Hetty celebrates her silver anniversary in music

Hetty celebrates her silver anniversary in music

By Achmad Nurhoeri

JAKARTA (JP): Whosoever desires constant success must change
her conduct with the times.

That is Niccolo Machiavelli's recipe for success in Discorsi.

Hetty Koes Endang maybe never knew of this Machiavellian
concept or the Italian philosopher but it is exactly what she has
done in her 25-year-career in the Indonesian music world.

She has played the game set by the vivacious musical industry
keenly. She has courageously explored many diverse music genres
from pop to keroncong, from Sundanese songs to traditional Minang
ballads.

She has also tackled singing festivals throughout the globe
and passed their tests with flying colors. Add it all up and she
has definitely earned the right to celebrate her silver
anniversary in music, a feat every singer dreams of. She did that
last Sunday night.

"This is my way of thanking everybody who has contributed to
my success," said Hetty, dressed in a chic Moslem outfit.
"Especially the producers and journalists who have supported me
all the way."

Most guests inside the Kartika Chandra hotel ballroom were
from these two professions. There were hardly any other
entertainers in the luxurious hall. But that night was Hetty's
night. And no one deserves to be in the spotlight alone more than
this 40-year-old diva.

Bandung

The music industry is the place where dreams come true. For
Hetty Koes Endang, this became a reality.

She started her climb to success in 1972 at the age of 15 when
she won at a provincial Pop Singing Festival in her hometown
Bandung.

After that her mother Karsiwoelan registered her to perform in
singing festivals in Bandung, but slowly and surely Hetty was on
the path to the city of industry, Jakarta.

Hetty's family is not wealthy. Her parents divorced when she
was nine and Karsiwoelan raised her 10 children alone.

Knowing that her sixth child had the skills to earn enough to
make ends meet for the big family, Karsiwoelan directed all her
efforts to making sure that Hetty would go places. Monas
Amusement Park, now a green area was, the first place.

Young Hetty sang there for 10 days. After each performance she
got Rp 1,500. But from this small job, she received many offers.
Once she sang for the Navy and got Rp 100,000, a very high fee in
those days. She ran to her mom and cried,"Mom, the organizers
must have made a mistake".

Now Hetty will not sing for less than US$10,000 a show.

Her activities in Jakarta became busier and Karsiwoelan
decided to move the whole family to the capital. Hetty was then
content to improve her strong voice.

Pranajaya, the well-known music guru of the child choir Bina
Vokalia, became her teacher. She dropped out of formal education
in 1975 to give all she had to music.

As her brief resume was distributed at celebration shows, she
hopped from one singing festival to another and snatched the
prizes.

In 1977 she won the National Pop Song Festival after trying
for three years.

It propelled her to Tokyo where the song she sang, Damai Tapi
Gersang (Peaceful But Arid), won the Outstanding Composition
Award in the World Pop Song Festival.

But she was proudest when she was crowned Best Singer at the
International Song Festival at Vina Del Mar, Chile.

"I also met my favorite singer Julio Iglesias there. I never
imagined that I would sing and share the same stage with him,"
reminisced Hetty.

Sometimes festival singers cannot penetrate the market. But
the market is where Hetty rules. In 1973, she stepped into a
studio for the first time at Nada Sound. A year later she was
contracted to the Remaco label where she stayed for two years.
With the next label her star rose. Musica Studio tied Hetty to a
20 year contract from 1976 to 1996.

After being trapped in Musica's spiral where the word royalty
was an unknown word, Hetty crossed the ocean. Now she is with
Pony Canyon of Japan.

Throughout her recording career, Hetty has made an
unbelievable 120 albums. Several have been pirated.

But most have swayed the hearts of Indonesians from the haves
to the have nots, from bustling Jakarta to remote East Timor.

Malaysians and Japanese have also fallen for Hetty's melodies.
More than 80 albums have found a market in Malaysia. Hetty once
even received The Most Favored Foreign Artist Award from
Malaysia's TV stations TV3 and RTM.

In Japan, Hetty toured the country in 1991 with Aussie diva
Tina Arena, U.S. legend Chaka Khan and Japan's own Yunko Ohashi.

In 25 years this once bashful country girl has become a proud
member of the international music world.

Marriage

Although many of Hetty's songs are about love, she did not
find the true meaning of the word until 1990 when she met Yusuf
Faishal, then a married man, on an airplane to Kuala Lumpur. He
was a fan of her song, Kemuning.

Their marriage in 1991 was the story of the year when Yusuf
became a divorcee. "God gave me my mate. I did not do anything
wrong," she said in 1994. "I told him to fix up his divorce
problems first ... He is truly my destined mate."

The newlyweds flew to Malaysia the day after their wedding
party. Yusuf had to finish his doctorate at the Malaysian
Agricultural University. Hetty, who believes a wife's place is
beside her husband, did not hesitate. She left Indonesia at the
peak of her career.

"With my leaving I hoped younger singers would fill the void I
left," she told Kompas daily in 1994.

But to this day no other singer has successfully delved into
the range of music genres as Hetty did.

One of her earlier producers had advised her to try things,
she said. And in a three month period Hetty would launch an album
in three versions -- dangdut, pop and keroncong.

"I don't know why young singers don't follow my example,"
Hetty told The Jakarta Post.

In Malaysia, Hetty kept on producing records and doing shows
-- including many performances for Malaysia's royal family.

She came back to Indonesia last year when Yusuf obtained his
doctorate in international trade and a job in Jakarta. With their
two children, Amirmachmud Saatari and Afifah Qamariah, they now
live in Serpong, west of Jakarta.

Back to Sunday night, Hetty's voice was still second to none
in Indonesia. Heavy but always crystal clear. She sang a range of
songs. She opened with Semalam di Malaysia (A Night in Malaysia).

Most of the songs were as symbolic as the first. From her
legendary Kemuning song that drew Yusuf to her, she switched to
two songs in her mother tongue, Sundanese, Duh Manis (Oh Sweet)
and Bubuy Bulan (Broiled Moon). The seventh song, Bette Midler's
Wind Beneath My Wings was a tribute to her mother who paved her
way to stardom.

She closed the 12-song showcase with a hit that sold more when
she sang it than it did for its original singers, Kemesraan
(Intimacy). In the end, she proved to the audience that she was
back home and ready to retake her throne.

So Hetty, when will you stop singing?

"I am satisfied with my music career. I am a housewife now.
But I will go on singing until people get bored with me."