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."