Flashback to January 2021 : The preface to my music written in 2020, published in Jan. 2021

Have you all barely left the house in these last 9 months? Now you just realize, how much needed are art and artists right? How many works of music, films, literary works (even if they are as short as poems or short stories) or visual arts have you enjoyed while you couldn't leave your house? ...................................................................................................... There is one significant thing resulting from the quarantine of the Covid-19. The number of artistic productions of professional artists has increased sharply, but their communicative power to the "live" public has decreased significantly due to the closure of concert halls and theaters, cinemas, galleries and other public places. And this is dangerous, especially in a time when we are flooded (to be precise: allow ourselves to be flooded) by all forms of online entertainment and information. This can turn us into a passive and ignorant society, by allowing our brains to just accept (not mentioning that the current forms of entertainment and "art" are (very) easy to digest) and be unproductive, let alone creative. Besides, the term "social distancing" in my opinion is a big mistake, because it triggers us to be asocial. The reality is that we are "physical distancing", and we have to fight against anything that is "socially distant". ............................................................................................. Productivity and the new perspectives in creative products have been proven throughout history that creativity cannot be suppressed and silenced. The more limited space the artist is confined, the more his creativity will burn. In 1593 when the theater in London was closed by the plague, William Shakespeare was unable to perform so he wrote "Venus and Adonis," a beautiful narrative poem on love and nature. When the theater closed again in 1606, the poet busied himself locked at home writing "King Lear," "Macbeth," and "Antony and Cleopatra," according to Shakespearean James Shapiro. Indonesia's greatest writer, nominated for the Nobel Prize and recipient of the Magsaysay Award, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, wrote his major works during his exile during the Suharto dictatorship on the island of Buru. Oscar Wilde's greatest work "De Profundis" and French composer Olivier Messiaen's 50-minute "Quartet for the End of Time" were written while they were in prison. I myself, who wrote 26 numbers of Rapsodia Nusantara for 12 years, produced 5 numbers of Rapsodia Nusantara (no. 27-31) in 20 days in April during this Covid 19 quarantine period! In the world of science, not many might remember that Isaac Newton discovered the theory of gravity from the apple that fell from the tree during the bubonic plague that hit London in 1655. If quarantine did not close Cambridge University - sending student Isaac Newton to his village, perhaps the discovery of the theory wouldn't be that fast. .............................................................................................................. Now, in January 2021, I have finished 35 numbers of Rapsodia Nusantara and more piano works than ever, about 80 vocal works for my projects with the Ministry of Education and Culture for their "Rapsodia Nusantara" video series on YouTube, and several chamber works. This is certainly the most productive period, artistically, in my whole life, apart from my student days. Since the Ananda Sukarlan Award had to be done online, we were fortunate to have Calvin Abdiel (from a North Sumatran family) participated from Sydney where he is now currently studying at the Sydney Conservatory of Music, and at last won the 2020 prize. I then wrote a new Rapsodia dedicated to him, based on "Sigulempong" from North Sumatra, although I have written a Rapsodia from that region (number 14, based on the song "Rambadia") and numbered it no. 31 so that it could be published now (chronologically speaking it should be no. 34) . ............................................................................................................ Ananda Sukarlan, January 2021