Nation bids farewell to some of its best artists

Nation bids farewell to some of its best artists

By Rita A. Widiadana

Since every man who lives is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind, what happens, let us bear, Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care. Like Pilgrims to th' appointed place we tend; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end

quoted from Palamon and Arcite.

JAKARTA (JP): This is a year of great mourning for Indonesia which lost many of its celebrities in a single year. Never before in its history did so many celebrities pass away.

Among the country's greatest losses this year were director/playwright Arifin C. Noer and Sunarti Rendra from the world of drama, Benjamin S. and Dicky Zulkarnain from the film world, talented young singer and moviestar Nike Ardilla and singer Poppy Mercury from the music scene.

The Indonesian theater and film world lost one of its best playwrights and directors Arifin C. Noer who died at the age of 54 in May. Arifin died after six days of treatment for a malfunctioning liver. He was survived by his wife Jajang Pamuntjak, 43, and four children.

Born on March 10, l941 in Cirebon, West Java, Arifin started his career in theater as a playwright 27 years ago. When he found that it was difficult to stage his works, he set up his own theater group called Teater Kecil.

His contributions to Indonesian theater were colossal. Together with W.S Rendra and Teguh Karya, Arifin was considered a pioneer of Indonesian modern theater. With Teater Kecil, Arifin performed distinguished plays such as Kapai Kapai (l970).

In l972, Arifin began his film career as a screenwriter. He earned a number of prestigious Citra awards as best screenwriter through his works Rio Anakku (Rio my son -- l973) and Melawan Badai (Against the Storm -- l978). Arifin was also declared the best screenwriter with his work Pemberang (The Outraged) at the l972 Asian Film Festival.

In l977, Arifin began directing films and presented his debut film Suci Sang Primadona (Suci the Prima Donna). He was also noted for his controversial films Serangan Fajar (Dawn Attack), which won him a Citra for best film in the l982 Indonesian Film Festival and Penghianatan G.30 S PKI, both funded by the state- owned film company Perusahaan Film Negara.

His other works include Harmonikaku (My Harmonica) and Yuyun Pasien Rumah Sakit (Yuyun, A Mental Patient).

Arifin also produced "quality television drama" such as Sebuah Dongeng Cinta (A Love Story), Bulan Dalam Baskom (Moon in a Bowl), Tasi Oh Tasi, and Keris (Kris). The latter won him an award for best director during the second Indonesian Sinetron Festival on Dec. 7, seven months after he died.

Sunarti Soewandi, a stage actress and a prominent classical singer, otherwise known as the first wife of poet-playwright W.S. Rendra, died of uterus cancer in May. She was 55 years old.

Sunarti began her career as a classical singer in the l950s. She met Rendra and married him in l959.

Sunarti and Rendra were actively involved in the Bengkel Teater, a prominent theater group, and performed a large number of plays, including Mastodon dan Burung Kondor, Kisah Perjuangan Suku Naga and Lysystrata and Oedipus. She also made some appearances in local films, including November l828.

Sunarti and Rendra have five children, Teddy, Andre, Daniel, Samuel and Klara Sinta, who is now pursuing a career as an actress.

Rendra also married two other women, Sitoresmi in l970, and Ken Zuraida in l976. Sunarti, Sitoresmi and Ken lived peacefully with their husband in the same house in Yogyakarta.

This arrangement lasted until l981, when Sunarti and Rendra were divorced. However, she continued to take part in some of Rendra's plays.

The music and film community also lost their top figures. The death of Benjamin Sueb, popularly known as Benjamin S, shocked thousands of local music and film fans. He died of a heart attack at the Harapan Kita Cardiac hospital in September.

Born on March 5, 1939, Benjamin was survived by eight children, a wife and an ex-wife. Owner of Ben's Radio, a Betawi radio station, Benjamin's latest ventures also included two TV shows, the Benyamin Show the popular TV series Si Doel Anak Sekolahan and Begaya F.M.

Benjamin started his music career in l957 when he established a pop band called Melodi Ria with Rachmat Kartolo and famous jazz musicians Bill Saragih and the late Jack Lesmana.

Born to a middle-class Betawi couple, H. Sueb and Siti Aisyah, of Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, young Benyamin became familiar with traditional Betawi music and Portuguese-style keroncong music.

