Luluk takes sounds of Indonesia to the U.S.

Yenni Djahidin, The Jakarta Post, Washington

Summer in the United States can be unbearable. It's hot and humid in most parts of the country, and it has been especially so this summer. But that isn't stopping a group of jazz musicians from touring American cities on a bus without air conditioning. Luluk Purwanto and the Helsdingen Trio are performing at 42 universities and colleges in 24 states nationwide for free.

The group is traveling on a specially designed bus in which one side can be lowered to form a stage. The twelve-meter-long vehicle has all the equipment needed to perform a concert, including a baby grand piano and professional sound system.

"We are very excited. This is our first U.S. tour and we are so happy to perform in the birthplace of jazz," D.C. Luluk, the violinist, told The Jakarta Post during the group's visit to Washington.

Luluk, a native of Yogyakarta, and her pianist Dutch husband Reni van Helsdingen are traveling with Italian-American Marcello Pennitteri and Nigerian-American Essiet Okon Essiet.

Their new CD, titled Born Free, was released in late August and distributed in the States by the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Corporation.

W. Royal Stokes, author of several jazz books, made a point of attending one of Luluk's concerts in the parking lot of the Indonesian Embassy. And this was not the first time he came out to watch her play.

When he first saw her in 1991 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, she was with the Bhaskara group. He was impressed by her performance.

"Hearing her last night in a quartet format at the embassy, I was again struck by her virtuosity, originality, and sheer swing," said Stokes, the author of Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz (Oxford University Press, 2000).

"Supported by the dynamic pianist and combo co-leader van Helsdingen and the solid rhythm of bassist Essiet and drummer Pelliterri, Ms. Purwanto's performance was rich with creativity, deeply moving, and endlessly entertaining.

"The eclectic nature of the group is displayed in their original compositions and in the arrangements of the traditional materials that they utilize," he said.

Luluk said in an interview that she wanted to introduce jazz to people.

Coming from Indonesia, she is also promoting the country through its familiar sights and sounds she recreates with bells, whistles, a gong and everyday gadgets. There is the familiar sound of the nasi goreng (fried rice) and bakso (meatball soup) vendors. There is the sound of a pigeon flying with a whistle attached to its wings. There is the soft sound of wind blowing through stalks of rice in a field. And there was a recording of a locomotive from Java.

"It has been like a holiday in music, we really enjoy playing the music," Luluk said. She said she also enjoyed driving across the country. "It's a beautiful and a very big country."

It has also been very exhausting for the four of them.

They arrived in Washington, D.C. at four in the morning and held two performances and then hit the road again for a performance the next day in New Hampshire. Luluk said her husband Reni is the driver, the manager and the organizer.

"I just play the music," she said with a big grin.

The group prepared for the tour last year. The hardest part, Luluk said, was the paperwork. "It was boring."

They chose two universities in each state they visited.

"Some (universities) doubted that we could perform from a bus," she said. So far, she said, they had had good crowds. The largest was 1,500 people at Cornell University in New York.

But Luluk said they would be happy to perform even before a small crowd, as long as they enjoyed the music.

The bus stage idea came from their experience in Jakarta.

Luluk noted how many people couldn't afford to watch a jazz concert at Jakarta's art centers, such as Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center and Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, both in Central Jakarta.

"It is sad, so we thought we would bring the stage, the music to the people."

She remembered talking to a middle-aged woman who watched the performance. The woman said she enjoyed the music very much.

Her big eyes lit up when asked whether she would perform in Jakarta again. "We would love to play in Indonesia again." She quickly added, "after we finish this U.S. tour."

The U.S. tour started June 25 and continues until Oct. 15.

The tour, mainly sponsored by JakArt, an international festival to celebrate art and culture from Indonesia and other parts of the world is being held in connection with the anniversary of Jakarta. It is also sponsored by the Royal Dutch Embassy, the American Embassy in Indonesia and the Indonesian Embassy in the States.