Nicky remains faithful to Dayak music despite hardship

By Kafil Yamin

BANDUNG (JP): The golden days may be over for Nicky Ukur, a singer-musician who was popular in the 1980s. But that's not the end of his creative work and commitment to the performing arts.

His long-standing commitment is to develop and bring traditional music, especially that of Kalimantan's Dayak tribe, to the public who love western-oriented music. He has spent 15 years of his life making the effort without fanfare.

Why Dayak? "For one, Dayak music is among the lesser known. Many people know Sundanese, Javanese, Malay or Ambonese music which have been widely recorded and become financially successful. But Dayak? It has great artistic wealth but people don't know it. Once they know it, they would love it. I bet," he told The Jakarta Post.

"Besides, Dayak music is not simply music. It is lines of mantra, story telling, wisdom and partly religious rites," he explained.

He knows the spirit of the Dayak music because he has Dayak blood. He was born in Tamiang Layang, Central Kalimantan and grew up in Bandung. His musical talents flourished in Bandung and in his 30s, the man who likes hunting, was among the music thrillers of Indonesia.

Music lovers still sing his top numbers like Cintaku Cintamu (Your love, my love), Dara (Girl) and Daun Kering (Dry leaf).

Nicky is aware that popularizing Dayak music is no easy job. Knowing the music will sound strange to the pop audience, he composes it as easy listening.

"I put in Sundanese elements and maintain the typical loveliness of it. I want the Dayak music to perform regularly in music shows and become a source of enjoyment," he said.

But he does it carefully in order not to sacrifice the essential parts of the music - spiritualism, wisdom and religion. In the Dayak community, music is not merely entertainment.

Nicky is aware of the difficulties in finding people, especially musicians, to cooperate in the project. "I know why. It is not a moneymaker. We have to sacrifice a lot."

"Let me put it this way. If you are engaged in this kind of work, you will have less money and friends".

Nicky runs a small shop that provides daily necessities just to survive with his wife Weni.

He spares a room in his modest home in the countryside of Nanjung for his small team to work on this nonprofitable project. Nicky's team members are street singers. Nicky has his own reasons of bringing them into his project.

"They are strongly committed to this project. They have the capability. They share my obsession and ideal. So what is wrong with working with them?" he said.

He said he once had collaborated with well-known musicians like Remi Silado, Sawung Jabo and Setiawan Djodi and that working with street musicians makes no difference.

Nicky has accomplished several Dayak compositions but he cannot find any recording company willing to work with him. He has got the same reasoning, "Producers want to profit and they do not want to produce something like Dayak music that they fear will flop".

"I am fully aware what recording business is all about. Producers have to earn profits. But I think, for that very reason, they have to produce something new, something different from the conventional ones but which has financial prospects," he said.

As other idealistic musicians complain, producers here will only record music they can sell and profit from, like dangdut and pop.

"They are not aware that initially dangdut was a marginal music. A few courageous producers had initiative to record it in the past. Now, dangdut has become very popular," Nicky said.

The local public has better taste than producers, always remember. He once performed his Dayak compositions and the crowd was thrilled. "They (the audience) really liked it, just as I wanted them to," he recalled. Still, producers have different opinions.

As long as Indonesian producers stick to such mentality, Indonesian music will never have - and it has never had - its own identity.

"I was once told that Indonesian music has become 'host' in the country's music scene. That's false. What we have now is western music in the Indonesian language," he argued.

Although being excluded from the glow of showbiz, press coverage and even money-oriented artists, Nicky is not bothered. "I had enjoyed those things in the past. I feel I am now on the right track. I will carry on," he said.