Jazz maestro honored in memorial concert

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To pay tribute to the country's jazz legend Nick Mamahit, three musicians from the Institut Musik Daya music school will perform in a memorial concert on Friday.

Founder of the Institut Musik Daya, and a piano player who will perform in the concert, Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsjah said that the concert would feature compositions from the country's first western-educated musician, who passed away early last year.

Deviana said that the concert also served as a reminder that although the music scene is teeming with mediocre talent it once had a consummate piano player who left a lasting musical legacy.

"Om Nick frequently spoke of his dismay over the lack of educated musicians in the country and he longed for quality music education," Deviana told a press briefing at the music school in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

Deviana, who will be accompanied by drummer Sri Aksana Sjuman and bass player Yudo Nugroho Doni Sudjoyo in the performance, said that although she had her own style, she would play all Mamahit's works according to the maestro's technique.

The concert will be held in the school's hall, which was recently christened the Nick Mamahit Performance Hall. All proceeds from the concert will go toward preserving Mamahit's legacy.

Among the works that will be performed in the concert are Naik Naik ke Puncak Gunung (Climbing up a Mountain), Doa (Prayer) and Halo-Halo Bandung (Bandung's March)

Although Mamahit was an accomplished musician, he refused to write wholly original scores, arguing that no one would understand his music.

Instead, Mamahit rehashed scores of traditional music and songs from the country's revolution period, arranging them in a complex and modern manner.

Born Nicholas Maximilian in Jakarta in 1923, Mamahit went to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and obtained a degree in music from the Amsterdam Music Conservatory in 1944.

Upon his return to the country in the early 1950s, he formed a jazz trio called "The Progressive" and recorded an album but it failed to penetrate the market and the band soon broke up.

Afterward, Mamahit kept on recording songs and continued playing in some of the city's respected venues. He performed jazz regularly at the Mandarin Hotel for 15 years in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Jusuf Mamahit, the maestro's youngest son, recalled that his father was a perfectionist who was preoccupied with creating music until his very end. "While lying on his deathbed, my father wanted us to find a piano he could play on," Jusuf said.

Tickets are available at Institute Musik Daya Jl. Wijaya IX, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Ph. +62 21 7209748 or e-mail at imd@attglobal.net