Hetty celebrates her silver anniversary in music<\/p>\n
By Achmad Nurhoeri<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Whosoever desires constant success must change
\nher conduct with the times.<\/p>\n
That is Niccolo Machiavelli's recipe for success in Discorsi.<\/p>\n
Hetty Koes Endang maybe never knew of this Machiavellian
\nconcept or the Italian philosopher but it is exactly what she has
\ndone in her 25-year-career in the Indonesian music world.<\/p>\n
She has played the game set by the vivacious musical industry
\nkeenly. She has courageously explored many diverse music genres
\nfrom pop to keroncong, from Sundanese songs to traditional Minang
\nballads.<\/p>\n
She has also tackled singing festivals throughout the globe
\nand passed their tests with flying colors. Add it all up and she
\nhas definitely earned the right to celebrate her silver
\nanniversary in music, a feat every singer dreams of. She did that
\nlast Sunday night.<\/p>\n
\"This is my way of thanking everybody who has contributed to
\nmy success,\" said Hetty, dressed in a chic Moslem outfit.
\n\"Especially the producers and journalists who have supported me
\nall the way.\"<\/p>\n
Most guests inside the Kartika Chandra hotel ballroom were
\nfrom these two professions. There were hardly any other
\nentertainers in the luxurious hall. But that night was Hetty's
\nnight. And no one deserves to be in the spotlight alone more than
\nthis 40-year-old diva.<\/p>\n
Bandung<\/p>\n
The music industry is the place where dreams come true. For
\nHetty Koes Endang, this became a reality.<\/p>\n
She started her climb to success in 1972 at the age of 15 when
\nshe won at a provincial Pop Singing Festival in her hometown
\nBandung.<\/p>\n
After that her mother Karsiwoelan registered her to perform in
\nsinging festivals in Bandung, but slowly and surely Hetty was on
\nthe path to the city of industry, Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Hetty's family is not wealthy. Her parents divorced when she
\nwas nine and Karsiwoelan raised her 10 children alone.<\/p>\n
Knowing that her sixth child had the skills to earn enough to
\nmake ends meet for the big family, Karsiwoelan directed all her
\nefforts to making sure that Hetty would go places. Monas
\nAmusement Park, now a green area was, the first place.<\/p>\n
Young Hetty sang there for 10 days. After each performance she
\ngot Rp 1,500. But from this small job, she received many offers.
\nOnce she sang for the Navy and got Rp 100,000, a very high fee in
\nthose days. She ran to her mom and cried,\"Mom, the organizers
\nmust have made a mistake\".<\/p>\n
Now Hetty will not sing for less than US$10,000 a show.<\/p>\n
Her activities in Jakarta became busier and Karsiwoelan
\ndecided to move the whole family to the capital. Hetty was then
\ncontent to improve her strong voice.<\/p>\n
Pranajaya, the well-known music guru of the child choir Bina
\nVokalia, became her teacher. She dropped out of formal education
\nin 1975 to give all she had to music.<\/p>\n
As her brief resume was distributed at celebration shows, she
\nhopped from one singing festival to another and snatched the
\nprizes.<\/p>\n
In 1977 she won the National Pop Song Festival after trying
\nfor three years.<\/p>\n
It propelled her to Tokyo where the song she sang, Damai Tapi
\nGersang (Peaceful But Arid), won the Outstanding Composition
\nAward in the World Pop Song Festival.<\/p>\n
But she was proudest when she was crowned Best Singer at the
\nInternational Song Festival at Vina Del Mar, Chile.<\/p>\n
\"I also met my favorite singer Julio Iglesias there. I never
\nimagined that I would sing and share the same stage with him,\"
\nreminisced Hetty.<\/p>\n
Sometimes festival singers cannot penetrate the market. But
\nthe market is where Hetty rules. In 1973, she stepped into a
\nstudio for the first time at Nada Sound. A year later she was
\ncontracted to the Remaco label where she stayed for two years.
