Creative Arts, Creative Industry, Creative Economy

Well, well, the year started with a bang. I am both surprised and grateful that the prominent news magazine in Indonesia, TEMPO, presented me with a double honor. They have chosen my opera CLARA as the best live performance of the year, and also have chosen me as their one of their Artist Of The Year, in the category of Performing Arts. It is a tradition they have done every year, with a board of jury consisting prominent journalists and artists of different fields, so I am deeply grateful that my colleagues have chosen me for this year. They based that decision mainly on CLARA, which in fact I still think is far from being perfect. No matter what people think about CLARA, positive or negative, I am aware that it has its musical flaws (and Chendra our director & choreographer might think equally in his field, and everyone else too in their own ones). If it were to be performed again, I am going to do something about it, since after the premiere I managed to think "out of the box" and see the problem from another point of view. I am no Mozart, I couldn't grasp a 70ish-minute length opera in just a few seconds. After I heard, and SAW it, then I could hopefully fix it. Maybe not many in the audience were aware of this flaw, but me as the composer, I would like to revise and repair some things to make it better. Anyway, I am he who always look at today as an opportunity to do better what I have done yesterday. And a work of art is like life, it is never finished until the day you die. And even "finish" is not the right word, "cut off" is perhaps more appropriate. .............................................................................................................................................. Aside from its artistic issues, CLARA is a proof of how we could succeed in the first steps of classical music industry here in Indonesia. Indonesia has succeeded in its creative economy in the field of theatre and fine arts, it's starting in the film industry and of course already a long time in pop music. CLARA is of course "commissioned" music, but the commissioner, which is the non-governmental organization Indonesia for Humanity, expected (perhaps "gambled" is a better word) an income from it, apart from employing it as a vehicle to spread its mission in raising awareness in the society for their mission. So, their function is more of a producer. Of course making a simple piano recital is much cheaper budget-wise, but I am talking about a collaborative performing arts, where several artists work together involving many performers and artists of different fields. This is not a subsidized work of art, either governmental (which as we can see in Europe, almost always ends up in corruption or nepotism) or from a private company. This is purely a(n artistic) product which is expected to give and take, that we do justice to the public, that they would receive what they have paid for. It is not serving that longtime b*llshit "Art for Art's sake". Art should be part of the society, and I always believe that it is a necessity, unlike what our previous generation said "first you need to eat, then you can have art. Art cannot prosper when the stomach is empty". No, artists live from art, and public should have art as their other food, even if it is a food for our souls, or as Shakespeare said, "music is the food of love". If the public cannot enjoy, or what is always said "understand" the arts, then something is wrong, either it's the public, or the art product itself. If they say "I don't get it", well, we artists have no rights to ask them to pay what they don't get. I am sure that we would be able to bring the classical music glory back to the golden age of Franz Liszt or Richard Wagner. And that can only be achieved in the Asian countries, where we have no tradition of classical music, so we are not tied and bound by how it should be presented. Just mentioning one example : we should remember that the tradition of "you should be totally silent during a classical music concert" only started with Gustav Mahler and Richard Wagner at the end of the 19th century where audience should not clap between the numbers of Kindertotenlieder so that they wouldn't break the intense silences between. In tropical countries, with at least a couple of insects flying around if it's an open air concert, how could we be that silent? In any case, the audience should be comfortable without disturbing the others, just like we watch a film in the cinema. Now we have tough competitors : internet with its iTunes, youtubes etc., where people can just listen and even WATCH the music at home. So, I am quite realistic that this won't be like the 1970s-90s, when recording sells millions, and performers' and composers' bank account kept dripping money while they were watching TV or sitting on their toilet. No, no, it won't be as easy as that. But we gotta work hard, and harder. .............................................................................................................................................. I am so happy and grateful with all artists involved in CLARA. Even in a free market now, I do believe in the potentials of Indonesian musicians and artists. As Walt Whitman says "To have great poets, there must be great audiences", so we should be a great audience for our own artists. Yeah, we still lack good musicians in a few instruments, especially in the orchestra, but in a competitive world and open ASEAN economic community starting 2015 this will soon change. The performance of the Indonesian (classical) musicians will improve quickly, since it's gonna be a tough, tough competition from now on, just like what all of us, Indonesians living abroad are facing. And we gotta believe in Indonesian musicians, employ them for the concerts inside the country, and keep the country's money inside the country. .............................................................................................................................................. The credits of CLARA in Tempo Magazine only go to the 3 creators : the writer Seno Gumira Ajidarma, the director & choreographer Chendra Panatan and me, but I should say that I am so equally and deeply grateful to the performers that has made it alive with their strong characters. Primarily I thank the 3 wonderful singers : Isyana Sarasvati, Widhawan Aryo Pradhita, Ivan Subuhwanto who took those difficult roles and could realize them with their own complex personalities. Next come the dancers Aprida Darmawansyah, Mariska Febriani and the "rapists" Mislam, Hendri Desmal and Lukas. A huge contribution from Jakarta Drum School is so greatly appreciated, they managed to do the aural and visual climax of the opera, since they went the extra mile and were willing to do what they normally don't do: be actors and choreographed on stage. And then Elwin Hendrijanto who has meticulously took those black dots on the music paper and put them all in the right places in his sampler to make exactly the sounds I wanted. Hey, thanks to my high school friend Prasodjo Winarko who lent his Mercedes Benz of 1996 from one of his collections of cars too! Perhaps next time you would allow us to destroy and explode it too on stage, eh pal? ;) . And then, I also like to express my gratitude to Willy Haryadi, my hypnotherapist who has avoided me from going crazy during my "dry" period. And I do learn a lot from him too. .............................................................................................................................................. Last but not least, I am thankful to all those musicians in the past and present who have inspired me. You might have heard influences from Shostakovich, Britten, Philip Glass, Pet Shop Boys or Queen in CLARA. And of course The Beach Boys! Yeah, without them, I wouldn't be the composer I am now. God Only Knows What I'd Be Without You!

The problem of the opera, and a new look at KAMA

That is a stupid title, I know. Operas only poses problems. Or shall we say, if you are a composer and you wanna complicate your life, write an opera. But there are crazier people than composers : those who want to produce (an) opera(s). It's not an easy business. Right from the very beginning, one needs not only singers, but singers who can act, understand the language (yea yea, it's much more than just memorizing. It's a matter of understanding completely the text), sometimes dance. And like any other actors, they should be willing to learn new things. In Verdi's Aida they should learn how to ride a horse, and in mine ... ride a bicycle!

