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.