\nWith the next label her star rose. Musica Studio tied Hetty to a
\n20 year contract from 1976 to 1996.<\/p>\n
After being trapped in Musica's spiral where the word royalty
\nwas an unknown word, Hetty crossed the ocean. Now she is with
\nPony Canyon of Japan.<\/p>\n
Throughout her recording career, Hetty has made an
\nunbelievable 120 albums. Several have been pirated.<\/p>\n
But most have swayed the hearts of Indonesians from the haves
\nto the have nots, from bustling Jakarta to remote East Timor.<\/p>\n
Malaysians and Japanese have also fallen for Hetty's melodies.
\nMore than 80 albums have found a market in Malaysia. Hetty once
\neven received The Most Favored Foreign Artist Award from
\nMalaysia's TV stations TV3 and RTM.<\/p>\n
In Japan, Hetty toured the country in 1991 with Aussie diva
\nTina Arena, U.S. legend Chaka Khan and Japan's own Yunko Ohashi.<\/p>\n
In 25 years this once bashful country girl has become a proud
\nmember of the international music world.<\/p>\n
Marriage<\/p>\n
Although many of Hetty's songs are about love, she did not
\nfind the true meaning of the word until 1990 when she met Yusuf
\nFaishal, then a married man, on an airplane to Kuala Lumpur. He
\nwas a fan of her song, Kemuning.<\/p>\n
Their marriage in 1991 was the story of the year when Yusuf
\nbecame a divorcee. \"God gave me my mate. I did not do anything
\nwrong,\" she said in 1994. \"I told him to fix up his divorce
\nproblems first ... He is truly my destined mate.\"<\/p>\n
The newlyweds flew to Malaysia the day after their wedding
\nparty. Yusuf had to finish his doctorate at the Malaysian
\nAgricultural University. Hetty, who believes a wife's place is
\nbeside her husband, did not hesitate. She left Indonesia at the
\npeak of her career.<\/p>\n
\"With my leaving I hoped younger singers would fill the void I
\nleft,\" she told Kompas daily in 1994.<\/p>\n
But to this day no other singer has successfully delved into
\nthe range of music genres as Hetty did.<\/p>\n
One of her earlier producers had advised her to try things,
\nshe said. And in a three month period Hetty would launch an album
\nin three versions -- dangdut, pop and keroncong.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know why young singers don't follow my example,\"
\nHetty told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
In Malaysia, Hetty kept on producing records and doing shows
\n-- including many performances for Malaysia's royal family.<\/p>\n
She came back to Indonesia last year when Yusuf obtained his
\ndoctorate in international trade and a job in Jakarta. With their
\ntwo children, Amirmachmud Saatari and Afifah Qamariah, they now
\nlive in Serpong, west of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Back to Sunday night, Hetty's voice was still second to none
\nin Indonesia. Heavy but always crystal clear. She sang a range of
\nsongs. She opened with Semalam di Malaysia (A Night in Malaysia).<\/p>\n
Most of the songs were as symbolic as the first. From her
\nlegendary Kemuning song that drew Yusuf to her, she switched to
\ntwo songs in her mother tongue, Sundanese, Duh Manis (Oh Sweet)
\nand Bubuy Bulan (Broiled Moon). The seventh song, Bette Midler's
\nWind Beneath My Wings was a tribute to her mother who paved her
\nway to stardom.<\/p>\n
She closed the 12-song showcase with a hit that sold more when
\nshe sang it than it did for its original singers, Kemesraan
\n(Intimacy). In the end, she proved to the audience that she was
\nback home and ready to retake her throne.<\/p>\n
So Hetty, when will you stop singing?<\/p>\n
\"I am satisfied with my music career. I am a housewife now.
\nBut I will go on singing until people get bored with me.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hetty-celebrates-her-silver-anniversary-in-music-1447893297",
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