My third opera which I am writing now (and almost finished, thank God!) will be the "real" opera of mine. It is commissioned by Bimasena, who also was responsible for the birth of my second cantata LIBERTAS. My first two had only 2 and 1 soloists, and they can be called "chamber operas" (they made a sequel, both on Seno Gumira Ajidarma's fantastic drama scripts). This time it involves lots of soloists (4 baritones, 1 tenor who plays the very small but very important role as Soekarno, our first president, and 1 soprano), who have to really act (and even dance) and a real orchestra to accompany it. And now I understand why Verdi and Wagner were all nuts. I am letting all kinds of outer influences being absorbed and manifest themselves in this opera : Michael Jackson, Stravinsky, Salvador Dali, Chendra's choreography, Andy Warhol's pop art, avantgardism of the 1960s (especially the artistry of Cathy Barberian and Luciano Berio), Shakira ... and the long list continues. All this meshed into my (what I consider) "personal artistic" elements, or to say it in a different way, I stole all those exciting stuff and make an "arty" (read: "boring") version of them all. Just like what I did with my previous operas ; if you'd seen them you might slightly detect how Michael Jackson and Madonna influenced me so much. And I am doing one thing here for the first time in my life : write an additional libretto. Not so much though, but it's quite an attempt. Until now, not one word of the texts for my works are mine. And to be honest I don't really like those words I wrote too much, --apart from the fact that it took me too much time!-- so I'll stick with other people's texts in the future Writing one word took as long as writing a few bars of music for me.

This third opera of mine is called "Pro Patria". That title is mine. About 90% of the libretto is taken from the conversations in the novel "Kalah dan Menang" (To lose and to win), written by the late great Indonesian writer Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (STA). I studied Britten's libretto on his masterpiece "A Midsummernight's Dream" and learned how skillfully he extracted Shakespeare's play into the libretto of his opera. Without previous study of Britten, I would've been lost in the creative process of my opera. Sometimes I modified a few words in STA's sentences, but it won't change the atmosphere of STA's language. It is set around the 1940s, when the Japanese managed to get rid of the Dutch in their occupancy in Indonesia. The novel itself goes on until the 1950s, but I finish my opera with Soekarno (our first president) reading the Declaration of Independence, August 17th, 1945. Anyway, I laughed at the fact that the libretto of my first 2 operas are by SGA, and this time is by STA. And my initial is AS. Needless to say, obviously I play with the motif built on the notes "A" and "(e)S" in this opera. Sharing 2 letters of our initial, as I have experienced with SGA, would hopefully bring good luck again this time.

A post scriptum on my song, KAMA. Bernadeta Astari, my young & supertalented soprano friend who has sang many of my songs (and the dedicatee of my song-cycle "Senyap Dalam Derai") did a fantastic final exam yesterday at the Utrecht Conservatory. She acquired a 10+ for her mark, so she repeated history that I made 17 years ago. Now this should warn our fellow Indonesian music students, that this mark should not wait another 17 years to be repeated, ok folks?
She sang KAMA at her exam, and many people were moved to tears. I wasn't there, but our friends told me how powerful she did it. It was one of the highlights of her recital (yeah, knowing her, a concert could have many highlights!) And also bravissimma to her pianist, Kanako Inoue. The piano part of that song is not easy, not technically and even more "interpretatively" whatever it means. The silences are more difficult than the notes! In fact I never dared to think highly on that song. It was my very first setting of an Indonesian text, therefore I was still searching and trying many things in that piece. The poem was so powerful, written in a prison by Ilham Malayu, about his feeling of missing his son after 5 years or so rotting in jail and forgotten by the world. Not only it was my first Indonesian song, it was my first piece written exclusively in a non-modulating pentatonic scale. So it was a huge breakthrough for me. And I am glad that it works out well. Anyway, this experience has taught me that one's first attempt doesn't have to be a failure, or worse than one's next attempts. It would sound like an idiot, but honestly I haven't felt 100% sure in setting poems until now, after 3 operas and about 100 songs ; I still feel like a beginner!

What's the use of the arts?

You might have asked (at least to yourself) this question, right? It seems as if the arts are just a fun game for the rich or for those who have too much time in this world to spend. Even worse, there are some (frustrated) artists who give you this impression; they live as bohemians, thinking it's cool to be part of this longest word in English : antiestablishmentarianism (Hey, it's not the longest! "Smiles" is even longer : there is a mile between the first and the last S). They like to be against anything, and claim that they are mavericks and they don't care about the "rotten" society they live in. Well they can do what they like, but they should remember that artists are, by definition, people who produce art. They should do it first, then worry about being antisocial later.

Well, I wouldn't say that art is useless. At least, I can argue from my own field: classical music. First of all, you've heard that music can calm you down, stabilize your emotions, help you focus, decrease your depression etc. Instead of taking a tranquilizer or an anti-depressant, just listen to Mozart! A step forward from it is that we now have what is called musicotherapy. Well ok, it can't cure everything, but it starts with your spirit. And it is even more powerful if you don't just listen, but you actively (re-)creating it by playing an instrument or singing. It's not just a myth; you can study it now at the universities in Europe. The contrary is true: junk music can wake up the dark side of your psyche and lead you to the not-so-great way of life. And it is more addictive than good music, just like junk food. And both have something in common: they are "instant"ly made. Instant food = junk food, therefore instant music = you know the answer. And yes, they are cheap.

But again it raises the question: ok, healthcare is covered by social security in European countries, but do they cover musical activities? And in those countries where (classical) music is considerably expensive, how can citizens have access to it?

It was with this question in mind that we started our foundation in Jakarta. "We" are 8 people : Pia Alisjahbana, Dedi Panigoro, Karini Nugroho, Karina Suklan, Putu Swasti, Dewi Gajahmada, Chendra Panatan and me. And the foundation is "Yayasan Musik Sastra Indonesia" (Indonesian classical music foundation). Our aim is to help the financially under-priviliged to get access and education to classical music, by starting to learn to play an instrument, giving scholarships (even to very advanced students, like to our Ananda Sukarlan Award 2008 winner Inge Melania Buniardi) or even just coming to good quality classical music concerts. You can find out more about it at www.musik-sastra.com .

Almost around the same time, 10.000 miles away (to be precise in a very small town of Urrueña, about 2 hours drive from Madrid) a strong figure of a lady who has a disabled son was thinking about the possibility of making music by the disabled people. Rosa Iglesias has since then founded her Fundacion Musica Abierta (Open Music Foundation) and commissioned many composers to write music (which should sound like absolutely normal) that can be played by disabled musicians. I was lucky to be part of this project, together with my amazing colleagues such as David del Puerto, Jesus Rueda or Santiago Lanchares (she not only commissioned Spanish composers, by the way). For this project I wrote mostly duos, for a disabled pianist and a "normal" instrument (bassoon, trumpet, violin, viola and my favorite instrument which is the human voice), thinking that it's even nicer to have nice companies in making music. I guess Rosa's project is, if not the first, one of the first project of this kind in this world. Now we are planning a "sisterhood" project between my foundation and hers, and we are brainstorming on how we can make the world a better place. Any suggestions?

By the way, Rosa's foundation's website is www.fundacionmusicabierta.org.

The power of your lips

The Jakarta New Year Concert (JNYC) is gonna be in about 45 days from now. Preparations are going well, tickets are selling, and the management team is focusing the publicity on my second cantata "LIBERTAS" as the main course of the program, not only because it is a colossal work, but also the whole management team were impressed when they saw it during its world premiere by its commissioner, Bimasena, last August. It contains famous heroic poems such as Chairil Anwar's "Krawang-Bekasi" and Archibald MacLeish's "The Young Dead Soldiers", and to hear them turned into music is quite a surprising revelation for those who know the poems well. It is quite normal that they hold on to a piece which they know and fascinated with, and firmly believe that it will give a big impact to the audience.

