More introductions to my music during the pandemic, 2021

Foreword to Rapsodia Nusantara 34 & 35 and other pieces ............................................................................................................ All of the works in this book was written during the Covid-19 pandemic, and two of them are closely related to the impact of the virus itself. ............................................................................................................. Organum was written during my stay in Labuan Bajo, after the passing away this year (2021) of Brigifine E. Syams, a piano teacher and close friend of mine, born and living in Surabaya. She passed away in July in hospital, and this music uses the method of Organum (in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages). The melody itself uses her name B-R(e)-I-G-I-F-I-N-E as the motif and it develops as a kind of passacaglia. ................................................................................... Variations on Ibu Soed's "Pergi Belajar" is in fact written for myself after I was released from hospital. I hadn't played the piano for at least 1 month, I had some kind of brain fog and I was (and still am at this moment writing this) recovering from Long Covid. My stamina was so down, not only physically but also mentally, and I begin to think that I should start writing piano works that is not so mentally and physically demanding, not only for now but for my old(er) years. This is one of them. In fact, I even premiered it in its shorter version, but afterwards I was inspired to write more variations, and so I made this into 2 versions: the shorter one that ends at bar 74 , and the longer one where one should go to bar 71 from bar 75. ........................................................................................................................ I then donated "Pergi Belajar" together with Rapsodia Nusantara no. 35 to Habitat Foundation, to be auctioned for their fundraising event to help victims of the Seroja Typhoon in East Nusa Tenggara. "Pergi Belajar" then was bought by Edwin Soeryadjaya, to be dedicated "to my lovely wife Julie H. Soeryadjaya", while Rapsodia Nusantara no. 35 becomes the gift "From MedcoEnergi to the People of Naibonat Village, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara". ................................................................................. I was still in my covid recovery period and didn't feel so secure in performing Rapsodia 35 at that event, so I asked one of the winners of the Ananda Sukarlan Award 2020, Michael Abimanyu Kaeng to perform it. He already played it for the Kayserburg International Youth Piano Competition that made him the winner of the Asian Region a few months before. I had written a Rapsy based on folkmelodies from East Nusa Tenggara, which was Rapsodia 11. Now that I have covered all the provinces of Indonesia (except Bengkulu from which I haven't found an original folksong) I am focusing on some specific regions or islands and make new Rapsies from them. Hence Rapsy 35 is entirely based on 2 folk-melodies from the island of Rote, which happens to be the most southern island of Indonesia, very close to Australia. Rapsy 35 was also played in the video "Matahari Terbenam di Timur" (The sun sets in the east) produced by the Ministry of Education and Culture on their YouTube channel "Budaya Saya". In that video, Gabriella Prisca Handoko performed that AND Rapsodia Nusantara no. 11. .................................................................................... Apart from these 3 piano works, Rapsodia Nusantara no. 34 and "I Wish Matilda had Waltzed to Minang" was written earlier during the pandemic. I wanted to write a series of "I Wish" pieces, where I intertwine a popular international melody with one from Indonesia, like I did with "I Wish Pavarotti Had Known Marzuki". So, "Matilda" was a "marriage" between "Waltzing Matilda" and the Minang folksong "Kampuang Nun Jauh di Mato". ........................................................................................... Rapsodia Nusantara no. 34 is quite particular because it intertwined two folksongs from two different provinces, although both still are in the island of Kalimantan. I only did this once, in my Rapsy 2, where both folksongs are children folktunes: one from Central Java (Cublak cublak suweng but a bit different melodic contour from the one today: I used the one I heard from the memories of my childhood) and one from West Java (Tokecang). Rapsy 34 used the folksong Tumpi Wayu (Central Kalimantan) and Cik-cik Periuk (West Kalimantan). I mix them both for they have a common motif made of the interval thirds. .................................................................................................. Ananda Sukarlan, November 2021, IG & twitter @anandasukarlan