In the late l960s, he began exploring Betawi music and performed duets with female pop singers. His recordings with Ida Royani were particularly popular. Many of his songs, most containing anecdotes, clearly portray the way of life of the Betawi people, while borrowing from Betawi folklore. His humorous and satirical songs finally began to draw a large audience from the lower-middle class to the upper classes of society.

His song Ondel-Ondel even inspired the Jakarta administration to declare the puppet the city's mascot. After he gained popularity as a prominent Betawi singer, Benyamin took a look at the possibilities in film.

It was the late director Sukarno M. Noer who asked him to act in his film Honey Money in Jakarta Fair (1970). But it was the late director Sjumandjaja who discovered his natural acting talent. Sjumandjaja cast him in the role of a tacky Betawi man struggling to keep up with modernization in a film called Si Doel Anak Modern. In this film, Benyamin, who played opposite famous artist Christine Hakim, won a Citra as best actor. Benyamin also won another Citra for his role in Intan Berduri.

Another blow to the local music world occurred when teenage idol Nike Ardilla died in a car accident in Bandung in March.

Many believe that Ardilla was drink-driving. Before the accident, Ardilla, 20, went to a disco with her close friends. They had dinner together and continued their party of alcoholic drinks and "illegal" drugs.

Ardilla started her music career when she was 13 years old. Under the guidance of senior musicians like Deddy Dores and music impresario Denny Sabri, Ardilla became one of the country's top singers in the category of pop-rock.

Her debut album Bintang Kehidupan (l990) won her the prestigious BASF Award, the annual music awards for Indonesian musicians. In l994, her album Biarlah Aku Mengalah received an HDX award as the best album. Ardilla was also popular as TV artist and model. She was still involved in several television projects including Trauma Marissa and Warisan II when she died.

Ardilla, an ardent fan of Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe, was the real victim of instant popularity. Her lifestyle changed drastically from a young and innocent girl to a big star. Unable to cope with the problems of stardom in the big city, Ardilla sought solace in liquor and drugs.

Other film star who passed away this year was senior actor Dicky Zulkarnain. He died of a heart attack in March. He was 56.

Famous for his portrayal of Si Pitung, the legendary hero of Jakarta during Dutch colonialism, Dicky Iskandar Zulkarnain was born in Jakarta on Oct. 12, 1939.

He was survived by his wife, actress Mieke Wijaya, three daughters, a son, and four grandchildren. One of the daughters is the popular singer and actress Nia Zulkarnain.

The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Film Actors reacted to the news as follows: "Indonesia has now lost one of its most senior character actors."

After completing senior high school, Dicky went on to the ATNI arts and drama school in 1957. He started taking minor roles two years later.

Dicky starred in 65 films. In 1973, he received the Indonesian Citra award for best supporting actor in the film Si Pemberang (The Outraged). In addition to Si Pitung, one of his most famous roles was in the film Salah Asuhan (Bad upbringing).

The death of actress Tarida Gloria, 35, also shocked the local theater and film industries.

Tarida died of high blood pressure at the West Side Olympic Hospital in Los Angeles, the United States, in April.

She was well-known as one of Indonesia's famous theatrical figures. Tarida joined the controversial theater group Teater Koma and played in a number of the group's repertoires including Suksesi, succession, which was banned by the government in l991.

Tarida extended her career to the film world. Famous playwright and film director Putu Wijaya casted her in his prominent works such as Plong and Zig Zag. She also played in several television dramas, locally known as sinetron, including Pariban dari Bandung on the TPI television station.

Tarida was in the United States continuing her studies of acting and film production.

In the literary world, the country also lost its best individuals such as Subagio Satrowardoyo, one of Indonesia's finest poets and literary critics, who died last July of a heart attack when he was 71 years old.

Subagio was in the process of preparing his dissertation on the late Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, the doyen of Indonesian literature.

Born in Madiun, East Java on Feb.1, l924, Subagio's studies took him to the School of Letters at GaDjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. He continued his studies at the Department of Comparative Literature, at Yale University in the United States.

