Singer Anggun stays real and moves on

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Last week was my third chance to interview Indonesian singer- turned-European star Anggun C. Sasmi, better known simply as Anggun.

My admiration has grown with each meeting. It has very little do with national pride at having an Indonesian (she now carries a French passport for travel purposes) become successful at the international level.

It's more about her personal appeal.

Outgoing and warm, the 29-year-old singer greeted our group of journalists with a phrase she later admitted to be so 1980s.

She answered each question thoroughly, with a lot of laughter thrown in. Unlike many Indonesian artists who like to pepper their talk with English, Anggun, who has more reason than most to resort to some borrowing from other languages after living abroad for so long, hardly ever did.

In fact, she still drew on Javanese phrases, like referring to her husband, a Canadian named Olivier Maury, as "masku" (the honorific "older brother" often used by wives for their husbands), or saying that Madonna raps like "mbakyu" (a Javanese village woman) on her latest single American Life.

She also talked about her brother Gogor, who just got a record deal from Sony Music Indonesia ("I'm so proud of the fact that it embarrassed him," she laughed), or her three other siblings.

Cheeky and coy, Anggun also shows signs of maturing. She has indeed come a long way since she moved to France and launched an international career with the release of her self-titled debut album in 1997.

The album sold one million copies in over 30 countries and catapulted Anggun to new heights as a European pop star. The second album, Chrysalis, followed in 2000, as well as collaborations with many artists, such as Deep Forest, and writing songs for other performers.

Anggun recently also appeared on the original soundtrack of Open Hearts (2002), a film by Danish director Susanne Bier.

Following her divorce from a Frenchman and her marriage to a Maury, Anggun now lives in Montreal, Canada. She is now working on her third album.

"Acting? There are many offers, but I can't act," she said.

"It would be the same for me if I see some singers who can't really sing," she once told CNN's Talk Asia.

She was here recently to perform in a small concert as part of the celebration of the annual French music festival. Here is an excerpt of the interview.

Question: You're now living in Montreal, why there?

Answer: Mainly because my husband lives there. And because I'm bored with Paris. I had lived there for six years. I'm the kind of person who can't stay long in one place, I have to travel constantly. I'm always curious about other places, what makes people laugh, how they face the reality of life. I want to learn from that, the language as well.

But not because I'm anti-Indonesia, or foreign-minded. It's because I think it's important for our self evolution. We don't live alone; I think many problems in the world exist because people don't know each other. The Internet makes it seem like people stay connected, but we're not really connected.

It's also important because as a singer, I make contact with the audience. So I have to know who they are, what touches them.

Q: Is it because Montreal is culturally French?

A: No. If it's up to me, I would like to live in New York. Many people don't like the city because it's too crowded, too much electricity that takes your energy. But I like it. The energy that is negative for some people turns out to be positive for me (laughs).

I like it because New York is like the capital of the world. Everyone speaks in a different accent... people come to look for opportunity and they start it there. Unfortunately, it's not an ideal place for a couple to raise children.

Q: So, you finally want to have children now.

A: Yes! (screams). Maybe because my biological clock is ticking. And because I have found the right person to have children with. My previous husband, he's not the father kind.

Well, I was so young when I married him. I was only 18 years old. When you're 18, no matter how mature you are, you still know nothing about life. So, it was a big mistake. But it's part of self experience. I don't deny or regret it.

Q: Is your husband a musician too?

A: No, he has a master's degree in politics. He could be a minister! (laughs) We met in Montreal five years ago. He's very bright, it seems that he's overqualified to be my manager. But I told him, if we're not working together, we won't be able to see each other. Because every three weeks, I'll pack my stuff and travel, for writing songs, concerts or whatever. He finally left his job and (is) trying to understand the music business (laughs).

Q: Tell us about your upcoming album...

A: After a single collaboration with (producer) Eric Benzi, I'm now working with other producers, from Sweden and also Denmark. The music is now more electro-pop. Like the soundtrack of Open Hearts.

But the album has yet to be completed because I have yet to be satisfied with the outcome. The difference between me and other artists is that I don't want to be forced. They can't just give me a deadline for an album to be completed on a certain date. It'll be completed when I think the result is something that I can be proud of.

Because it's my name and my picture on the album cover.

Q: Who's on your CD player now?

A: Sometimes there's a period where I don't listen to anything at all. If we're concerned too much on what MTV and VH1 play, we'll be polluted. Not listening to any CD at all turned out good, and comfortable. Suddenly, I watch TV again and am like, "Wow, that's good!"

I listen to everything. Christina Aguilera's new album is good, Justin Timberlake's too. They're the new generation and pretty credible.

