Guitar concert charms music fans

Guitar concert charms music fans

JAKARTA (JP): So ubiquitous is the guitar that it can even be
seen in great numbers in Jakarta's streets. But not a guitar
concert. Hence, when six Jakartan guitarists staged a concert
here on Sunday July 29, it was a welcome treat.

The concert at the Textile Museum on Jl. K.S. Tubun, West
Jakarta, charmed an audience of 80 people with excellent
classical pieces as well as pop songs played in a classical
style.

Rudi Hamid and Jubing Kristianto opened the concert with a
piece by Lee Ritenour, Rainbow, followed by Meilisa Husein
playing Vals Venezolano No. 2, composed by A. Lauro, and F. Sor's
Gran Solo.

Meilisa, 16, was the youngest guitarist and the only high
school student in the group. Rudi, a winner of the Yamaha
Indonesian Guitar Festival in the 1980s, is an employee of a
music distribution company, while Jubing, an editor with weekly
women's tabloid Nova, was also a winner of the same festival
several times.

In this concert, Jubing transformed the simple Indonesian
children's song Naik Delman (Riding a Horse-drawn Cart), composed
by Pak Kasur, into a lively guitar piece laden with attractive
improvisation. Another piece he played was Theme from Mission
Impossible by L. Schriffin. He played both the pieces with great
ease.

Graceful pieces by Villa Lobos were among the works played by
Iwan Susanto, Prelude No. 5, and Erfan Suryobuwono, Prelude No. 2
and Choros No. 1. Iwan, a finalist at the Yamaha guitar festival
in 1998, is a salesman at a chemical trading company. Erfan is a
salesman for a firm selling heavy equipment.

The beautiful spread of batik at the rear of the stage
provided an artistic backdrop to the guitar music.

Daniel Tjahja, a tour leader and computer trader, presented,
among others, Waltz Op. 8 No. 4 by Barrios and the Sevilla by
Isaac Albeniz. Daniel, who won the Yamaha guitar festival in 1990
and 1998, played pieces which were among the most difficult in
the concert.

"This is a reflection of our love for the instrument and we
wish to share the beauty of its music with the public," said
Jubing, who acted as the spokesperson for the group.

He said he planned to hold other concerts in the future,
hopefully regularly, to satisfy Jakarta audiences' thirst for
guitar music.

The concert was even more unique because the hall was rented
by the guitarists and they offered free entrance to the public.

Understandably, some of the players had stage fright and were
sometimes technically inadequate or the sound of the guitar was
reduced to a whisper because of it being such a fiendishly
difficult instrument to play. Professionals need hours of
practice every day, which is a luxury for someone in another
profession.

"Tour leading takes time, I have barely had enough time to
practice," Daniel said.

Technical agility aside, their dedication to the music has
brightened a Sunday morning in the city. (hbk)