Guru Kangguru performs Indonesian poetry

Guru Kangguru performs Indonesian poetry

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE, Australia (JP): I have listened to Indonesian poets
reading and performing their poetry in Australia, often followed
by the English translation read by Australians. I have heard
Australian poets reading and performing their own and each
other's poetry, with or without musical accompaniment. So, the
other night, I was extremely glad when an Australian poet, Geoff
Fox of Guru Kangguru, performed his English interpretation of a
few Indonesian poets' works.

Accompanied by two multi-talented professional musicians, Fox
completed a pilot recording of his poetry performance in the
Mechanics Institute in Melbourne.

With percussionist Peter Neville on the marimba and Conrad
Majoor on the base guitar, Fox opened the recording with his own
works performed on a rap rhythm. The tune of the first number was
light and catchy yet the lyrics are weighted with playful
protests at the recent aspersions cast in the direction of rap
music in Indonesia.

We're not playing on your fears.

We're not trying to set you a trap.

Just when the prodding went up tempo and the faces of some
sensitive souls in the audience might have tensed up, the music
loosened to a soothing repetitive cadence,

Classical austral-indo rap...Classical austral indo-rap...

Then, wearing a peci and a woven waistcoat over the rest of
his Indonesian-made clothes, the only external showiness in the
performance, Fox appeared on stage looking more like a pesantren
pupil than a poet-performer. Neno Warisman he was not, but the
character he infused into his version of HS Djurtatap's Puisi 77
untuk Tuhan was far from superficial.

Tuhan

Let me call you

by a name

I can repeat

An impression of timelessness reached the audience from
Neville's skillful work on the marimba while Majoor's base guitar
brought back the rhythm of life into the air.

For Isbedy Setiawan ZS's Dunia Botol, Neville took the
ordinary guitar while Majoor stayed on the base guitar. The music
produced by the combination of these instruments was wet and
windy, so apt for the lyrics presented by Fox,

Where the wild wind blasts

My heart and eyes are overcast

And stability is past
leaving the audience with an aftertaste of uncertainty.

The musicians remained on these instruments for HS Djurtatap's
Maaf, maaf, barangkali aku yang pelupa, voicing the little
people's wistfulness at being reminded that the nation had been
independent for so long. The music produced by the combined
guitars filled the air with a sense of despair tinged with
distant hope. When Neville picked up a drum and with Majoor's
guitar they accompanied Sajak Cari-carian Dengan Tuhan the air
was more like children playing hide-and-seek than a lost soul in
the desert despairing for God.

The most attractive number was Sajak Kecoa, accompanied by
Majoor on the base guitar and Neville on the vibraphone. It was
light, tampering the depressing imagery of the poem,

When the rain sets in

It's no use working

The rubbish drifts away

Floating to the bay

It was playful and teasing, teasing the conscience of those
who do not have to face this imagery, yet very likely contribute
to the existence of it. The vibraphone filled the air with the
sound of water and moisture while the pitter-pattering of the
cockroaches among the people living in the slums were magnified
by the sound of the guitar. It impressed on the audience the how
laid-back the slum dwellers are. They manage to find humor
despite the seeming hopelessness of their situation.

Everything's alright

No need to get uptight
symbolizing the blended resilience of the cockroaches and their
human companions.

Thirty-eight-year-old Geoff Fox, who has often read and
performed poetry publicly, has been to Indonesia many times since
1990, staying six months in 1994. He feels deep affinity with the
people and expressed this by entering their psyche through
poetry. He admires many Indonesian poets, especially Goenawan
Mohamad and WS Rendra. He has made arrangements to perform, and
record the poetry of Goenawan Mohamad and other fine Indonesian
poets.

Fox attributes a great deal of the accomplishment of the
performance to his versatile musical collaborators, Conrad
Majoor, for instance, composed most of the core sequences in the
music. Peter Neville's case in entering the spirit of the musical
instruments he masters, made his music merge effortlessly with
the whole performance. When accompanying Fox's Walt Victory Well,
using the bowvibes, he illustrated the imagery of the life of an
Aboriginal community with the impressions of contracting space,
the sounds going round, reverberating, then fading. With such
cooperation in a team, one looks forward to numerous performances
and recordings.