Artist Titiek Puspa still shines at 58

Artist Titiek Puspa still shines at 58

By T. Sima Gunawan

JAKARTA (JP): The lavish celebrations for the country's golden
anniversary are far from over. People throng to various corners
of the city to enjoy the free entertainment of splendid fireworks
and great music. Smiles are on their faces. Laughter fills the
air.

However, the grand fiesta will never completely heal the
wounds of war. The older generation still harbors bitter memories
about the hard times they had during the colonialism and the
revolution.

Titiek Puspa, one of Indonesia's most prominent entertainers,
will never forget what a Japanese soldier did to her classmate
when she was in preschool.

"We were singing Kimigayo, the Japanese national anthem, when
a car passed by in front of the school. At that time cars were
rare, so one of my classmates turned his head to see the car. And
a Japanese soldier, who was always present every time we sang
Kimigayo, suddenly grabbed his hair and threw him to the floor,"
Titiek told The Jakarta Post last weekend.

That was only one of the disturbing incidents she experienced
during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia between 1942 to 1945.

She had seen earlier the brutality of Japanese troops in her
own house in Semarang, Central Java.

"They beat my father in front of my mother, me and the other
members of the family, and then took him away. When he returned
10 or 15 days later there were bruises all over his body," she
said.

"My father was a nurse. I did not know why they took my father
away but as far as I remember, they took all the adult men in our
neighborhood," she reflected.

She was only eight years old when Indonesia announced its
independence on Aug.17, 1945.

"I heard people on the street yelling: Merdeka! Merdeka!
(Freedom), and they were waving red-and-white flags. I asked
Mother what it meant and she told me, 'The Japanese are gone,'"
she said.

Her mother's short explanation was more than enough to make
Titiek joyful.

"But later, I was confused. I thought the Japanese were really
gone. I thought everything would be fine, but I was wrong," she
said.

On Oct. 15, 1945, a battle between Indonesian soldiers and the
Japanese troops broke out in Semarang. There was fighting even
after the Allied forces entered the city five days later. About
2,000 Indonesians and 100 Japanese died during the battle,
according to an account found in the book 30 Tahun Indonesia
Merdeka (30 Years of Indonesia's Independence).

The struggle to defend the country's independence, however,
continued as the Allied forces tried to take over the power from
the Japanese.

"When the war of independence broke out we fled the city. We
went from one place to another. We went to Ambarawa, Purworejo,
Temanggung, Kranggan. And my father always helped our wounded
soldiers during the guerrilla war," she said.

"One of my younger brothers was born not long after we fled
Semarang. He looks like a Japanese and he has a bad temper, maybe
because my mother hated the Japanese so much when she was
pregnant," Titiek recalled.

Titiek has 11 brothers and sisters. She is the fourth child in
the family.

In the first years after independence was proclaimed, life was
hard for Titiek and her family.

Her father worked in a clinic and her mother sold food.

"In the morning, I had to wash the clothes, and in the
afternoon I sold tea at the train station in Purworejo," she
said.

"I had a pot of tea and just one glass. People drank the tea
from the same glass, which I did not wash until the pot was
empty.

"When the tea was sold out, I would run home and shout 'Mom,
it's sold out,'" she said.

At that time there was not enough food for the people. Rice
was terribly expensive.

"I remember when, one day, I found the head of a salted fish
on the floor. I thought it was brought to the house by a cat. I
was very happy and gave it to mother, who later grilled it. We
had a little party then," she said with a laugh.

There were also times when she and her elder sister sold
rempeyek (large peanut-and-flour chips) at a military barracks.

"But they didn't buy my rempeyek and I was very hungry. I ate
parts of the rempeyek. They were still round but of course they
became smaller. When I returned home, mother asked what happened
to the rempeyek, and she cried as I told her I was starving," she
said.

Titiek's life has totally changed. A successful composer and
singer, she now lives in a big, elegant house in Menteng, Central
Jakarta.

"I am really thankful to our heroes and our leaders for what
they have done for the country and the people.

