Waldjinah's ups and downs to prominence<\/p>\n
Singgir Kartana, Contributor, Surakarta, Central Java<\/p>\n
Fifty-seven years ago, a small girl sang a song while she watched
\nover four goats grazing in a field in Purwotomo, Laweyan, Solo.
\nThe song, The Rainbow, was sung haltingly with a slight falter to
\nher voice. Still, the girl's face beamed as she was in high
\nspirits. Little did anyone know at that time that this same
\nlittle girl would grew up to become one of Indonesia's most
\npopular singers.<\/p>\n
Fifty-seven years later, she has five grandchildren. She is
\nWaldjinah, a famous singer known nationwide for singing keroncong
\nand other traditional Javanese songs. She has made thousands of
\nsongs popular on the hundreds of albums she has released on long
\nplay, cassette and compact disc. Her golden voice has earned her
\ndozens of awards.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah was born to a poor family in Surakarta on Nov. 7,
\n1945. She was the tenth child born to her parents, Sri Hadjid
\nWirjorahardjo and Kamini. Her father earned a living as a laborer
\npainting batik patterns on plain unbleached cloth. Her mother
\nsold rice and Javanese salad at the Mangkuyudan intersection.
\nEvery time her father took his drawings to the boss in Laweyan,
\nlittle Waldjinah would accompany him.<\/p>\n
While she was at the batik-making factory, she listened to the
\nwomen workers singing traditional Javanese songs, such as
\ndhandhanggula, sinom and pangkur. She developed an interest in
\nthese songs and tried to sing what she had heard.<\/p>\n
When she was in the fourth grade at elementary school, she won
\nfirst prize in a traditional Javanese song contest open to
\nelementary school students in the Laweyan district. When she
\nentered junior high school, she began to sing keroncong. In 1958,
\nthe Surakarta radio station of state-owned RRI broadcasting
\nstation cooperated with the film-making company Perfini, then led
\nby Usmar Ismail, to organize a keroncong festival that used
\nKembang Kacang (peanut blossom) as the compulsory song. Waldjinah
\nagain won first prize.<\/p>\n
Her success marked a new phase in Waldjinah's early career as
\na singer. Lokananta, then the only recording company owned by the
\nstate, gave her an opportunity to record her songs. Kembang
\nKacang was the hit from her debut album, recorded on long play
\nvinyl records.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Waldjinah could not continue her studies after
\njunior high school due to her busy singing and recording
\nactivities. On February 12, 1961, she married Soelis Mulyo Boedi,
\na mathematics teacher at a private junior high school in
\nSurakarta and also a singer of the Irama Sehat keroncong group
\nled by Gesang. She gave birth to five children during their
\nmarriage: Bambang Hery Santosa, Harini Dwi Astutiningsih,
\nErlangga Tri Putranto, Ary Mulyono and Bintang Nurcahyo.<\/p>\n
In 1965, Waldjinah came in first during a national-scale
\nkeroncong singing contest held by state-owned radio broadcasting
\nstation RRI in Surakarta. She was invited by then president
\nSoekarno to the State Palace in Jakarta to receive an award for
\nher singing talent. Afterwards she received many more invitations
\nto sing and she was able to raise the standards of her family.<\/p>\n
In 1966, Waldjinah and her husband set up Bintang Surakarta, a
\nkeroncong music group. This group would accompany her during her
\nrecordings and stage performances. Earlier, she joined other
\ngroups, such as Ksatria, Irama Baru, Cempaka Putih and Irama
\nSehat.<\/p>\n
Two years after the inception of Bintang Surakarta, she
\nreleased her Walangkekek (Grasshopper) album. This song instantly
\nbecame a hit and would be recorded three more times. The song
\nearned her her nickname Walangkekek.<\/p>\n
\"During a Walangkekek promotional tour in Malang, two people
\nwere crushed to death in the pushing and shoving to watch me
\nsing. I cannot forget this tragedy,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In 1972, Waldjinah and her group performed in Suriname. The
\nproceeds from her Suriname tour went to building a house in
\nMangkuyudan, Surakarta, where she still lives to this day. A year
\nafter she returned from Suriname, she received an invitation to
\nperform in Singapore.<\/p>\n
In her career as a singer, Waldjinah has traveled practically
\nall over Indonesia visiting places, such as Jakarta, Surabaya,
\nMalang, Lampung, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Bali, Ujung Pandang,
\nManado, Maluku, Bengkulu and so forth. The foreign countries she
\nhas visited include Malaysia, Singapore, China, Holland, Britain,
\nGreece and Japan.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah has earned dozens of awards, which is evidence of
\nher loyalty to keroncong and traditional Javanese songs. In 1958,
\nfor example, she was given an award as the Queen of Kembang
\nKacang from Perfini. In September 1965, she received a prize from
\nthen president Soekarno as the winner of a national-scale
\nkeroncong contest. Then in February 1985 she got an award from
\nthe Surakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Journalists Association
\n(PWI) in connection with National Press Freedom Day. Two years
\nlater she earned an award from the then minister of public works,
\nSuyono Soerodarsono. In August 1994, she received an award from
\nstate-owned television station TVRI in conjunction with the 32nd
\nanniversary of TVRI.<\/p>\n
In 1993 she received the Bhakti Budaya (Cultural Dedication)
\nplaque from the Javanese Culture Institute of Surakarta. Two
\nyears later she earned the Upakarti award from the government.