But there is another piece in the program which now I also consider important in my opus, and that is the dance-work "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu". The free translation would be like "My lips bow (or surrender ?) to your lips", or that my lips are conquered by yours. I know, I know, it sounds strange in English, but it is very poetic in Indonesian. And it's not only the title that is so touching; the whole poem is so poignant and moving. It is by an Indonesian poet of about the same age of mine, Hasan Aspahani who I admire so much, have talked to so many times through the internet but still haven't got the pleasure to meet personally. He's told me that he will travel to Jakarta (he lives in Batam Island) to attend the concert (I also set another poem of his, "Palestina" as the second number of LIBERTAS).
"Bibirku" is a virtuosic work that consists of two sections : the first is a trio for piano, alto flute (doubling "normal" flute) and violin, and the second is for soprano & piano (where the poem is set to music). Each section can be performed separately. Chendra Panatan will choreograph the first section. We won't call it a ballet, because it is not. In fact, the dancers will work on complex movements with hundreds of meters of materials, which will spectacularly give the impression of the waves. The poem is about love and destruction and inspired by the great tsunami of Sumatra in 2004. The big form of "Bibirku" is quite straightforward, but the intricate details gave me a hard time in composing it, since I am employing complex harmonic progressions especially for the noisy "tsunami" middle section (what for, you ask? Ain't I missing the point of just making a big noise instead of worrying about the harmonies for it? Yes, but somehow my pretentious artistic intentions make my life even more complicated, he he ...). And those harmonies are in fact quite dissonant and adventurous (especially for such a festive concert like the JNYC !), although it begins and ends with a melodic, expressive and very tonal love music. But I am sure that the Indonesian classical music lovers are prepared for it; at least its visual and choreographic aspect will be quite amazing. You might think that you don't like strange, modern classical music of Bartok or Shostakovich, but then you unconsciously listened to it --and loved it, right?-- in films such as Harry Potter or Sleepy Hollow. And d'you know that Stanley Kubrick used that haunting, eerie and fascinating music of Gyorgy Ligeti in his films, such as 2001 Space Odyssey or Eyes Wide Shut ? Aren't they marvellous?

"Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu" will receive its world premiere at the Jakarta New Year concert, January 3rd 2010, by Inez Raharjo -violin, Elizabeth Ashford -alto flute, Aning Katamsi -soprano and myself on the piano

Bersua dengan AMIR PASARIBU

(This is an article of mine which appeared at an Indonesian e-newspaper 2 years ago).

Suatu hari datang satu e-mail dari seseorang bernama Nurman Pasaribu yang ditujukan ke saya. Sungguh suatu surprise! Ternyata Beliau adalah putra dari komponis yang selama ini karya-karyanya saya kagumi dan sering dimainkan, tetapi saya selalu mengira Beliau sudah meninggal (Amir Pasaribu lahir pada tahun1915). Nurman sendiri telah berkeluarga dan tinggal di Belanda. Dari Latifah Kodijat, seorang pengajar senior di Jakarta, beberapa tahun lalu saya mendapatkan banyak partitur dari Amir Pasaribu. Dua sonata untuk piano (yang no. 2 hanya bagian pertamanya saja yang partiturnya saya miliki), karya-karya kecil lainnya seperti The juggler's meeting, Puisi Bagor, Capung Kecimpung di Cikapundung dan Variasi Sriwijaya. Dari karya-karya tersebut, ada sekitar 5 karya yang saya terus mainkan di berbagai penjuru dunia, sedangkan yang lainnya tersimpan di perpustakaan saya karena banyak not-not yang salah kutip ataupun meragukan.

Sejak email pertama dari Nurman, saya kemudian banyak bertukar e-mail dengannya, juga dengan putrinya, Gonny Pasaribu. Kebetulan, bulan Desember lalu saya diundang oleh Medan Musik untuk menjadi juri Samick Piano Competition di Medan. Nurman langsung menganjurkan saya untuk menyempatkan diri berkunjung ke rumah Amir Pasaribu. "Datang saja", kata Nurman lewat telpon, "Tidak usah telpon dulu. Pappie (sebutannya untuk ayahnya) sudah di kursi roda, dan tidak pernah kemana-mana, dan pasti senang dikunjungi Ananda. Beliau sering menyebut nama anda." Ternyata, pernah ada satu artikel yang ditulis kritikus dan musikolog Bintang Prakarsa di satu harian di Indonesia yang menyebutkan bahwa saya adalah satu-satunya pianis Indonesia yang tetap memainkan karya-karyanya di luar negeri. Apa itu benar, saya sendiri tidak tahu. Yang saya tahu, ya itu tadi, saya selalu memainkan karya komponis dari negeri saya yang saya kira sudah masuk club yang saya bisa namakan "Dead Composers Society" yang anggota-anggotanya bisa disebut dari Beethoven, Bach, sampai Toru Takemitsu atau Mochtar Embut.

Jadilah hari Minggu pagi itu, setelah saya tiba di Medan hari sebelumnya, saya bersama teman & manager saya, Chendra, naik taxi dari hotel menuju ke Karya Wisata, alamat yang kami dapat dari Nurman. Rencananya kami hanya akan sebentar saja. Setelah agak berputar-putar Medan dan bertanya-tanya (saya sebenarnya cukup kaget karena orang Medan, termasuk para siswa/i musik, tidak mengenal namanya. Itulah nasib seorang seniman musik sastra di Indonesia!). Akhirnya kami tiba, dan mengetuk pintu. Tidak ada jawaban. Ketuk lagi. Sama saja. .... "Tuh, mungkin sedang ke gereja," kata Chendra. Saya tidak menyerah. Mengetuk lagi. Tidak ada reaksi. Kami kemudian berputar, ingin bertanya ke tetangga apa benar ini rumah Amir Pasaribu. Ketika kami sampai di pintu gerbang, tiba-tiba pintu rumah bergoyang-goyang. Tapi tidak terbuka! Situasi ini mungkin hanya memakan waktu satu menit, tapi rasanya lama sekali karena kami bingung, kok surealis banget! Akhirnya, pintu terbuka, dan kami jadi mengerti kenapa hal itu terjadi. Muncul seseorang tua di kursi roda, memakai kaos oblong putih dan sarung. Langsung saya datangi. "Pak Amir Pasaribu?" "Siapa anda?" teriaknya. "Saya Ananda Sukarlan, Pak." "Siapaaa?" "Ananda Sukarlan, seorang pianis, Pak.""Siapaaa?" Membaca situasi lebih cepat dari saya, Chendra mendekati telinganya, dan berteriak "Ananda Sukarlan Pak, pianis yang tinggal di Spanyol!""Ooooooh!" Kegembiraan terpancar di wajahnya yang tadinya kelihatan galak. Beliau langsung menyodorkan tangannya untuk bersalaman. "Ik ken jouw naam (saya tahu nama anda)!" dan setelah Chendra memperkenalkan dirinya juga, kami duduk dan mengobrol di teras.

