Obituaries

Poppy Mercury, a pop star made famous by the melancholic song Hati Siapa Yang Tak Luka (Whose Heart Wouldn't be Hurt), died at the Hasan Sadikin hospital in Bandung, her home town, yesterday. She was 23 years old.

According to Antara, Poppy died from complications of various illnesses which she had for some years, including an ulcer, bronchitis, rheumatism and inflammation of the throat. She was admitted to the hospital on Friday morning.

Born as Poppy Yuspidawaty, she was launched into stardom through hits that included Jakarta Penang, Surat Undangan (Invitation Letter), Terlambat Sudah (It's too late), and Antara Aku, Kau and Dia (Between You, Me and Her)

She was buried yesterday at the Sirnaraga cemetery in Bandung with colleagues from the show business attending the funeral.

J.A. Dungga, a senior Indonesian expert on music, passed away at his home in Jakarta yesterday. He was 71 years old.

Antara did not say what he died of.

Dungga, also known as a music columnist and a writer for the Antara and KNI news agencies, was a lecturer on the history of music at the Jakarta Art Institute.

Hailing from Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, he wrote no less than 35 books on music including translations from foreign works, with some of them being reprinted four times because of their popularity.

One book he translated was Musik Abadi from the work of Prof. Dr. J. van Ackere, Eeuwige Muziek. This book has since become a reference book for all music students in Indonesia. (emb)