Tony Prabowo to stage Calon Arang

Tony Prabowo to stage Calon Arang

Composer Tony Prabowo and essayist Goenawan Mohammad are due
to collaborate in a contemporary music concert at Taman Ismail
Marzuki (TIM) arts center.

The event, scheduled for August 2006, is expected to include
five compositions, including Pastoral and The King's Witch
operettas.

The concert will involve musicians Joel Sachs and Stephanie
Griffin from the United States, choreographer Sen Hea Ha from
Korea and Batavia Madrigal Singers conducted by Avip Priatna.

"I will turn the text and the music (from Goenawan and Tony
respectively) into a stage play," director Yudi Ahmad Tajudin
told a press briefing recently.

Pastoral, a poem about happiness, will be performed by singers
Nyak Ina Raseuki and Binu D. Sukarman.

Meanwhile, The King's Witch is a legend about Calon Arang, a
witch from a small village of Girah, Kediri, East Java. Her
daughter, Manjali, cannot find a man to marry because all men are
afraid of Calon Arang.

The angry Calon Arang creates an epidemic that affects the
whole kingdom, which then prompts King Airlangga to assign Empu
Bharada to defeat the witch.

The legend is told from the king's point of view. It is
believed that Calon Arang and the people of Girah had their own
version.

The presentation attempts to portray another version of the
story about Calon Arang. "This is not an opera, but rather a
musical concert," said Goenawan who wrote the script.

The King's Witch was first staged in New York in 1999. -- JP