Terus terang, saya selalu grogi bertemu dengan orang baru, apalagi ini seseorang yang saya selalu kagumi, senior, dan notabene sudah tuli. Saya membayangkan menit-menit keheningan pasti akan terjadi, di mana saya tidak tahu harus omong apa. Ternyata, pak Amir orangnya banyak bicara, dan antusias sekali. Beliau lebih fasih berbahasa Belanda, jadi akhirnya percakapan berganti bahasa. Chendra yang tidak mengerti satu kata pun jadi gelisah, dan akhirnya mengambil kamera. Ceklak, ceklek ... Daripada nganggur dan tidak mengerti!

Sambil mendengarkannya berbicara, saya mengamati fisiknya. Luar biasa sekali orang ini. Umurnya 92 tahun, karakternya yang kuat masih bersinar di wajahnya. Yang menarik perhatian saya adalah telinganya yang besar, yang mengingatkan saya ke komik Tintin tentang patung-patung bertelinga panjang di Pulau Paskah. Masih ada sangat sedikit rambut putih dipotong pendek sekali walaupun sebagian besar sudah botak, dan sudah ompong. Kelihatan sekali bahwa pak Amir adalah orang yang tidak doyan berkompromi, keras dan punya pendapat yang kokoh dan sulit dibengkokkan tentang banyak hal.

"Saya menderita Alzheimer", katanya. Wow, saya hampir tidak percaya. Banyak sekali yang Beliau masih ingat. "Gimana guru anda, Oey Tjong Lee?" tanyanya. "Sudah meninggal, Pak" (Tjong Lee adalah Rudy Laban, mantan guru saya di Jakarta sebelum saya meninggalkan tanah air). "Ooooh", kegetiran, seperti semua ekspresi yang dirasakannya, langsung terpancar kuat. Raut wajahnya memang ekspresif sekali. "Usianya masih sangat muda." Kemudian, Pak Amir juga menyebut tentang "Tisna" (alm. Ny. Charlotte Sutisna, yang ditahun 60-an sangat berdedikasi untuk memainkan karya-karyanya. Rekamannya dari banyak karyanya yang dibuat di RRI akan sangat membantu saya untuk merekam kembali karya-karya tersebut, kali ini dengan teknik digital yang tinggi dan mikrofon serta studio yang 100x lebih canggih dan betapa Beliau kehilangan setelah ia meninggal. "Kawan-kawan saya terdekat kini sudah meninggal. Itulah kalau orang bertahan sampai usia lanjut, jadinya kesepian." Saya jadi ingat pernah membaca bahwa Stravinsky, semakin lanjut usianya, karya-karyanya semakin banyak yang berjudul "In Memoriam". Sebut saja: I.M. Aldous Huxley, Dylan Thomas ... itu semua ditulisnya saat ia berusia sekitar 80 tahun.

Saya juga kaget Pak Amir tahu tentang Michael Jackson. "Musik jaman sekarang, tambah lama tambah jelek ("verschikelijk"). Itu bukan seni. Itu bikin masyarakat tambah tolol". Terus terang, saya ada setujunya dengan pendapat ini, walaupun tentu saja saya tidak setuju tentang Michael Jackson, terutama hasil karyanya sewaktu ia masih berkulit hitam di tahun 80-an. "Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, sudah tidak ada lagi komponis-komponis seperti mereka zaman sekarang. Musik pop dan rock itu sudah tidak dapat disebut musik lagi". Wah, Pak, untungnya tidak sempat mengenal musik-musik avant-garde model Stockhausen dan Boulez; kalau musik pop saja sudah tidak bisa disebut musik, lalu musik avant-garde disebut apa???

Beliau banyak tahu tentang saya. Salah satu buktinya seperti di atas, Beliau mengetahui dengan siapa saja saya telah berguru. Satu anjurannya (yang tentu saja saya sudah turuti) adalah "Blijf buitenland" (tetaplah tinggal di luar negeri). "Di sini seniman tidak dihargai," ujarnya. Beliau juga menyayangkan banyak partiturnya yang tersebar dan hilang, karena sering pindah rumah dan juga rumahnya pernah kemasukan maling. Andaikan saja maling itu tahu betapa berharganya kertas-kertas yang dicurinya!

Sulit sekali untuk pamit. Beliau sangat menikmati kunjungan dari siapa pun. Senang mengobrol, dan yang diajak mengobrol pun ketagihan. Tapi akhirnya kami pun harus balik ke hotel. Yang jelas, saya sudah mendapatkan izinnya untuk merekam seluruh karya musiknya. Lebih dari izin, Beliau "lega bahwa musik saya ada di tangan yang baik" (dalam dunia piano, kalimat ini bisa diterjemahkan secara harafiah). Pertanyaan terakhir dari Beliau, "Kapan saya bisa dengar rekaman permainan kamu? Jangan lupa, saya tidak punya banyak waktu lagi." Saya hanya bisa menjawab "Iya, Pak" .... Dan pamit pulang.

Yang masih merupakan misteri untuk saya adalah mengapa Amir Pasaribu berhenti berkarya pada tahun 70-an, di saat Beliau berumur 60-an? Usia itu, untuk jaman sekarang, relatif muda untuk berhenti berkarya. Inspirasi kering? Motivasi kurang? Bagaimana pun, tidak seperti Jean Sibelius yang berhenti berkarya saat usia 50 tahun tapi hingga kini tetap beredar gossip-gossip bahwa ada karya-karya yang ditulis setelahnya (seperti Simfoni no. 8), dalam hal Amir Pasaribu cukup jelas. Beliau memang telah berhenti berkarya sejak lama. Sebetulnya yang saya lebih sayangkan adalah partitur-partitur yang hilang entah kemana. Sewaktu saya bilang bahwa putranya telah berhasil mengumpulkan sekitar 25 karya untuk piano, pak Amir berkata "Sebetulnya sangat lebih dari segitu. Tapi, ada di mana musik-musik itu, tidak ada yang tahu. Sudah, lupakan saja." Wah, maaf Pak, tidak bisa saya lupakan. Itu aset negara sebetulnya. Sayangnya, hanya beberapa orang saja yang sadar betapa bernilainya itu. Sayangnya, nilainya bukan berupa uang, dan kalau bukan uang, di abad 21 ini namanya bukan nilai .....

Ananda Sukarlan,
komponis & pianis.

Book of faces, Midori and my string quartet

Today, officially the tickets for Java New Year Concert in Jakarta, January 4th are completely SOLD OUT. I would like to congratulate the whole team of JNYC for this. Chendra Panatan, my manager, choreographer, and head of the team of JNYC, has experimented a new method for the publicity for this concert : we don't spend any cent in publicity on newspapers or other mass media. He does it all through the internet, especially facebook. And I must admit, I hated Facebook up till a few weeks ago. Chendra convinced me of facebook a few months ago, by saying that my greatest idol with the great baritone voice, Barack Obama has done a most successful presidential campaign through Facebook. If he does it, then it must be correct.

