Mother, daughter join force in praise of classical music

Mother, daughter join force in praise of classical music

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta

Pranawengrum Katamsi, 59, has been making music for over half a
century and always seems ready to burst into yet another song.

Pulling out decade old photographs, Pranawengrum is happy to
display a black and white picture that shows her dancing as a
child at the palace in Yogyakarta.

Even at that tender age she listened constantly to the radio
and learned to sing Indonesian art songs. Among the different
kinds of music, Pranawengrum was attracted most to seriosa songs
(the Indonesian term for the vocal music that has its roots in
western classical songs).

Unlike the keroncong (a kind of Indonesian music with a
particular harmonic flavor) style based on traditional music and
hiburan or popular music, Pranawengrum expresses a special liking
for the music of such composers as Mochtar Embud, Iskandar and
Ismail Marzuki. These are Indonesian musicians who were greatly
inspired by western classical music and wrote songs in Bahasa
Indonesia based on tunes from the West.

"All the music that I sang was always for my own pleasure. I
never danced or sang to make a career out of it," Pranawengrum
told The Jakarta Post at her south Jakarta residence where she
continues to give music lessons to hordes of youngsters.

And whenever there is an opportunity to perform, Pranawengrum
seldom turns it down.

She lost her father early in her childhood and her mother was
too busy bringing up five children to notice her daughter's
special talents. It was her teachers at the Catholic school who
discovered how musical she was and insisted that she study music
formally.

Her constant companion was Pramono, her youngest brother, who
continues to play the trombone.

Marriage to Amoroso Katamsi, well-known actor and medical
doctor, only enhanced her life in the world of show biz and
eventually all three of her children grew up to be practicing
musicians.

Ratna Arumasari, the eldest child, is a pianist, son Toddy is
a rock musician and younger daughter Aning Katamsi Asmoro, 32,
has already earned a reputation as one of the country's sweetest
sounding sopranos.

Recalling her earliest memories, Aning says that many of her
waking hours were spent listening to her mother sing, mostly
numbers from Maria Callas concerts.

"But there was never any pressure on me to become a singer,"
adds Aning, who also admits that like her mother she sings purely
for pleasure. She does not recall her music lessons ever being a
chore. There were always other children of her age in the house
who came to learn music from her mother and she was only too
happy to join the crowd.

She does not recall ever being forced to learn music.

Today neither mother nor daughter claim to use music to play a
greater role in society. Both talk of the deep satisfaction that
singing provides their souls, and give that as the only reason
they love music.

Aning has appeared in about four performances with her mother
and describes those moments as very special. Expressing herself
in song along with her mother is like going back to the source
of her voice.

Asked to comment on what she thinks of Aning's renditions,
Pranawengrum promptly said that, for one thing, it was far better
than her own singing.

"I admired her voice even when she was very young and I am
glad that she continues to sing," says Pranawengrum of Aning.

After learning from her mother, Aning enrolled at the Jakarta
Music Education Foundation (YPM) in her early teens. For the next
decade her teacher was Catherina W. Leimena and she also took
lessons from American vocal instructors Lee Alison Sibley, Ruth
Drucker and Andrea Ehrenreich.

While at the YPM, she learned to play the piano as well from
Susiana Adhitjan and Iravati M. Sudiarso. Today she herself gives
vocal music and piano lessons at the YPM.

According to Aning, she is happy to be part of the thriving
western classical music scene here. Take the world of Sherina,
which is completely different from that of Pranawengrum when she
was 11 years old.

Sherina has today earned the status of a pop star and also has
opportunities galore to perform in evergreen ballets like The
Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, the great classical music composer.

Pranawengrum agrees that there has been a vast change in the
attitude of people here towards western classical music. And it
is a change for the better. For example, the opportunity to
develop individual talents professionally was very limited
before.

"Today the sky is the limit with more and more people going
abroad to study western classical music," says Aning, who is
expecting her second child any day.

Her daughter Varizka is four years old and it will soon be
time for her to take piano lessons from Aunt Ratna.

But Aning has a feeling that the much more feisty Varizka may
not be as easily tempted to learn from her as Aning was to learn
from her own mother.