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.