Preparations are going well. The young pianists who will perform are at their best stamina. My flute and piano piece, "Rescuing Ariadne" was the last piece I rehearsed with. The players will be the English flutist Elizabeth Ashford and the young pianist from Bandung, Alfred Young Sugiri. This 5-minute piece was inspired by the painting of Titian, "Bacchus and Ariadne", hang in the National Gallery of London. Why the title ? Well, because Albert Roussel's Third Symphony (great piece, by the way) is titled as the painting, and I don't want to make a piece with the same title.

The soprano Bernadeta Astari has arrived from Holland, and we performed today at the Federasi Teater Indonesia some of my songs, including the one based on a poem of WS Rendra, Tidurlah Intan. We chatted with him afterwards.

Several days ago the Japanese legendary violinist Midori played my short string quartet "Lontano" with 3 other young musicians (from Singapore, Australia and USA) at the residence of the ambassador of Japan in Jakarta. Her foundation, Music Sharing (based in New York) commissioned it last year and I already finished it before summer this year. After this performance they then toured it to Jogja and Medan, and then to Japan. I didn't have time to rehearse with them beforehand, so I was rather nervous before the concert (and they played Debussy's --which is my all time favorite, adored, admired quartet-- as the last piece, which was the first time I heard live). But then they played so marvellously that they took my breath away. Still, nobody could beat the greatness of Debussy ; I admire that Frenchman more and more thru the years. What a f***ing genius !!

After the New Year Concerts, I will face my biggest challenge : writing music for solo guitar, commissioned by the fantastic Spanish guitarist Miguel Trapaga.

From A to A (that makes us the A-team, eh?)

If one wants it, then it's done. Among my busy periods recording for the film "Romeo*Juliet" as well as rehearsing & preparing for the "Prelude" concerts for the New Year Concerts, I managed to write 4 short pieces : one choral work commissioned by ITB Choir to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of their prestigious university, and 3 songs for baritone & piano. The ITB Choral work is a festive one, based on Sapardi Djoko Damono's breathtaking & majestic sonnet (also commissioned for this event) called KITA CIPTAKAN KEMERDEKAAN (We Create Freedom). Its sketches were done on the plane from Bilbao to Jakarta and Jakarta-Surabaya-Jakarta in the last days of last month, and then it was written out completely and finished 7 days ago on Chendra's computer whose Sibelius program had gone mad. Until this minute I still haven't heard one note of that music, which will be the explanation if suddenly one or more chords would sound "avant-gardish".

The three songs for baritone & piano were done on Friday and Saturday 12th and 13th, between two concerts of mine. I wrote them for my good friend, the always F-word (I mean fabulous & fantastic) singer Joseph Kristanto "Akis" who celebrated his 39th birthday on the 15th. To those 3 songs I added 2 more older songs, one written in London during one of my stays with Chendra last spring when one day suddenly it snowed, and another piece already written for Akis one day after we rehearsed. So, this new cycle for baritone & piano is called "A untuk Akis, Alam dan Angkasa" (translated (in-)correctly it will be : A for Akis, nature and the universe). The songs are :

1. Kesetiaan Pohon (Sapardi Djoko Damono)
2. Masa Kecil di Pegunungan (Eka Budianta)
3. Salju di Musim Semi (Chendra Panatan)
4. Selokan (Sapardi Djoko Damono)
5. Berkicaulah Burungku (Eka Budianta)

I am always touched how Akis loves nature. Apart from his love and dedication to music, of course. He always thinks of his fish, and once we rehearsed at the Jakarta Conservatory and he pointed out a peculiar tree which had been there, unnoticed by me, during these years. And this is a guy who lives right in the middle of Jakarta, the most unfriendly city in the world, full of bricks, mortars ... and greedy corruptors. So, what other birthday present is more appropiate than a songcycle about nature ?
And I am so grateful to his dedication to my music ; he practically has sung, beautifully, 90% of my music for baritone ( I wish he would sing the 10% of the rest), and memorized them (no matter how strange they are) . These 5 songs is my gratitude and my celebration to his artistry and to our friendship that I highly cherish.

PS : Thanks to Akis' sister Ita for her help in its "special delivery" after lots of hassle with the printer. And another PS : just 1 day before his birthday, his fish whom I baptized under the name Nijinsky died. Requiescat in pace ...

Schumann, paintings, dance and young people

As I always say, I am inspired by people. And apparently, since I get older now, I realize that the element of youth inspires me more and more. Well, one always wants what one doesn't possess, right ?

But people's creations and people's opinions, love and friendship are the things which have been and still are really inspirational to me. I just finished my "noisiest" work, Schumann's Psychosis. It's written for 3 pianos with 2 pianists at each piano, therefore there are in total 12 hands with 60 nimble fingers, and a friend just revealed to me that this is the first original work written for that formation. Without realizing, I just wrote history !

In fact I agreed to write it in the beginning because it was asked for the events where three Steinway replicas from 1853 will tour South East Asia in the beginning of December. But it took me a long time to even just begin writing the first note. I realized, after weeks of remaining blank pages, that I was thinking of the pianos, those dead instruments. Beautiful, historical, but dead !

Then I started to think of how I enjoyed being with those young people during the Ananda Sukarlan Award piano competition, and thinking that 6 of them will be playing the piece. Meanwhile, Chendra, the choreographer who will do the dance for the piece, sent me thru email a painting of Asep Berlian. That painting triggered an association with Schumann's "disease" (if you can call it as such) of split personalities. With all those elements in mind, mmediately the piece sounded in my head !! I could almost sketch it from beginning to end. OK, OK, you'll say that it's like cracking a rock ; looks as if it's broken on one hit, but in fact it broke because of the 100 crushes before. So, it might have been the result of my thinking and doodlings of the past several weeks. Maybe it's true, but it just proved (even only to myself) again and again that I am not like those people such as Debussy or Turner who were inspired by landscape or nature to give birth to their arts.

Schumann's Psychosis will have those elements : joyful rhythms, but screwed up just like Schumann's multiple personalities. You'll hear it, or to be precise see it (since I think, just visually it would be quite stunning to have those 6 pianists, and I am sure Chendra will make a spectacular choreography around those 6 young musicians) at the New Year Concerts in Jogja and Jakarta, 1st and 4th of January next year respectively.

My first opera : "Mengapa Kau Culik Anak Kami?" (Why did you kidnap our son?)

Now that I almost (just a few bars left to be orchestrated !) finish the writing of my first opera (it will be a long time before I will write my second ; I am totally exhausted and running out of notes!) , I dare to share with you more details about it. I wrote a bit about it last January, in relation to the death of our former dictator/president Suharto if you want to read more stuff.

It is based on a play by Seno Gumira Ajidarma which was done already (and had a huge success) in 2001 in Jakarta. The setting is in a living room of a married couple whose son, Satria, had been lost for a year, most presumably kidnapped during the Suharto dictatorship. Satria was a student and an activist, and it is unknown whether he is still alive or dead. For the world premiere, the father will be played by Joseph Kristanto (baritone) and the mother Aning Katamsi (soprano). Satria will come and go as both a flashback and in an imaginary situation in a torture chamber, being interrogated. Satria's role will be played by Chendra Panatan, who will also choreograph and direct the whole opera. Oh, and don't worry, he's not going to sing ! He will, however, undergo all the violent tortures (yes, it will be quite realistic, so don't bring under-age children to the opera) by two additional dancers.