"I am upset at people who always criticize the government,
demanding this, demanding that. Life is beautiful now. It depends
on how you manage it," she said.

But she realizes that there are some parts of the country
which are still underdeveloped and she hopes the government will
pay greater attention to them.

Career

Another issue which arouses her concern is the poor living
conditions which teachers of state-run schools must endure.

"They have such small salaries and payment is often late.
Sometimes they do not receive their salaries in full because they
have been cut under various pretexts," she said.

As a matter of fact, Titiek was a preschool teacher.

"I wanted to become a preschool teacher after I saw how hard
it was for my mother to take care all of her children and give
her full attention to each child," she said.

So, after graduating from junior high school she went to a
teachers' training school.

Her teaching career did not last long. She had taught for only
a few months when she decided to quit.

"I could reach more people and earn more money by singing,"
she explained.

Even when she was in elementary school, Titiek showed her
talent as an entertainer.

"At school parties, they always asked me to either sing or be
a clown," Titiek, who spent her early childhood in Semarang,
said.

Her mother supported her ambition to become a singer, but her
father did not like her singing in public.

"When I joined a singing contest at school I used another
name, Titiek Puspa. I won," she recalled.

Her name was changed not just once, but twice. Her first name
was Soedarwati. Her parents changed it to Soemarti when she was a
little girl because she often fell ill and her parents believed
that by changing her name she would not be so sickly.

"My first name, Titiek, was derived from Soemarti, while Puspa
came from my father's name, Tugeno Puspowidjojo," she said.

But Titiek realized that she could not keep the secret from
her father forever. She asked her elder brother, who was on her
side, to talk to their father, to try and make him understand.

"Father allowed me to sing after my brother said he would be
responsible if anything unexpected happened to me," she said.

In 1954, at the age of 17, Titiek grabbed second place at a
provincial radio singing contest. In 1955, along with several
other singers, she recorded Dian Nan Tak Kunjung Padam (Immortal
Light) and Papaya Cha Cha, which were composed by Adikarso.

But Titiek is more successful as a stage singer than a
recording artist. Even though she could not make her dream to be
a radio star come true, her star as an entertainer continued to
shine brightly.

She wrote her first song, Kisah Hidup (Story of Life), in
1963, saying that she just wanted to try and see if she could do
it. The song, which she wrote with the help of her pianist
husband Mus Mualim, was not popular, but her second song, Mama
(Mamma), written in 1964 after her mother's death, was a success.

Her other songs include Mari Kemari (Come, Come), Kopral Djono
(Corporal Djono), Minah Gadis Dusun (Minah the Village Girl),
Mini si Mini, Kupu Kupu Malam (Night Butterfly). Titiek sang the
songs herself, but many of her top hits were performed by other
singers, like Lilies Soerjani (Gang Kelinci or Rabbit Alley),
Acil Bimbo (Adinda or Baby) Eddy Silitonga (Rindu Setengah Mati
or Crazy for You), Gito Rollies (Bimbi), Grace Simon (Bing) and
Euis Darliah (Apanya Dong? or What Is It and Horas Kasih or Hello
Love). Horas Kasih won bronze prize at the 1984 World Song
Festival in Los Angeles.

She cannot not remember how many songs she has written. But a
few years ago, her late husband Mus Mualim estimated that she had
penned about 600 songs.

"I can't play any musical instrument. So I just sing the notes
and write them down on a piece of paper," she said.

She composed her songs well and fast.

"It took me only 30 minutes to write both the lyrics and the
melody for Bing," she recalled.

She wrote the song after noted composer Bing Slamet, from whom
she learned a lot about how to become a good entertainer, died in
1974.

Pantang Mundur (Never Retreat) was written for soldiers who
went to Irian Jaya in 1964 to fight the Dutch forces, who still
occupied the area even though it had become the 26th province of
Indonesia in 1963.

Her sympathy for a prostitute inspired her to write Kupu Kupu
Malam, which means night butterfly, the Indonesian euphemism for
prostitutes.