\nThe next year she won the Citra Adhikarsa Budaya from private
\ntelevision station SCTV. In 1997, she got the Budaya Bhakti
\nUpradana award from the Central Java governor. When she
\ncelebrated her 54th birthday in 1999, she was bestowed with the
\nhonorary name of Nyi Mas Tumenggung Hajjah Waldjinah Kencong
\nLaras Madyo from Pakubuwono XII.<\/p>\n
On May 15, 1999, she performed in Japan at the Shizuoka Grand
\nPrix music festival held at Shizuoka Art Hall. After her
\nperformances, she got an offer to record the songs composed by
\nGesang, including, among others, World at Peace, Handkerchief,
\nTales, Village Edge and the world-famous Bengawan Solo (Solo
\nRiver). \"The performance in Japan was most impressive for us. The
\npublic greatly respected my songs. Well, I have performed there
\nsix times,\" she said proudly.<\/p>\n
Although she started with keroncong, in 1995 she began to
\ndevote herself to traditional Javanese songs, a blend of
\nkeroncong and the Javanese gamelan. She later appeared as a
\nspecial guest in a performance by Didi Kempot. She has been
\ninvolved in the world of women singers of traditional Javanese
\nsongs since 1990, particularly in the shadow puppet shows by Ki
\nManteb Sudarsono and Anom Suroto. This performance was aired on
\none of the private television stations.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah's husband died in 1985 and she remarried. Her second
\nhusband, Didit Hadinanto, and one of her children, Ari Mulyono,
\nhelped her a lot in managing her group. Before the financial
\ncrisis hit Indonesia in 1997, her group did not set a price for a
\nperformance. Today, however, the group's fees are fixed: Rp 5
\nmillion for performances outside Surakarta, and Rp 2.5 million
\nfor performances in the city.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah has 31 long-play albums containing 242 songs that
\nshe sings herself, and 176 cassette recordings boasting a total
\nof 1,524 songs. Unfortunately, nearly all recording companies
\nthat recorded her songs have now gone bankrupt or been closed.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah sings songs composed by other composers, including
\nGesang, Anjarani, Nartosabdo, Didi Kempot and Manthous.<\/p>\n
Some of her hit songs include Yen Ing Tawang Ono Lintang,
\nWalangkekek, Caping Gunung, Lara Branta, Nyidham Sari, Putra
\nNuswantara, Putri Solo, just to name a few. Waldjinah has also
\nwritten some songs, such as Patience, Telo Tulodho, Kites and
\nFrom Darkness to Light. \"Pak Gesang has helped considerably with
\nthe lyrics of my own songs,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah's popularity did not happen overnight. She has
\ncertainly been down the long and winding road of fame. She still
\nremembers how her mother objected to her ambition to become a
\nsinger. Her mother, like most people of that time, believed that
\na woman singer was tantamount to being a cheap woman.<\/p>\n
What are some of Waldjinah's special qualities? Apart from her
\ngolden voice and her unique voice manipulation, which is evident
\nfrom her singing, Waldjinah is a self-made person. She is also
\nvery social and easy to be around. Even in her advanced age, she
\nalways tries to look her best.<\/p>\n
\"Many people think I've had a facelift. In fact, I keep myself
\nhealthy by drinking Javanese herbal concoctions. I have ginger
\ndrinks or just plain tea,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Waldjinah dresses quite casually, too. Her reasoning is that
\nshe needs to wear the appropriate dress to conform with the
\nprevailing situation. The most important thing is that the dress
\nneeds to be decent and pleasing to look at. She also believes
\nthat the Javanese style of getting dressed has to be maintained.
\nThat's why every time she appears in public she will wear her
\nkebaya (Javanese women's traditional blouse) and have her hair
\nput up in a bun.<\/p>\n
\"Someone asked me whether I keep up with the fashion trend. I
\nhave just realized that every year this trend changes. Who on
\nearth introduces these trends? I don't care about these things,
\nin fact,\" she said smiling.<\/p>\n
Artists may enjoy immense popularity and then later see it
\nslip away. Fame is fleeting. In Waldjinah's case, all through the
\nyear 2000, there were virtually no requests for recordings. Then
\nshe did not receive as many orders for performances as before.
\nPrior to the onset of the 1997 financial crisis, she got an
\naverage of 15 invitations, but she only gets five invitations at
\nmost these days.<\/p>\n
This is no indication that Waldjinah is losing her fans,
\nalthough she said that the number of her fans had greatly
\ndeclined as the type of music and other trends are on the rise.
\nShe said that only people aged over forty made up the majority of
\nher fans.<\/p>\n
Despite the rather gloomy situation, Waldjinah has made up her
\nmind to devote herself to keroncong and traditional Javanese
\nmusic. She also has a plan to set up a music school, especially
\nfor keroncong music and traditional Javanese music. This school
\nis expected to nurture young people's interest in keroncong and
\ntraditional Javanese songs. This would ensure, she argued, that
\nkeroncong and traditional Javanese music would not fade away.<\/p>\n
Apart from singing professionally on TV or live on stage,
\nWaldjinah always finds time for her five grandchildren. She also
\nplants flowers in her front yard. Sometimes, she is invited to
\nsit on a panel of judges in local music or singing contests. Then
\nshe regularly invites artists from Surakarta for a get-together
\nat her own house.<\/p>\n
\"One thing stands out in my career. It was the time when I
\ncollaborated with Chrisye in 1999 for an album titled Satu Musim
\n(One Season). I felt honored to perform with him,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She has all that a woman could ask for: a nice house in
\nMangkuyudan, Surakarta, cars, luxury furniture and great
\npopularity. Her name has gone down in the annals of music
\nhistory. She has introduced the outside world to keroncong and
\ntraditional Javanese music and songs. She deserves to be called
\nthe real envoy of performing art. Her golden voice has made
\nWaldjinah a living legend who will be remembered from one
\ngeneration to the next.<\/p>",
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