). To make the story short, her family was exposed and infected with Covid including her mom. Both Pipin (that's her nickname) and her mom were the ones with the worst conditions, and when Pipin passed away 2 weeks ago, nobody dared to tell her mom (who was still in critical condition, though conscious). I was told that her mom passed away yesterday, still without learning the loss of her daughter (good for her! She will get a nice surprise in heaven like .... "Hey! Whatcha doin' here, baby?" and they will both live in eternal happiness). ........................................................................................................................................ My last conversation with Pipin was in fact not about music, but about .... what else ... yeah, Covid 19 and how it affected (badly, obviously) the musical education. Some ex-students of her (since she started teaching, she has given birth to hundreds of pianists! And that wasn't so long ago, since she was still in her early 40s when she died) and even just her friends and colleagues have asked me if I would write any kind of piano piece so they can play it to have her in their memories. I certainly would write something, a small one hopefully before I leave again for my concert shooting tour early next week. Her good friend, Willyana Zhao (Cing Cing is her nickname) has agreed to organize something (online concert, for now) with her (ex)-students and pianists friends and suggested me to write a set of variations .... -- why oh why do small ideas get bigger?? Anyway, there are still several things in my mind to get rid of, but I promised (at least myself) to write something to cherish the memory of Brigifine, whatever it is and may become. May you and your mom Requiescat in Pace, Pipin, Requiem Aeternam.