JP\/18\/JABO<\/p>\n
Sawung Jabo, artist-musician with a mission<\/p>\n
Dewi Anggraeni
\nContributor\/Melbourne, Australia<\/p>\n
Accompanying Rendra in reciting and performing poetry is no mean
\nfeat.<\/p>\n
You definitely have to remain in the background, while
\ndiscreetly filling the space with the right mood. In his
\nAustralian tour this time Rendra has two very important people
\naccompanying him, fellow Bengkel Teater Rendra (Rendra's Theater
\nAtelier) artists, Ken Zuraida and Sawung Jabo.<\/p>\n
Jabo played his part very well for the audience on Sept. 28 at
\nthe Sidney Myer Asia Center, the University of Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Sawung Jabo, 54, is a composer-singer-musician who describes
\nhimself as having one foot in Indonesia and the other in
\nAustralia. Indeed, he has a comfort zone in Sydney, where he
\nlives with his wife Suzan Piper, son Johan, and daughter Santi.
\nThat is, when he is not living in Jakarta, Yogya or Surabaya.<\/p>\n
When he is performing, Jabo mostly plays and sings his own
\nmusic. "Ninety-nine percent," he said emphatically. Since 1974 he
\nno longer feels the desire to perform other people's music.<\/p>\n
"Other people" means Western composers. However, Jabo felt the
\nneed to explain, "Some people make out as if I no longer like
\nWestern music. That's not true.<\/p>\n
"I like it. I studied it when I was studying music formally,
\nbe it classical or popular. I still sing it in social events. But
\nnot when I'm performing. When I'm performing I want to sing and
\nplay songs that fit my soul. That's why I compose my own."<\/p>\n
When he was a young man living in Jakarta, he would sing
\npopular Western songs because he could relate to the lyrics and
\nthe music. "I was playing in pubs, my peers were young artists
\nand musicians. It was the right atmosphere," he said.<\/p>\n
Now, apart from his own music, Jabo concedes that he loves
\ncollaborating with other musicians such as Iwan Fals. And he does
\nperform Gomblo's music happily. "Because I can feel its important
\nmessage. His music deals with our environment, especially issues
\nof living together in the current environment. Since he is no
\nlonger living to perform it himself, I do it for him," said Jabo.<\/p>\n
In the 1990s before he joined Bengkel Teater Rendra, Jabo
\nbecame interested in social responsibility in the arts. "My
\nperception of our own social environment kept growing. I heard
\nour politicians. I heard our pedicab drivers. There was a yawning
\ngap in terms of communication here. Whatever worthwhile ideas the
\npoliticians were expressing did not necessarily reach the pedicab
\ndrivers, and vice-versa.<\/p>\n
"I knew there were various means of narrowing that gap. People
\ngave talks and lectures. Articles were written in newspapers.<\/p>\n
"However I felt music and songs would be more effective,
\nbecause everywhere people would enjoy music. So I saw my calling
\nthere. I wanted to help disseminate messages in all directions,"
\nJabo mused.<\/p>\n
Jabo learns a lot from various events in his life. Some, he
\nconfessed, stand out and are life-changing, though seen
\nindividually they may appear innocuous and too simple to be
\nsignificant.<\/p>\n
"On New Year's Eve 1972 I was wandering around Jakarta with my
\nthen girlfriend, savoring the city's nightlife. Then she asked
\nme, `What do you actually want to be?' Spontaneously I replied,
\n`I want to be a musician.'"<\/p>\n
Shortly after that Jabo went to Yogyakarta, because he had
\nheard of the music school there. Being a stranger in the city, he
\nhad no friends, and unfortunately, also very little money. So he
\nhad to sleep in railway stations.<\/p>\n
Gradually he moved to the Malioboro area and made friends
\namong those who hung out there. They would chat and hold informal
\ndiscussions for hours. The experience inspired him to write the
\nsong, Time of 73. He really felt as if he had been woken up after
\na long sleep. And because it was in Yogya he was so stirred
\nmentally, he also wrote Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
He did enroll in the Indonesian Music Academy -- now the
\nIndonesian Institute of the Arts -- and put his head down in all
\nseriousness. Apart from studying classical music, he also learned
\nto play the cello there.<\/p>\n
"Another turning point was when I met Rendra in 1977. My
\ngroup, the Rural Musician Group, was invited to take part in the
\nperformance of SEKDA, staged by Rendra's Theater Atelier.<\/p>\n
"I hadn't got to know Rendra that well then. But he came to me
\nat some stage, and asked, 'Where are you from?' I said,
\n'Surabaya'.<\/p>\n
"He then said, 'Listen to what I'm going to say, and listen
\ncarefully. If you are serious about what you're doing, you will
\nbe successful.' It was rather eerie. I thought, what is this man,
\na dukun?"<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that the 27-year-old musician was extremely
\nflattered by the special attention given by the great Rendra, no
\nless.<\/p>\n
Jabo has come a long way since then. And in 1997 he finally
\njoined Rendra's Theater Atelier. "It was an honor for me, a sign
\nof real recognition, because it is something not just everyone
\ncan join."<\/p>\n
What is the dream he is yet to achieve?<\/p>\n
"I would like to have a 1,000-square-meter plot of land in
\nYogya -- 200 sq m for a private dwelling; the rest I would like
\nto make into a space for young people to hold workshops, and to
\nhouse a library.<\/p>\n
"Apart from that, I would like to hold workshops in Batu,
\nMalang, with the local apple-farming community, and probably in
\nJember and Yogya."<\/p>\n
Also, he wants to continue learning.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp18jabo-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }