Guruh puts Sukarno's power back on stage
Guruh puts Sukarno's power back on stage
JAKARTA (JP): Missing the first president Sukarno's orations?
You can hear his words, along with 17 patriotic songs, at a
performance on Aug. 15 at the Assembly Hall of the Jakarta
Convention Center in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
The performance, which is organized by the Bung Karno
Foundation and Kinarya GSP, is to commemorate the birth
centennial of Indonesia's founding father. The centennial
commemoration itself will end in June next year.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, one of the foundation's
founders and Sukarno's daughter, is scheduled to attend the
performance.
Leading soprano Aning Katamsi and tenor Christopher Abimanyu
are among the artists who will sing Guruh's patriotic songs.
Other performers are husky-voiced singer Reza, noted pop singer
and song writer Chrisye and child sensation Sherina, along with
the Erwin Gutawa choir.
The two-hour performance will be opened with Warsa Wijaya
bedoyo (a sacred Javanese dance), choreographed by Guruh himself.
"The dance will feature modern choreography and will be
accompanied by Javanese songs with Indonesian lyrics that will be
sung by sinden (Javanese song singer) Nenah," Guruh said in a
press conference early this week.
An archival film of Sukarno declaring Indonesia's independence
on Aug. 17, 1945 will follow the opening.
The Erwin Gutawa orchestra will then play patriotic songs to
be sung by the supporting artists mentioned above. Guruh hinted
that his performance this year will still contain cabaret-style
dance, a feature of his choreography since his first "Untukmu
Indonesiaku" performance back in the 1970s.
Tickets will be sold at between Rp 100,000 and Rp 300,000.
All 17 songs will be available on a CD and cassette which will
be officially launched in conjunction with the performance.
The country's top arrangers -- Erwin, Addie MS, Elfa Secioria,
Entik and Andi Riyanto -- have collaborated on the musical
arrangement in the recording.
The exclusive and limited edition CD -- each with an
accompanying booklet containing photographs of Sukarno and 12
postcards -- will be sold for millions of rupiah, but Guruh
declined to disclose exactly how much. Of the 500 special edition
CDs, 100 of them are personally signed by Megawati.
For public sales, the CD will be priced at Rp 150,000 while
the cassette will be Rp 50,000.
Sukarno' admirers are recommended to acquire either the CD or
cassette, as in each song, there are snippets of his orations.
Guruh said that proceeds from the tickets, CD and cassette
sales will go to the foundation to finance its project, the
Sukarno Center.
The center -- which is planned to have a library, museum,
multipurpose hall, an archive and research center -- will be
build on a 10-hectare site near Jakarta although Guruh remained
silent on the location. (yan)