'Titian' serves up superb entertainment

'Titian' serves up superb entertainment

By Y. Bintang Prakarsa

JAKARTA (JP): Titian (literally, footbridge), was a lovely and
entertaining performance at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on March 11
and March 12 that deserved more than its meager audiences.

It was a concert using human voices, various instruments and
other sound sources, fusing music, stage art and dance and
movement. Produced under the supervision of the young
choreographer Boi G. Sakti, it introduced spatial dimensions that
made the music more telling.

The stage set did not have a decorative function only, but
served a musical purpose. Many antiphonal renditions between
groups of performers were made effective by placing the groups on
separate platforms (right-left, front-rear, low-high). Admirable
singing, playing and movements were accomplished by 12 New
Jakarta Ensemble instrumentalists and 17 female and male dancer-
vocalists from the Jakarta Arts Institute.

Of course much of the credit must be given to the resourceful
composer, Epi Martison, an instructor of dance music at the
Jakarta Arts Institute who, in the last 15 years, has gained
broad national and international experience, and lately has been
associated with composer Tony Prabowo.

Two contrasting works were performed during the first half of
the performance. The first, Titian Jemari, used various stringed
instruments (Batak, Dayak, Chinese, Western, etc., plucked and
bowed), a flute and voice. Using drones, understated dialogue
between the instruments and vocal incantations that never reached
extreme loudness, the piece suggested a tranquil and reverent
mood.

The next composition, Titian Bundo, was a collection of
various vocal utterances with stunning variety. There was much
singing and non-singing, as well as an eerie contrast between
processions and haunting pentatonic chants, sung by an ensemble
against a choral ostinato, which evoked the atmosphere of a
religious ritual, and violent movements and fast changing
configurations, clanging chamber pots, gargling and spitting,
wild screams and shrieks of jungle animals.

The two other pieces, Titian Nasib and Titian Bunyi, were
kaleidoscope of timbres. Here, families of instruments or sound
sources were used successively or against each other. In Titian
Nasib, the families were flutes (including a didjeridu), bottles,
glasses, percussion and voice. In Titian Bunyi, there was
earthenware, drums, bells and small metal and wooden objects,
each group contrasted more than in the previous piece. Dramatic
effects were created with the booming earthenware (struck on its
mouth by the palm), the sharp and penetrating drums and the
clicking and ringing of small objects played in quick succession
or simultaneously. This was the most exuberant piece, aptly
closing the concert.

One critical note. The materials were abundant, the technique
excellent (the drumming was marvelous), but then what? Many
Indonesian composers of contemporary music devote so much of
their energies in creating new sounds, they neglect the higher
ordering of their new-found world.

They are weak in analysis and structure (see my review in The
Jakarta Post, Oct. 2, 1999, on the failure of Sujiwo Tejo's
ensemble to respond to Steve Reich's Six Pianos -- an irony
because Reich based his piece on interlocking rhythmic patterns
found in Balinese music). Titian Bunyi used similar patterns, and
this technique alone can be sophisticated by using the canon,
polymeter, polyrhythm, mathematical permutation, as well as pure
virtuosic development.

By manipulating these variables, the composer can achieve a
clearer, delineated scheme, which in turn would enhance its
dramatic effect.

Nevertheless, I still think this was attractive and well-
crafted music, with many memorable moments, especially the
chanting. It really deserves a repeat performance.