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".