Q: Why did you leave Sony Music?

A: For me, whichever record company it is, the important thing is teamwork. Because an artist doesn't exist without others. I resigned from Sony Music France because in the past two years, there were so many replacements. Tommy Motola is out, as well as other big bosses. It happened in Paris, New York, everywhere. It kind of disturbed the work. I felt that if I stayed there but the team is no longer the same, the result won't be good.

Q: How did you get the opportunity to sing on the soundtrack of Open Hearts?

A: Open Hearts is a Dogma film made by a Danish filmmaker. (Dogma 95 is a "pure cinema" manifesto made by filmmakers who declared they were sickened by certain trends in cinema today. The manifesto was co-founded by renowned Danish director Lars Von Trier in Copenhagen in 1995 -- ed.)

And like other Dogma films, the filmmaker only wants one artist to fill the soundtrack, like what Bjork did for (Von Trier's) Dancer in the Dark. So, they contacted me. On the soundtrack, I was just a rider, or a mailman, who rides the emotion or conveys (the) message. So, I wasn't being Anggun. I wasn't thinking of myself when writing the songs, only the film.

Q: Your appearance doesn't change much -- you don't plan to dye your hair blonde for instance? Or is it a deliberate attempt to accentuate your Asian look?

A: I don't have such calculations at all. I can't imagine myself being someone else. The biggest change was cutting my hair to chin length, but then I grew it again. I still part it in the middle so I guess I'll be bald soon (laughs).

Physical changes for me have to be as natural as possible. Dying my hair, or whitening my skin is not important. It won't make me a better person or a better singer. Besides, it's dangerous and expensive.

Q: What if the industry demands you change?

A: The demand is only for those artists who don't have anything else to sell. They can't write songs, or anything. If they don't have any potential, they must sell something else. That's normal.

Q: Do you have any plans to make an album with Indonesian songs?

A: That has something to do with business (laughs). The problem is my contract is only for albums in English and French. The best I can do so far is to compromise to have Indonesian songs in the English album to be distributed here. I can't have contracts here and abroad at the same time. That's not possible.

Q: What about a big concert here?

A: Perhaps. If I could, I would like to be here every three months. Because going home is like self resourcing. Smelling the clove cigarettes, seeing people smile, eating gado-gado (the local salad) on the street. Simple things like that, but for me that's meaningful.

Q: In one of our previous interviews, you said you're a bit annoyed that whenever you visit here, people are still surprised that you can still speak Indonesian. Do you still feel that way?

A: Yes. It's tiring that every time I come back here, it seems like I have to justify something. That I'm not like what people think, that I can still speak Indonesian very well -- I still love my own country.

Q: What is your citizenship now? Canadian?

A: What? So, I have to change my citizenship every time I change husbands? (laughs). I hold a French passport now. When my first album was out (in 1997), I had to do extensive travel to different countries. I asked the Indonesian embassy in France a favor so that I didn't have to queue to apply for a visa every time I traveled. I told them that I was bringing the name of Indonesia, I was trying to make a career here, so please give me a little facility. But they said it wasn't possible.

I then said that I would have to change my citizenship. They said, whatever. They didn't think I was serious. So, when I changed it, they was very surprised. They told me, "Be careful. If you change it, you can't buy property in Indonesia." I was like, what?

It's a pity. But for me it doesn't change anything, because it's only a little book. Only the color is different. I'm still the way I am. My hair is still like this, my boobs are still small (laughs). I'd still feel hungry if I hadn't eaten rice. But people here draw a bad conclusion, whereas I would've kept my citizenship if I could.

Q: Will you help other Indonesian artists to follow your path to go international?

A: Going international is not a result of correspondence, or connections with people. It has to come purely from your effort. We have to be different, we have to stand out from others. If I can help, why not. But I don't know how I can help them because I'm not an expert.

Q: Do you still observe the Indonesian music scene?

A: Yes, through the Internet. Inul? Yes, I follow the story. Poor her. I mean, anything can be erotic. The case is the same as in Afghanistan where women have to wear the burqa. What's the point? It's not what they want. I saw a documentary where an Afghan woman could be beaten up because she scratched her feet and showed a bit of her feet. The problem doesn't lie in women's bodies, but in the minds of men.

Q: Are you satisfied with the way things are going?

A: I'm glad, but not satisfied. I'd be satisfied when I'm old. I'd be satisfied not because I've reached something, but because I've tried to do things. Whatever the results, at least I've tried.

I don't like the situation when I'm comfortable in one place. That means I'm no longer creative, no longer have the yearning to learn. That's what I felt when I lived in France, so I had to move on.