My "AIDS song"

Today I met with Farman Purnama, my favorite Indonesian tenor, a beautiful man with a beautiful voice (you can check the truth of this statement in his website http://www.farmanpurnama.com/ ) . We are going to perform my new song, Dalam Sakit (In Sickness), for the Fundraising concert for the AIDS Foundation organized by the Singaporian Ambassador for Indonesia at his place Singapore House on the 16th of this month. Dalam Sakit was commissioned by a philanthropist whose name prefers to remain unknown. He has commissioned some other composers from other countries for the AIDS Foundation, as a tribute for someone he loved who died of AIDS. I dedicate Dalam Sakit to all those who have died of AIDS . Its text is from a deeply moving poem by Sapardi Djoko Damono.
This is in fact my first song written expressively for tenor voice. All my previous songs for male voice were written for baritone. Farman has the kind of voice which I like, not that Italian heavy stuff, but closer to …hmm… perhaps Peter Pears who is another favorite singer of mine. I mean, have you heard the recording of Pears singing Britten’s Serenade ? Its beauty could break all the toughest hearts on earth (ok, perhaps not George Bush’s, I wonder if he's got one to be broken ? ...but he’s got no brains either).
Dalam Sakit will exist in two different versions : for tenor and piano, and for tenor and children’s & male choir as part of my cantata ARS AMATORIA which will be premiered in the New Year’s Concert at Graha Bhakti Budaya, TIM Jakarta, on the 1st of January 2008. It should not be transposed to another kind of voice . After I heard Farman singing it, I am convinced that this is the final version. His wonderful high voice is exactly what I wanted to express in this song.
This song now, even before its premiere on the 16th, has already a nickname : Ananda's Aids song.

Back from Jakarta, going to Brussels

God, it doesn't stop ! Anyway, just came back home yesterday. What really struck me was that incredible Business, no sorry, Raffles Class of Singapore Airlines. My God the seats are so wide 'n big 'n cosy. They are just like sofas, with a big table. That's quite new, right ? As SQ is the richest airline in the world, it can afford refurbishing its business class with just 4 seats in a row (one seat every window, and two seats in the middle), and with those facilities, I won't be surprised if a composer could write a WHOLE symphony during the flight. Well no, since he has at least 40 movies to choose from and some sitcoms as well. Anyway I managed to sketch my new song on Goenawan Mohamad's poem for baritone and piano, AND read some short stories (very nice ones, by the way) by another favorite writer of mine Radhar Panca Dahana AND watched Woody Allen's new movie "Scoop" (the latter is rather disappointing, unfortunately) . Somehow those SQ people could make the passenger feel private and undisturbed, perhaps also because of the construction of the seat which is quite closed and self-contained. I still wonder what one can achieve with HIS own private jet ! Oh, and it has internet connections for every passenger, but unfortunately I didn't bring my laptop. My flight was Jakarta - Barcelona (obviously via Singapore), and when I stepped in the Barcelona El Prat airport it was like, well, welcome to the real, uncomfortable, unglamorous, spartan world of Europe. No business lounges, no free internet or calls (well there are a few, A FEW, hot-spots in the airport, but usually they are inside the restaurants).
Am leaving to Brussels on the 9th to play at the concerts in the opera houses in Antwerp and Ghent the following days, with music by Ravel, Haydn , Rueda, Stravinsky and Lanchares (what else ? They are too close to my heart !) . Santiago Lanchares will be travelling with his wife and will arrive midday on the 10th, and they will stay after the concerts for a break after finishing his new orchestral work commissioned to be played in the inauguration (by HM Queen Sofia) of the new concert hall in Valladolid next February. Just talked to him today by phone, he said it is a 7-minute orchestral work which contains the loudest and most exuberant moments of his career , so am certainly looking forward to hearing it. I just consider him one of the greatest composers of today.
Oh, I should have talked about my stay in Indonesia. It was hectic, but nice. I am glad that the recording with the soprano Binu Sukaman went very well. Also, Farman Purnama sang beautifully my two songs with me at the concerts. Bought some books, including Ayu Utami's "Saman" which was a bestseller like 5 years ago but I only got it now. Very inspiring. I immediately called her and we had a nice afternoon at her place with her boyfriend.
All right, back to work ! Have to re-practice Lanchares' Anandamania, among others. Those concerts in Brussels could be my 70th or even more performance of that great klavierstück.