Experimental guitarist to stage here
Experimental guitarist to stage here
By Franki Raden
JAKARTA (JP): The guitar is the most popular Western musical
instrument in Indonesia. Almost all popular music in the West
uses this instrument. In the 1950s, local composer and musician
Ismail Marzuki was also popular as a guitarist. In the 1970s, the
guitar started to gain popularity in Indonesia's classical music
genre. Classical guitar courses mushroomed. Arts schools, like
the Jakarta Arts Institute and the Arts Institute of Indonesia's
Music Department also opened programs on guitars.
Today, Indonesia has many expert guitarists in pop, rock, jazz
and classical music. Unfortunately, they only play guitars in the
conventional way. None of our guitarists use the guitar as a
string instrument in the artistic context.
In the light of this matter, the visit of a composer guitarist
from Germany, Ardhi Engl, becomes quite important. He will
present classical and experimental performances at Gedung
Kesenian Jakarta Saturday, Aug. 8, and Sunday, Aug. 9.
What is no less interesting is that Ardhi has German and
Indonesian blood: he is a grandson of Adinegoro, a figure in the
Indonesian press. The 39-year-old Ardhi, who lives in Germany,
started learning classical guitar at the age of 12. When he was
16, he enrolled at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium, a reputed
music school in Munich. After graduating, he continued his
studies with a Spanish guitar maestro, Santiago Navascues. At
that time, he also learned composition from a German experimental
musician, Stefen Wunderlich. After finishing his studies, he held
many concerts and workshops. He also joined a gamelan group in
Munich which performed recently at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.
In his performances, he often plays his own compositions.
Ardhi has rich experiences in music; he has been part of a folk
music group from East Europe, a gypsy group, a jazz-ethnic group,
a modern dance group and an experimental theater group. He has
also taught classical guitar and improvisation at Freies
Musikzentrum in Munich. In 1986, he established Munchener
Gitarrenguartett, which specialized on the works of J.S. Bach,
Manuel de Falla and his own works.
In his guitar recital tomorrow night at 8 p.m., Ardhi will
play classical guitar pieces from the Renaissance era to the 20th
century, including the works of John Dowland, J.S. Bach, R. Sainz
de la Maza, Manuel de Falla and Hector Villa Lobos.
On Sunday, he will play his own work, Suacha-Hoacha-
Klanggartenszemen. What is unique in his work is that it is
played with an instrument created by the composer himself. It is
an ordinary instrument which has been modified so that it
produces new sounds.
Talking about his music concepts, Ardhi said: "As a guitarist,
my music is based on the exploration of the instrument. Since the
very beginning, I have been interested in various sounds, of
which simpleness even widens the possibilities to produce the
sounds. I am always stunned by the individuality of the source of
the sound, which has its own world and has its own rules. I
think, if the source of the sound is developed naturally, that is
by following the rules (inherited there), it could produce
beauty.
"In my exploration of my music, I feel that there is something
(sometimes under my conscience), which relates the culture where
I was raised, that is the Western culture, and the Indonesian
culture, which is also a part of my identity."
During his performances here, Ardhi will collaborate with
internationally reputed Indonesian experimental musician I Wayan
Sadra, and American-trained composer-guitarist Iwan Hasan.