In addition to the fantastic artists above, Tommy Prabowo will conduct an ensemble of 9 musicians which include : a string quartet, a woodwind trio, a keyboard and one percussionist. This opera is the result of a commission by the Indonesian Opera Society, and the world premiere will take place at Usmar Ismail Hall on a date that is easy to remember : 8 - 8 - 08, at 8 pm. That is the eighth of August this year. There will be another performance the day after.

Apart from the arias, there are some highlights from the opera that could be performed as separate numbers in the future. Those include a 4-minute string quartet when Satria is being interrogated and reaching out in futile to his parents, and a 2,5-minute bassoon solo piece "Satria Sendiri" (Satria alone) where Satria was alone in jail, frightened, blindfolded, but with a spirit that has not been broken.

My vocal score "Tembang Puitik" almost sold out

I couldn't believe it myself. My manager, Chendra Panatan told me that my score of 25 songs for voice(s) and piano "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" (see my entry in February 08) have been sold about 900 exemplars. 1000 ex. were printed for the first time last December. Ok, ok, this is far from the amount sold of Harry Potter or Da Vinci code, but for vocal works by an Indonesian composer this is quite unbelievable. To be honest, I am quite surprised, proud, and thankful to the mostly Indonesian singers who have bought my score. And also very grateful that you don't make photocopies out of it !
So, Chendra is considering making a second printing of another 1000. Will he succeed in selling another 1000 ? We sold that amount (no, no, we sold just under 900) in about 4 months. Yeah, this year I will be celebrating my 40th birthday, and many events are being organized everywhere to celebrate it, so there will be opportunities to sell them. Anyway, I know Chendra works miracles, so I told him to go ahead and boldly do it.

Since the score was released, I had written about 20 more songs, for all kinds of voices. And of course, some excerpts from my opera I am writing now can be arranged for voice(s) and piano. So, I am thinking of including them in the new score to be sold. Anyway, thanx guys, for your appreciation for my music ! May God bless you all singing my songs over the rooftops of the world !

The Voice Inside me (can now be found in this book)

This was published last month, but I just got the photo of the cover a few days ago by email. It's the score of 25 vocal works by me, based on Indonesian poems by Goenawan Mohamad, Chendra Panatan, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Joko Pinurbo and Ilham Malayu. You can order it through Chendra my manager (whose poems can be found in this book as well) at ycep@yahoo.com or 0818 891038 if you live in Indonesia.

Some of the songs in this book (about 80 pages or so !) can be listened to at http://www.youtube.com/ ; search under my name Ananda Sukarlan. All songs are with piano accompaniment (except two solo vocal pieces), and are for soprano, tenor and baritone solo and duets . It includes the song-cycles "Senyap Dalam Derai" (soprano & piano), "Gemuruhnya Malam" (baritone and piano), Canda Empat Penjuru (baritone & piano) as well as individual songs such as "my Aids song" Dalam Sakit for tenor & piano. All those beautiful poems are printed in the first few pages, and there are some program notes by me as well (mostly taken from this blog).

Lots of blogging today, eh ? Ok, ok ... back to writing my opera ...

It ain't that easy ....

Am deeply immersed in the writing of my first (hopefully not the last) opera, Why did you kidnap our son ? . As this will be the first opera ever that uses "real" Indonesian language (not a poetic one), I am having trouble in some parts of it, especially the recitatives. I have no models to follow! (by the way, no complains to the script writer whose work I heavily edited -- not changed! -- , Seno Gumira Ajidarma ; he wrote a fantastic script !)
I've been watching a lot of operas by Mozart, Wagner, Britten and Bellini lately (oh, and Shosty's fantastic Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Enjoyed it sooo much but I don't know if it helps, since I don't understand any Russian. What one should be aware while composing is that the music should be communicative enough to people who do not understand the language of the vocal parts.) to see how they solve the problem of doing their dialogues. It's such a difficult language, Indonesian. I mean, I have written more than 50 songs based on Indonesian poems, but again, it's totally different from doing recitatives. An opera is not just a series of arias. Ohh... Being the first to do one thing is always a problem !

The arias are quite ok, the ensemble part is quite enjoyable to do (especially with Chendra's collaboration for the choreography ; basically all the movements, characteristics and durations came from him, so I am having an easy job on this), they don't pose many problems ... but uugh, those recitatives ! In Indonesian ! Can you imagine ? What shall I do with this bloody language ??? HEEELLLP !!! Aaarrrghh !!!

Another thing is that there is much violence in this opera, that somehow my "dark side" has surfaced ... and made me rather worried . I think this opera will be rated PG .... and all this after writing my new song-cycle "Love and Variations", and my sweetest, delicious, loveable cantata Ars Amatoria that includes a children choir !

Ars Amatoria and New Year .... and what am I doing ??

Whew !!! So Ars Amatoria has at last been premiered. I was soooo glad that the performance went very well during the New Year Concert. At least, it wasn't raining and flooding, which is always our greatest fear every year during the rainy season. The publicity wasn't aggressive (Chendra's attention was divided in the managing, choreographing, stage directing, lighting, and dancing himself ; nevertheless, he did such a great job as usual), but some 800 people went to the concert ; not bad for a day where people in Jakarta wake up very late after partying the whole night .... out of town !!! Got a standing ovation after the cantata was over, which was quite a rare thing for the public of Jakarta to do so, therefore I am indeed very honoured.

Artistically there are many good things, and still some things to be revised for future performances and to leave the the definite score. First of all, the structure of Ars Amatoria works very well (it wasn't easy to make a 40-minute work, I tell you ! This is my first piece above 20 minutes). But some instrumentations and practicalities should be revised, especially because this piece is designed to be conducted from the piano. There won't be some heavy revisions though, and many have been done during the rehearsals ; they just haven't been copied to the score. I hope I can do it in just one day .

But not now ! I have to really, really sit down and start working on my opera. Yeah ! It's a commission from the Indonesian Opera Society, and it's about the tragedy of a kidnapping during the Suharto dictatorship era. The libretto is based on an existing script with the same title ("Mengapa Kau Culik Anak Kami?", or Why did you kidnap my son?)by Indonesia's famous writer, Seno Gumira Ajidarma. Chendra Panatan will do the stage directing, and also will dance as the kidnapped son, Satria (since he is interrogated and tortured but keeps silent during the process, there is no point of giving this role to a singer ; hence I give it to a dancer instead !) .

The World Premiere of this opera prima of mine is fixed to a date which is easy to remember : 8-8-08, at 8 p.m , at the Usmar Ismail Hall in Jakarta. Hope that date brings good luck .

But first, I have to finish a 15-minute song cycle "Love and Variations" for a premiere in Arizona in April. It´s almost finished, and I am going to write about it here when it's definitely finished.

Happy New Year and Happy New Ears to all of you music lovers !

