Anggun sings her way on ambitions of world fame

Anggun sings her way on ambitions of world fame

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): Go international are sacred words in the
entertainment world. As "global market" becomes familiar
terminology and brings a borderless world to mind, hitmakers in
Indonesian music are setting their ambitious sights on distant
shores. Plenty have tried, some have made slights inroads but
many never go far.

The bottom line is that going international means more than
winning an award in an obscure international singing festival or
releasing an album in neighboring countries which share a
relatively similar culture. And it takes more than a good voice,
loads of talent or a distinctive style.

Indonesian singer Anggun C. Sasmi shows that being quirkily
different isn't good enough to stand out from the rest in the
teeming music world. She is savvy enough to know it, too.

After disappearing from the Indonesian music scene for more
than three years, the 23-year-old is back brandishing a new
musical image and attitude.

Once known as the female teenage rocker who belted out searing
tunes, she now offers a musical grab bag on her latest album,
Anggun, released last month. It combines sounds of familiar pop,
modernized hip hop and rich tunes from the world of music she has
been listening to during her time in France.

Recording Anggun in Paris, she enlisted Erick Benzi -- the
prominent French composer who has arranged for famous artists
such as Celine Dion and Mariah Carey -- as her musical director.
She also got a top French director to make her video clip.

Anggun cowrote four of the album's songs with Benzi and Life
on Mars, was written by David Bowie.

Just take a look at her now. Anggun is no longer the skinny
tomboy clad in short leotard pants, knee-high boots and trademark
barrette of three years ago, but a young woman in sleek but
elegant Azzedine Alaia, the Parisian designer famed for his sexy
dresses.

No blushing here. She laughed when acknowledging her revamped
style.

"Yes, I'm different to three years ago. I don't live in
Indonesia anymore, and I have been married for five years," she
explained.

Anggun, who started singing at the age of 7, made a children's
album when she was 9. Her father, Darto Singo -- a writer of
stage plays and children's books -- trained her. Anggun climbed
every musical stage and later the charts.

In 1986, she released her first teen album, Dunia Aku Punya
(The World I Own). She composed one of the songs, Tegang (Tense),
with her father. Arranged by Ian Antono, a notable name in
Indonesia's rock music scene, Anggun's musical direction was
clearly set.

Her second album, Anak Putih Abu-abu (The High School Kid),
was released five years later but stayed true to the same rock
spirit.

Young, talented and articulate, she was living every young
girl's dream of fame. It was during this busy time when she met
her French manager, who later became her husband, Michel Georgea.

With Georgea, Anggun produced her last two albums in
Indonesia, Noc Turno (1992) and Anggun C. Sasmi ... Lah!, in
which four young, top-notch Indonesian musicians were involved.
They brought with them their influences of pop rock, soul and a
bit of funk to the last album.

Also around that time, the pair started to move ahead in
realizing Anggun's dream by meeting with an international
recording label and eventually producing songs. "Mostly I wasn't
happy about it," Georgea says.

They married in 1992 in Paris, and two years later, they left
Indonesia to explore Europe.

"Actually I didn't have a fixed idea of where I was going at
that time," Anggun says. But London seemed a good start and Paris
appeared a good place to settle down.

Rose in the wind

"I was like a rose in the wind," Anggun says, quoting her
favorite song on the French version of her new album.

"I traveled to foreign lands, like a rose carried away by the
wind, but I was lucky enough to have someone supporting me all
the way," she says of Georgea.

Both attended many musical performances in Europe and met up
with musicians, many of whom were Michael's contacts, to see if
they could work together.

"I was looking for teamwork. There are always plenty of good
musicians, but the most important thing is the 'connection',"
said Anggun, who dreams of being part of a classic singer-
songwriter collaboration, like Elton John and Bernard Taupin once
were. She said she had begun to have feelings of that with Benzi,
and he in turn had believed that she had more than enough talent
to rise as a star.

Teamwork also means a good back-up management.

"There are two things in showbiz music -- the 'show' and the
'business'. As an artist I only want to concentrate to the show
and let other people take care of the business," Anggun says.

One thing led to another. Anggun and Michel's efforts began to
pay off in the form of a contract with Sony Columbia in France to
release an album in two versions, English and French.

For the Indonesian market, they released a special edition
presenting 16 songs -- three in Indonesian, 10 in English and
three in French. Some of the songs are very short, more like
beautiful interludes between the longer songs.

"I've never enjoyed producing an album like I have this one,"
Anggun says. "It was always done in a rush, catching the
deadline. I never had a chance to go deep. This one is like my
baby. I like all the songs because they tell my stories."

Don't expect to find any trace of her rock period on the
album. "I listen to a lot of English music and also world music
such as Sheila Chandra's. I'd also like to try other ways to
sing."

"Since I'm not well-known yet, Erick Benzi and I had to work
together to decide what music we'd play," she said.

The result is an exotic mixture of modern tunes and
traditional sounds. Yet, Anggun refused to parlay her Indonesian
identity as . "I don't want to use it in the form of wearing a
kebaya (traditional clothing) outfit or blangkon (Javanese hat)
kind of thing," she said.

"I'm not a representative of Indonesian music. I'm not
pesinden (traditional singer in Java and Sundanese music). What I
present here is all the music influences in my life, a bit of
Java, a touch of Bali, my rock period and sort of world music."

There are even Bulgarian vocals in one of her songs.

All her "blood and sweat" efforts were not wasted. Her French
version, Au Nom de La Lune (By the Moon), sold 82,000 copies in
France in four weeks and is currently number five on the French
charts. In Indonesia, she sold 50,000 copies in three weeks.

That may be only the start. In April, she was invited to
audition in Manila in front of the president directors of all
Sony Music representatives internationally. This may prove the
career turning point that will open wide the doors of world music
to her.

Her album will be released soon in other Asian countries,
including India and Japan, as well as Canada, America and Europe.
The path to international fame may be rocky, but it looks like
Anggun is be clearing her own way.