Megalitikum: Good concept; shame about the execution

Megalitikum: Good concept; shame about the execution

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bringing back near-extinct traditional music into the
limelight and turning it into an appealing show may be a noble
idea.

However, in the case of an overly hyped musical show,
Megalitikum Kuantum, such hopes never materialized on stage and
what transpired was an uneasy combination of the old and new.

If the greatest achievement in a live performance can be
defined as the ability to blend all elements into a harmonious
whole, Megalitikum Kuantum, a performance at Jakarta Convention
Center held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Kompas daily
newspaper, failed in almost every respect.

Traditional musicians from the remotest corners of the
country, such as players of the guitar-like sasando from East
Nusa Tenggara and sampeq from East Kalimantan, plus a percussion
ensemble from Banyuwangi, East Java, were shipped to the capital
simply as ornaments to adorn standard performances by some of the
country's hottest pop acts.

If a show's success can be measured by the sunny faces of the
audience and the thundering applause after each number,
Megalitikum Kuantum achieved only mild success, with only a few
of the concertgoers clapping reluctantly, and most wearing
baffled expressions during the one-hour-plus show.

Opened with an otherworldly sound from a tune titled Impresi
Megalitik (Megalithic Impressions) composed by show director
Rizaldi Siagian, Megalitikum seemed to herald a journey into an
exotic land few had ever visited.

Soon after the opening song, however, Entah Mengapa (Manusia
Batu) (I Don't Know Why, Man of Stone), a standard middle-of-the-
road rock song performed with splendor by Candil (vocalist in
local glam-rock outfit Serieus), disharmony soon began to take
hold.

Technical glitches aside, the ensemble of harp played by
classically trained harpist Maya Hassan and sampeq plucked by
three local artists, Usat Anyeq, Galau Tekiyen and Dedi Yonathan,
went only as far as dabbling in the possibility of discovering
sonic harmony.

Although the transition from harp to sampeq was smooth, both
instruments seemed never to leave their original domain and
remained as two separate aural entities.

The next two songs that followed the harp and sampeq ensemble
could not do much to prevent the ship from sinking.

Performed by self-appointed diva, Krisdayanti, Berputar-putar
(Round and round) was no different to anything she sings during
her live or televised performances. What set the tune apart was a
lengthy, ethnic-tinged bridge delivered by hordes of Banyuwangi
percussionists.

The worst was yet to come.

Soon after Krisdayanti and scores of over-energetic dancers
disappeared from the beautifully ornamented stage -- courtesy of
the show's art director Jay Subyakto -- young pop singer Agnes
Monica, a clone of U.S. singer Christina Aguilera, entertained
the crowd with her sometimes ear-splitting, high-pitched vocals
in Ku T'lah Jatuh Cinta (I've Fallen in Love).

Siagian was apparently unable to find a suitably ethnic-
flavored song for Agnes, so he allowed the former child star to
perform her own composition, culled from her latest album, ...
And The Story Goes.

Local dangdut singer Iyeth Bustami had a chance to salvage the
show with her two impressive renditions of traditional Malayan
songs Ceracap and Sifat Sifat dan Kuntulan, but her vocal
collaboration with male singer Amiroez was drowned out in the
treble-heavy sound.

Hoping to end the show with grandeur, Siagian deployed
composer of traditional Javanese music Rahayu Supanggah and
arranger Dwiki Dharmawan to perform a rendition of one of Java's
most revered traditional compositions, Ketawang Puspowarno -- a
tune so representative of Javanese tradition that NASA packed it,
along with other traditional compositions from all over the
world, into a space ship heading toward Jupiter in 1977.

If the hoped-for grandeur materialized by the show's
conclusion, it was due to the nobility of Ketawang itself rather
than a keyboard-based arrangement performed by Dwiki.