Love on Screen , from "Fast Music"

Just now I finished copying and revising my new piano piece "Love on Screen" . The piece itself was begun & finished in Mexico, at the beginning of September of this year .
"Love on Screen" will be a movement of my ballet for Chendra Panatan entitled "Fast Music" . The title does NOT refer to the tempi of the music ; it refers to the state of globalization (but I personally call "Americanization") of everything in this era. Like fast food, all instant, all fake . So, I modelled my music on something, and make something fake out of it, just like Kentucky Fried Chicken makes a sort of meat from real (well, sort of) chicken . Love on Screen is, obviously, "about" romance on those trashy soap-operas. I took a phrase of my own, a very "innocent" sounding one, from the introduction of my second song from "Tiga Sajak Pendek" on poems by Sapardi Djoko Damono, and deliberately twisted it into something that sounds "fake", but maintaining all the original notes intact.

Oh yeah, I plan each movement of this ballet to be not lasting for more than 3 minutes, since it's now a kind of rule for writing those "instant" music . I will use a material that can (and must) be quite fully developed in 3 minutes or less, so it is a good exercise to limit my material. It's also the ideal duration for serving you at MacDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I still don't have any slightest idea about the other movements (any suggestions welcome !), and Chendra doesn't have the premiere planned yet. He's still busy thinking of the choreography for my cantata, Ars Amatoria, to be done on the first day of next year. I was inspired to do "Love on Screen" being in a short stay in Mexico and watching those crappy "tele-novelas" in my hotel-room to get me to sleep .

Now you can call me an authentic avant-gardist . At least, I have one common intention : trying to make cheap trash . No, to be precise, what I am doing is trying to evoke, or depict, cheap trash, without being trashy (hopefully I succeeded in doing this !). All I do is being inspired by something that is very contemporary, that is happening NOW. But I don't share with those avantgardists the intention to cheat the public ; on the contrary, I want them to "understand" my music and honestly express what I need to in less than 3 minutes. It took me more time than I thought to compose, though.

Oh, and someone asked me what's my favorite opera. Well, since we are in this globalization era, I shall answer : Opera Winfrey .

A poetic birthday

Woke up very late today (even that was because a phone call from a friend wishing me a happy birthday and so I didn't have breakfast with my family), and then had breakfast in my back garden . I am 39 today !! Afterwards we had lunch in our garden ; my wife has bought many seafood yesterday from the beach, and fortunately it's such a beautiful day .

Many birthday wishes today, so I spent like 2 hours answering emails. My friend the choreographer Chendra Panatan made a short poem about the 88 keys of the piano for me ; you can check it out at his blog (if you speak Indonesian) : http://chendraefblogger.blogspot.com . But the most special for today is that the great Indonesian poet Sapardi Djoko Damono made especially a poem for me consists of 4 sonnets, and it is published along with some other new poems of his in "Kompas", the main newspaper in Indonesia. It is dedicated to "Andy the busker" (Andy, pengamen) . I like being called like that ! Anyway, those 4 sonnets are really new masterpieces of his . They have many "inner" meanings taken from our cyber-relationship and creative processes, they are sophisticatedly constructed, strong and so deeply touching -- as usually his poems are. Next week I will post them here in my blog. He also sent me a nice short email wishing happy birthday. The great poet also confessed that it wasn't easy to do those sonnets ; it took him several weeks to change and revise things until its impeccable final version . Thank you Maestro ! And thanks to all my friends !

In 3 days I will give the world premiere the Sonata no. 2 "Ketjak" by the great Spanish composer Jesus Rueda. Hope to meet the crème de la crème of Spanish music in that concert : Santiago Lanchares, David del Puerto, Polo Vallejo .... cool musicians and cool guys .

Paths and highways

Am enjoying immensely practising the complete ballet of "Castor & Pollux" by one of my favorite composers, Santiago Lanchares. It is a work for piano & percussion (I will do it with my friend, the number one, second to none percussionist Miquel Bernat), 40 minutes of brilliant, exhilarating, inexhaustibly driving rhythmical work. We will do the complete work (12 episodes) for the first time in 3 weeks time in Portugal, and during the next season we will do it several times with the famous choreographer Dani Panullo in Madrid and several other cities.

The combination of piano and percussion produces a fascinating sound world ; especially in this ballet Lanchares uses 90% only marimba and vibraphone. The range of the character of the sound it produces is so wide, from the dark low register of the marimba to the ear-piercing resonating sounds of the combination of the piano and vibraphone. The dynamic range is also astonishingly wide, as well as their colourful sound palette and textures. Sometimes Miquel Bernat plays those two instruments simultaneously, each with one hand (that's a technique that he has developed through the years). You can hear the results of Miquel playing both instruments in http://www.youtube.com/ , if you search for Santiago Lanchares' name , where "Lamento de Pollux" is shown with the film by another friend of us, Chendra Panatan.

There is of course the problem of balance of loudness, since those percussion instruments are by nature louder than the piano, but Santiago Lanchares could deal with it in a clever way . He is, I consider, the best composer for piano coming from Spain of today together with Jesus Rueda. But Rueda takes his influence from the romantic tradition broken after Rachmaninov (although Rueda has many highly imaginative works for percussion ; in fact Miquel and his group "Drumming" will record a whole CD of his percussion works next year), and Lanchares follows the percussive path of Bartok and Britten. So, two composers each walking on their own paths, and the artistic result is equally valid and of the highest quality. Meanwhile, there are some music dictators out there who are "metaphorically killing" (a quote from Times magazine) future generation of composers who didn't follow their (presumably one and only) path. Even some of those dictators just ORDER other people to follow their path, while they themselves don't walk through it ; they don't compose, just dictate !!!
It reminds me of the period of Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, when they built one highway to connect two cities. One HAS to pass through that one and only highway if you want to arrive at his destination. And of course he has to pay the toll . Now, what can Suharto do now with all that money ? I wonder ....

New discovery, this time REALLY embarrassing

You remember last January when I "discovered" Sapardi Djoko Damono and his poems, right ? Well, this time, it's a contemporary composer. I heard it for the first time at a dinner at Jeroen Kohnstamm's (a friend of Chendra, and now a friend of mine as well) beautiful house beside the river Vecht. He was cooking a very nice meal based on chicken, salad and some pasta, and we were drinking wine in his living room (Geoffrey King, Chendra Panatan and Iman Ahimsa -- a photographer and ex-fashion designer he is a friend of Jeroen and someone new to me who I was happy to get to know). In the background was the Dutch classical radio (oh yes, I forgot to tell you that I am writing this in Amsterdam) . At one moment sounded an incredibly beautiful, exquisite choir piece (we were talking so we didn't listen to the presenter), and silence dawned on us . Everybody was asking to himself who that damned composer was, and Geoffrey was the one who told us it was John Rutter (although he didn't know exactly what piece it was) .

So, "one of the world's leading pianists of new music" (that's what Sydney Morning Herald wrote about me, as well as some other newspapers) ..... and I didn't know John Rutter until 3 days ago . My God, now THAT is music.

