Indonesia's harp ambassador
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
When she was only 15 years old, Heidi Awuy decided that she wanted to become a professional harpist. At the time, her father asked her why, because the harp was still an oddity in Indonesia.
"I told him that was exactly why I had chosen the harp, so that I could introduce it to the Indonesian people," she said, adding that since then her family had supported her decision.
Born into a musical family -- her mother, Paula Awuy, is a pianist, and her brother, Eric Awuy, a trumpeter -- the 39-year- old Heidi is perhaps the first harpist in Indonesia and one of only three professional harpists in the country. The other two are Maya Hasan, who was her student, and Ussy Pieters.
Her father's profession as a diplomat also helped nurture little Heidi's passion for music, and she fully enjoyed the cultural experiences of living in places such as Bonn, Geneva and Bangkok.
Heidi started her musical education on the piano, at the ripe old age of four, and only showed interest in the harp when she had reached 8 years old.
The first time she heard the sound of the harp was on television during her stay in Geneva.
"I don't know who was playing, but the first time I heard the sound of the harp, I felt it drawing me. I felt that this was the instrument I was meant to play," Heidi said.
But it was only seven years later that this Indo-Canadian woman was to have her first formal training with the harp.
When the family moved to Bangkok, Heidi was fortunate to have the chance to attend a recital of harpist Lieve van Oudhesden, who later became her tutor and mentor.
"She (Oudhesden) was the one who explained to me what the harp was all about, she made me want to discover more about it," Heidi explained, adding that because of it, Oudhesden was the one teacher that she always remembered and looked up to.
"Other tutors were there because I wanted to hone my skills, but my first teacher made me love the harp," Heidi explained.
Her stay in Bangkok brought her more than just a love of the harp, but also reunited her with an old friend, Glenn Tumbelaka, who later became her husband.
"When we got married, her father asked me to never forbid her from playing the harp," Glenn recalled of their wedding day.
Some 14 years and four children later, Glenn still faithfully accompanies Heidi to concerts, recitals and rehearsals, acting as part of the "crew", as he puts it.
It was at a rock performance in 1982 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) by Glenn's university band, Solid 80, that Heidi made her Indonesian debut. She played the harp in Queen's Love of My Life.
Heidi recalled that the morning after, as she was attending classes at Pancasila University's School of Law, one of her friends approached her, bragging that she had watched a harpist play.
"She hadn't realized it was me playing," Heidi said laughing.
After only one semester at Pancasila University, she moved to Ottawa University in Canada to study Performance Harp. Since then, she has studied at the Institute de Musique Jaques Dalcroze in Geneva and the Trinity College of Music in London.
Heidi has also studied under world renowned harpists such as Sebastian Lipman, Maria Rosa, Calvo-Manzano, Alex Bonnet and Susan McDonald.
When Heidi plays the harp, the audience fades into the background, and she is fully immersed in the music she is making.
Heidi's lean fingers dance across the strings, creating sounds so beautiful that it has been compared to the sound of falling water.
Despite her experience, though, Heidi admits to having the jitters every time she has to perform.
"I'm always nervous when I have to perform. But the difference between the first time and now is that I know how to deal with my fear," she said, adding that all her fears and nervousness disappear once the first notes are played.
Mistakes also happen, even to the best of them. Heidi remembers the mistake she made in choosing a costume for her first ever appearance, which was at the British Council in Bangkok.
"I chose a dress with long buttoned-up sleeves. The sleeves were so tight that when I raised my arms to play they hurt. I had to grit my teeth to keep on playing," she recalled. From then on, Heidi always tested her costumes prior to every concert.
Heidi has performed at various local and international venues, such as at the British Council in Bangkok, Tabarett Hall in Ottawa, and at the Graha Bhakti Budaya in Jakarta, and with various orchestras including Twilite Orchestra and the Royal Bangkok Philharmonic Orchestra.
These days, Heidi divides her time between solo performances and teaching at her music school Bina Bakat Belia and at her home in Cipete, South Jakarta.
She does not teach the harp exclusively but also the piano and the recorder. More importantly, Heidi teaches her students how to appreciate music.
Her students include harpist Maya Hasan who has made a name for herself in the Indonesian music scene, and Heidi is confident more will follow. Recently she introduced two of her students at a weekly Sunday Opera Brunch organized by Alila Hotel.
Heidi will also be speaking and performing at the eighth World Harp Congress to be held in Geneva between July 21 and July 28. In 1990, she was appointed Indonesia's harp ambassador for her dedication in introducing the harp to Indonesian people.
"I will speak about the development of harp music in Indonesia," she said. She will also perform two Indonesian traditional compositions, Bungong Jeumpa from Aceh and O Ina Ni Keke from North Sulawesi, which she arranged the music for.
Of her own children -- Gabriella, 13, Helena, 10, Arnold, 7, and Ariel, 4 -- Heidi said that Helena and Ariel had showed particular promise and sensitivity to the harp.
"But I'm not sure yet. They can all play lots of different instruments, but none of them have yet shown an interest in a particular instrument," Heidi said.