In l957, Subagio published his first collection of poems entitled Simponi (Symphony). Among his best works are the collections of his short stories entitled Kejantanan di Sumbing (Masculinity in Sumbing). His collection of poems called Daerah Perbatasan (The Border) earned him an award from the government in l970. He also wrote a collection of essays which he called Bakat Alam dan Intelektualisme (Natural Talents and Intellectualism) in l972 and Sosok Pribadi dalam Sajak (The Person within the Poems).

Subagio once taught at Gadjah Mada University, as well as at Salisbury Teachers College and Flinders University, both in Australia.

Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Mantra, a well known figure in Indonesian art and cultural circles and two-time governor of Bali, also died in Denpasar in July. He was 67 years old.

Mantra died a day after he was admitted to the Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar. He had been suffering from a chronic kidney disease.

Mantra was governor of Bali for two consecutive five-year terms, between 1978 and 1988. He was later appointed Indonesia's ambassador to India, where he had spent six years during his student days. His last public post was as member of Indonesia's Supreme Advisory Council.

But it is for his involvement in the cultural scene that Mantra will be most remembered.

His love of culture and his extensive knowledge of it -- he held a PhD in cultural history from the Visva Bharati University in West Bengal, India -- brought him to the post of Director General of Culture at the Ministry of Education and Culture between 1973 and 1978.

As Bali governor, it was Mantra who initiated the Bali Art Festival, now a major item in the holiday island's annual cultural calendar. He died while this year's festival was in progress.

Mantra served as rector of Udayana University in Denpasar and was a lecturer at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

In his teens, he interrupted his schooling to take part in the independence struggle.

Arwah Setiawan, a noted Indonesian humorist, died in Jakarta in April from a stroke. He was 60 years old.

Arwah was the chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Humor, which he founded in 1978.

He was survived by his wife Veronica Istrini, three daughters and a son, and two grandchildren.

Born on March 8, 1935, in Sidoarjo, East Java, Arwah had been an active columnist writing for a number of leading publications. A law graduate of the Gadjah Mada University, he once managed the humor magazine Astaga and later Titian magazine published by the U.S. Information Service.

Domestic fashion circle also lost one of its best designers, Prajudi Admodirjo who died of pancreatic failure on Dec. 7. He was survived by his only son, Markus Admodirdjo who is now studying in the United States.

Born in Jakarta on Jan. 15, l945, Prayudi, the third son of Harsono Admodirdjo and Fien Finawaty Liem, was sent by his parents to Germany to study architecture. However, after studying architecture for only eight months, he changed direction from architecture to fashion.

Prajudi introduced new concepts to fashion, using traditional textiles such as batik, tenun ikat, traditional woven textile, songket, gold embroidery textiles, as primary material in his fashion items. He also developed stitch and dye styles for these traditional textiles.

Together with Iwan Tirta, Prajudi was at the forefront of the promotion of Indonesian designs and traditional textiles worldwide. Every year, he displayed his creations in Indonesia as well as foreign countries.

His tireless effort was fruitful. In l987, Prajudi received Upakarti, the highest achievement award for distinguished individuals, from the Indonesian government for his great contributions in the development of local fashion world as well as in the promotion of traditional textiles.

Selasih, or Sariamin, one of the New Age Writers (Pujangga Baru), died at 86 in Pekan Baru, Riau, on Dec.16.

A pioneer among women writers, she was the only woman of her generation to continue producing literary works into the 1990s.

Born in 1909 as Basariah in the village of Sinurut in Pasaman, West Sumatra, she started her writing career in l933 with a romance entitled Kalau Tak Tahu di Untung and Pengaruh Keadaan (l937). She also wrote a number of essays and plays such as Adikku Misrani, Cermin Perbandingan, Dahulu dan Sekarang, Nasihat Kakak, Harapan Ibu, Jalan Mana yang akan di Turut, Si Malin Kundang and Puti Payung.

She also wrote several text books, including Tata Bahasa and Sastra Indonesia (Indonesian Grammar and Literature).

Between l981 and l986 she wrote 21 other works of fiction and the Kamus Minangkabau, a dictionary of the Minangkabau (a West Sumatran ethnic group) language.

Jajang C. Noer, wife of the late director Arifin C. Noer, has just completed a documentary film on the life of this noted writer.

"I feel so sad that she could not see the film," said Jajang when she heard about Selasih's death.