In fact, I should confess that a few weeks ago I received a program of an English flutist who played my piece "You Had me at Hello" and she also played a piece by John Rutter. But since I thought that he was just a fake composer like a few other thousands who are comfortable writing avantgarde music, I didn't bother to check him out. Oh, well, nice to know that there are many good composers I still haven't discovered .... in fact, I am sure that many people have not discovered Geoffrey King. He is a really fantastic composer, and I will talk about his music in a few days when I am not in a rush like now . By the way, Chendra made a blog for him so he can have fun while taking breaks from his composing. Check it out at http://gfjking.blogspot.com

Article by Erza Setyadharma

Got the email with the article by Erza Setyadharma (founder of Indonesian Opera Society) in the "Kabar" magazine of last February. He is a big fan of my vocal music, and is busy at the moment in mounting Menotti's "The Telephone" in Jakarta for next month. Here is the article , cut & pasted from that mag :


Ananda Sukarlan, The Spider and Silence
Erza Setyadharma meets two of the most talented people performing in Indonesia at present: pianist Ananda Sukarlan and dancer and choreographer Chendra E. Panatan.
Ananda Sukarlan returned to the stage this New Year with A Trilogy Concert, a series of performances that took him from Bandung to Bali and back to Jakarta, where I was fortunate to witness Indonesia’s premier pianist in action.
As with many of his previous concerts, simplicity was the key to both performance and staging.
Opening the concert in a lively fashion with the funky rhythms of Igor Stravinsky’s Tango & Piano Rag Music, Ananda followed this catchy piece with his own composition from last year, Kama, with Farman Purnama as the tenor soloist. Based on the poetry of Ilham Malayu, written while he was in Bangkok prison on drug charges, Kama is truly unique; not only the words but also the musical composition, which draws on gamelan influences.
Later, another Ilham Malayu poem was the inspiration for a world premiere of Ananda’s new work, Spider’s Ballad, again with Farman Purnama as the tenor soloist. This is a piece that brought a wide grin to my face; the song is about an imprisoned man who experiences a moment of joy while watching an industrious spider as he creates his web. Ananda injects brilliant comical tones into the ballad, with the evocative arpeggio increasing in volume and speed as the spider weaves and weaves…
The David Del Puerto composition Alio Modo was truly intense. A piano piece created by David Del Puerto and dedicated to the victims of the Bali bombing on October 12th 2002, the song was visualized by Chendra E. Panatan’s contemporary choreography with dancers from Sumber Cipta Ballet. It started in silence, with empty chairs on stage. Dancers rolled in, dancing in silence. Ananda and Farman Purnama were also part of this life installation. The dance captivated the audience absolutely until suddenly the silence was broken with the first note of the piece. The movement thus became assimilated with the music; a very powerful collaboration.
Freedom from fear was the overriding theme of this collaboration. “The dancing movement in Alio Modo is about how to be free from being scared and worried,” Chendra tells me the next day when I meet him and Ananda in suite 1809 at the Shangri-La. “The chairs have two functions; partly as stage décor for the second half, partly to represent and symbolise the place of human existence. I would also like to emphasise the emptiness of terror or fear caused by violence acts. Through my choreography, I want to evoke visually the ambience of the music itself.”
Chendra’s choreography uses silence as its core and this is what inspired Ananda to adapt it to his music compositions. Chendra finds that Ananda’s music has the same background as his choreography. “For us the idea and concept should come first, music will follow. That’s why I always work in silence. I believe that silence is the mother of sound.”
Ananda describes his own music as “eclectic.” “It will always have elements of rhythm and certain chords that reflect my musical characteristics. If you notice, my music and singing always separate in order to create a different texture. It’s like a mini opera where they have recitative, interlude, instruments and the aria. It’s different to usual songs where the lyrics and music are all together.” He has been writing his own compositions since 1991 when he wrote a piece for string quartet. Not until 1998 did he feel that he had become truly fluent with composing.
“For me, composition is what to write, not only how to write. The depth and content are very important, not only beautiful notes and melodies.”
Indonesia itself is an important influence on Ananda’s work. “As a composer, I want to be more Indonesian, whether it’s the music or my inspirations. I think it is important to have a national identity as a composer.” His next project will be an opera that relects contemporary Indonesian life. “I am trying to define Indonesian opera and that is why everything in my opera will be Indonesian: Indonesian musicians and bahasa Indonesia as the language.”
Ananda is also keen to change people’s misperceptions of contemporary music, which he says often gets confused with a rather less accessible genre, avant-garde music. The basis of avant-garde music is atonal, meaning literally “not tonal”, a genre introduced by Arnold Schoenberg around 1912. Atonal music is that in which the composer systematically avoids reference to tonal centers by avoiding harmonic and melodic formulas. Contemporary classical music, on the other hand, keeps changing and evolving through time. “The current perception of contemporary music is that it is hard to understand, but it is not. The tendency of contemporary music these days is to go back to what classical music used to be. People often get mixed up between avant-garde music and contemporary music.”
So apparently contemporary music and dance are not scary or difficult: they are enjoyable! Bravo to Ananda Sukarlan and friends, this was really a delightful start to the year.

Answering emails

While writing this, am listening to the classical radio broadcasting an unknown (to me) work for cello solo by Jean Sibelius, in d minor . It's always nice to discover new things. It is not as impressive as Bach's or Britten's Cello suites, nevertheless I am moved deeply by it.

Today an article appeared in Kompas about my collaboration with SDD, and so tens of emails arrived through my website, from just giving best wishes to asking (too much for now) details about Ars Amatoria, from close friends to complete strangers. And I just hope that the yahoo people will invent how to forward a bunch of emails in one go, since Chendra had to forward those emails one by one to me. Maybe by ticking in front of each emails and then put a button "forward" ? Anyway, to save time, and quoting Walt Whitman, "To what you said, passionately clasping my hands, this is my answer" :

1. The forces for which I am writing Ars Amatoria is not completely correct in that article. This is the right forces : A pair of dancers, 1 Soprano, 1 Baritone, children's choir, male choir and a small group of instruments.

2. Influence / model : Perhaps Ars Amatoria can be closely compared to Benjamin Britten's Church Parables (without its religious content) in its structure. Perhaps I was also influenced by those parables in employing male and children chorus without female voices, although the soprano soloist will play an important role .

3. There will be no narrator, neither one who recites the poems. All the poems are to be sung by the singers.

4. I haven't asked nor thought of specific performers for the premiere, except the choreographer & dancer (who will also direct movements for the singers and choreograph the dance episodes) Chendra Panatan, who first introduced me to SDD's poems (well, this is not the reason why I ask him ; I collaborate with him already in several works lately and they have been very successful) .

5 I still don't want to publicly announce which poems I am using. One thing that I can say is that I am not using the death-related poems of SDD for this work (yes, I know that love and death are very closely related, but somehow it depresses me just thinking 'bout it ! )

6. And yes, I have plans to work with other Indonesian poets after I finish this project, but SDD's poems will always be especially close to my heart, and every once in a while I will get back to them.

7. And no, THANK GOD, I will NOT sing and neither will the dancers ! By the way, I can tell you that Chendra is an amazing choreographer but a terrible singer ; he is even worse than me and never gets one note right ! My involvement is that I will conduct its first complete performance (at the Jakarta New Year concert 2008, not the one in JCOM Fest in August) from the piano . Don't think that all composers are like Samuel Barber who could sing his own works !

These are the details I can reveal for now. Thank you very much for all your enthusiasm and support !