O BAMA, O Captain, My Captain

Many things have happened these last 2 weeks everywhere in the world, while I am just sitting around at home writing the music for the film "Romeo*Juliet" by Indonesian director Andibachtiar Yusuf.

Barack Obama became the 44th president of the USA. Now THIS is history. I won't comment anymore about it, we are all very happy not only because of that, but because the era of tyranny and stupidity of George Bush is gonna end soon. Please, Mr. Bush, just take a nice vacation during these 2 remaining months ! You don't have to make anymore decisions, nor do anything else. Just relax and enjoy your life ! That way you'll make this world a much better place, I tell you ! Jay Leno, David Letterman and all the American comedians have been very grateful to you for having provided them a wealth of materials for their shows these 8 years.

But around the same time, the Parliament in Indonesia passes the "Anti-Pornography" bill, which has almost nothing to do with anti-pornography. In fact the anti-pornography legislation could be easily misused against Indonesia's minority Christian and Hindu communities and threatens the country's pluralistic culture. And it will crush our economy (which has been mostly destroyed by corruption) that depends a lot from tourism. Not only that, it will eliminate the rich culture of Indonesia, since all the performing arts would be categorized pornographic. I "almost" don't mind if Verdi's Aida, Thomas Mann's Death in Venice or Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes were banned for being "pornographic" in Indonesia ; they have the rest of the world to keep existing, but to wipe out traditional dances, centuries-old sculptures, masterpieces of Indonesian painters ?

I wish George W. would become president in Indonesia. He wouldn't like to make constitutions such as the Pornography Bill. He would just invade other countries, worsen our economy (won't be much damage, though ; we always have deficits and no surplus), and enlighten our days with phrases like " I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully" or "Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."

A small step (forward) for mankind, a big step for the United States, and an enormous leap of setback for my dear country ...

I Sit and Look Out, con molto tristezza

During these days post-Ananda Sukarlan Award, I had nice times hangin' around with many of the winners and finalists. Most of them are teenagers, with their dreams to follow, and most of them just had experienced their first love – or first break up. Anyway, I enjoyed immensely being around those young people. You can see love in their faces, in their eyes, in their mirada ; and it brings back memories – and therefore, inspiration !

Back to the present, or not so distant past. Sometime around 2004, lying in bed of a hotel room somewhere in Italy I watched on TV the re-election of George W. Bush, coincidentally with Walt Whitman poems with me in bed. I remember my feeling depressed, affirming to myself that WE choose our destiny, which sometimes means our destruction. D’you know, by the way, that most of the Jews voted for Hitler back in the 30s ?
Well, history repeats itself. And Bush continued his massive destruction : killing millions in Iraq and everywhere else, legalizing tortures, drowning the world economy etc etc. What Whitman wrote in his dark poem “I Sit and Look Out” is not so different than the situation during this first decade of our millennium. That horrible news on TV had triggered most of the notes and chords in my song. But then I had to head back home, and it remained unfinished – and forgotten …

...Until a few weeks ago. My friends, Bernadeta Astari “Deta”, Joseph Kristanto “Akis” and myself (well, no need to mention a nickname for this latter) talked about recording my songs. They are, in fact, new friends of mine. I met Deta just about 3 or 4 years ago, and Akis even more recently, through a common friend the conductor Tommy Prabowo whom I knew since I was a teenager (both Tommy and Akis will be involved in my opera "Mengapa Kau Culik Anak Kami"). Since then, those two have inspired me a lot, both as great musicians and as wonderful, humble, down-to-earth humans they are. I wish all those "superstars" around us would possess their technique, sensitivity and artistry !
At last, 24 from about 70 of my songs will be in that first CD. Now with the hope of Barack Obama for the next president I suddenly remembered my poor Whitman song, and thinking of Deta’s voice that has always, and will always inspire me, I looked for it among the heap of my manuscripts … and finished it. And we’ve recorded it in Jakarta a few days ago. So, it will be the only song in English in that CD. The rest is all my Indonesian songs … well, I’ll tell you later the titles. So, that 4-minute lament is doubly dedicated to Deta, and to myself looking forward to the end of GWB’s pestilence and tyranny. Still four months to go !

Here’s the complete poem of Whitman's "I Sit and Look Out" :

I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband—I see the treacherous seducer of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid—I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see martyrs and prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be kill’d, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.