"One night, after my show was over, a night butterfly came to
me," she said.

The prostitute, who was one of her fans, lamented about her
hard life. Comparing her life with Titiek's, she said people gave
Titiek money with respect and honor, but they gave her money with
scorn. She also said they sometimes hurt her, according to
Titiek.

"She asked if a person like her deserved love," she said.

"I asked her to be resolute in life and suggested that she
leave her profession. And then we prayed," she said.

Apanya Dong?, a pop song, was written in 1973 because she
could not stand the fact that almost all of the songs which
swamped the market had melancholic tunes.

"Ninety-nine percents of them were sad songs. It's not that I
looked down on them, but I just could not stand it. So I wrote
Apanya Dong?," she said.

Sung by rocker Euis Darliah, Apanya Dong immediately stole
people's hearts and became a top hit.

Long before that, in 1964, she wrote a dynamic song, Mari
Kemari, which was very popular all over the country.

"Once, during a show which was attended by President Sukarno,
I sang Mari Kemari upon the request of an admiral. While I was
singing, I saw the president frowning and approaching me. So I
stopped singing the song," she said.

Sukarno had banned some melancholic songs and Western-
influenced Indonesian songs which were considered to have the
potential to weaken people's nationalism.

Asked about the restriction, Titiek said: "We have to adapt
ourselves to the situation. Be wise."

"We live in Indonesia. So we have to follow the rules. If you
intentionally break the rule, you will be dead," she said.

Asked if her profession as an entertainer has brought her face
to face with temptation, she said: "There are always temptations
in any job. It depends on how you handle it."

At the peak of her success, in the 1960s, Titiek was said to
be involved in a love affair with Jusuf Muda Dalam, director of
Bank Sentral Indonesia, the central bank. A corrupted top
government official, Jusuf was sent before the Extraordinary
Military Tribune and convicted. Titiek was terrorized by angry
fans, but was resolute. She managed to reassure the public that
she was clean. She went on singing and her star kept shining.

She was also a film star. Among her movies were Inem Pelayan
Sexy (Inem, the Sexy Housemaid, 1976), Rojali dan Juleha (Rojali
and Juleha, 1980) and Koboi Sutra Ungu (Cowboy in Purple Silk,
1982).

Titiek is more than just an artist. She also produces
operettas. She wrote the songs for them and performed in them.
Titiek said she had the idea to produce operettas in the 1960s
when she saw Hansah dan Greta, which was adopted from Hansel and
Gretel.

"I wondered why we did not produce our own operettas," she
said.

Operetta

Her first operetta, Si Melati, which was based on a local folk
tale, Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, was produced in 1973. Since
1974, the state-owned television station, TVRI, has broadcasted
her Idul Fitri operas at least 10 times.

Her late husband played a great role in the making of the
operas, she said.

Titiek married Mus, a pianist, in 1970. Mus died in 1990. She
does not have any child from her marriage with Mus. But she has
two children from her previous marriage, and three step children.
They have given her 13 grandchildren.

At the age of 58, Titiek, who looks much younger, is still
going strong. Along with several other artists, she recently
toured 17 towns across the country to entertain the public.

Titiek has just written a patriotic song, Aku Cucu Satria
Indonesia (I am a Grandchild of Indonesian Hero), which will be
presented tonight, at the Senayan Stadium, by those taking part
in the national youth march, known as Kirab Remaja Nasional.

For Titiek, music is her life. Unlike many people who like
listening to the music while they are going to bed, Titiek does
not have the habit.

"I can't go to sleep if I listen to music. I stay awake,
enjoying the beauty of the music and wondering how it was made,"
Titiek said.

But she admits that she is not as productive as before.

"It's been a long time since I wrote a (popular) song. Today,
we have many good songs. I enjoy listening to them. The singers
are also good," she said.

"I hope the artists will keep their low-profiles. I hope they
won't get haughty if their first song is a hit in the market,"
she said.