Sujiwo Tejo: Puppet master and 'MTV' awards winner

Sujiwo Tejo: Puppet master and 'MTV' awards winner

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): It may seem a strange -- if not impossible --
path for a dalang (puppet master) to release a pop album or make
an entry on MTV, the iconic global youth music program. Yet, this
is the story of Sujiwo Tejo, who won two awards at this year's
MTV Awards.

Tejo won two categories including Best Performance and Most
Wanted New Artist, while his video clip, Pada Suatu Ketika (Once
Upon A Time), his first single and the title of his debut album,
won the best title category at the VMI (Indonesian Music Video)
Awards.

Watching him perform soon makes one realize this is not your
average rocker, nor is his music the typical MTV sound. In a gig
at Mega Mendung Arts Festival in Mega Mendung, West Java, on July
16, Tejo's troupe, including Ari Ayunir, the versatile guest
drummer from the well-known band Potret, and eight backing
vocalists stood on stage and shared the spotlight with him.

Regardless of whether you like or dislike his music, Sujiwo
Tejo is unquestionably an interesting figure in the local music
scene. His first album sold 30,000 copies one year after its
release. A decent number considering his uncommon musical choice.
The album contains an unusual repertoire of 10 songs heavily
tinted with Javanese words and tunes.

Then meet the artist in person: a 37-year-old long-haired man
whose surprisingly soft voice preaches a new approach to music
and lyrics. An articulative art he possibly gained from his
seven-year journalistic career as an arts writer for the Kompas
daily.

"I just want to show there is a lot outside Western diatonic
music," he said.

"I'm not anti-Western. I love music from the West -- Mozart's
40th Symphony and Beethoven's 14th Symphony. It's just the
proportion of Western influence on our culture is already too
much."

He realized this when he asked his seven-year-old son to tune
an octave. "He could only sing do-re-mi-fa-ti-la-ti-do. And I was
culturally mad since we have a set of gamelan instruments at
home," said Tejo.

In 1994, he started to compose his own music for his wayang
(puppet) performances which he juggled with his career as a
journalist. But it wasn't until last year that he finally decided
to become a full-time artist. "I decided to be a singer since it
was my only chance to show what our culture possesses. If I only
play as a dalang, pentatonic music, consisting of only five
tones, will only be enjoyed by a small audience -- those few
wayang lovers." A pop path was unavoidably taken.

Luckily, Tejo then met Aiko Senosoenoto, now the director of
PT Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia (EKI), a newly founded
company in Indonesia's music industry. "We shared the same vision
that life is not only based on empirical experiences but also on
rational ones that can be turned into empirical ones," mused
Tejo. It simply means, he continued, "living is how to make your
dreams come true".

This philosophy rang true when every producer said his album
would not sell and Tejo proved otherwise, although he considers
it bitter luck. "If the May riots had not happened, and the
Glodok Mafia, the main distributors of cassettes, were still
strong, my album would not have found its way into the stores."

Now he is recording his second album due for release in mid-
August. Unlike his first album, Kan Tak Kami Tak Makan (We don't
Eat), this one will feature 11 Indonesian songs and only one with
an Indonesian-Javanese mix.

Tejo wants to show "the strength of words as a sound is not
the only verbal tool of expression".
As a traditional dalang, Tejo has always understood the function
of words. "All narration in Javanese Pedalangan (the art of
puppet masters) contains nothing but well-structured and fine-
tuned wording. It's almost like music itself," explained Tejo. He
applied this to his debut album, and now his second has made the
transition from Javanese to Bahasa Indonesia. "It's much harder
with Bahasa. It's not as rich as Javanese or other local
languages which I truly understand since Bahasa is still in the
making," said Tejo.

Tejo again returns to his ideas on western-fixated cultural
consumption. A problem which he has seen everywhere, including in
Mongolia where he was invited to a festival last June.

"Mongolians have this terrific vocal technic known as khummi
(for men) and urttindo (for women). It's how to harmonize two
voices - with different tones and melodies - at the same time.
But I visited their schools, and they were taught how to sing
western opera," said Tejo.

Tejo blames the education system, saying it fails to introduce
Indonesian culture into school curriculum. Does he intend to be a
traditionalist? "Not at all. I don't see it as my task or
calling. I just think it's a sad thing if our children die
without knowing that there's a pentatonic musical scale besides
the western diatonic one. There are plenty of versions of them
found in Java, Flores, Bali, Sumatra," he said.

As well as promoting his album, Tejo is also working on a more
idealistic program. Together with three other young dalangs he
has founded Jaringan Dalang (Dalang Network). "It's an
organization which deals with modernizing wayang to follow the
current sociopolitical movement, including introducing them to
the next generation," said Tejo proudly.

Although himself a son of a dalang, it was not until he moved
to Bandung to study at the Bandung Institute of Technology that
he learned to play gamelan and the art of the dalang.

"My father never specifically taught us, although it always
surrounded us. The six of us would help him to prepare his show.
During my high school years in Situbondo, I disappointed my
father as I was actually embarrassed of his profession when my
friends came around and my peers had started to play in bands.
Wayang seemed so old-fashioned," confessed Tejo who gave Rosana
Nurbadi, his wife, a performance as her bridal present a decade
ago. "I only had Rp 40,000 from my mother."

Tejo fell in love with the sound of the gamelan after
listening to its music on the radio while living in Bandung.

"I learned it in a week, and surprised my father back home. He
was so touched he allowed me to carry his name," said Tejo, whose
original name is Agus Hadisujiwo.

The future looks challenging for Sujiwo Tejo who will
certainly tread a path as prolific as his talents. But at the end
of the day, he says "I just want to be like my father. Totally
doing my art".