Traditional Sundanese music group enjoys popularity in Paris

Traditional Sundanese music group enjoys popularity in Paris

Kunang Helmi-Picard, Contributor, Paris

Ida Widawati, a singer of tembang sunda, or traditional Sundanese
songs, is no stranger to Parisian audiences.

Late last month, her group, Grup Seni Malati, opened the
Festival de Season here at the Maison des Cultures du Monde, a
forum for performing arts traditions of the world.

The opening concert was a resounding success, with fans
traveling from as far away as Amsterdam to hear Ida and her group
perform.

The second performance of the six-week festival was of the
Balinese Topeng Shakti female dance group led by Cristina Wistari
and accompanied by the female gamelan group, Mekar Ayu.

Performances from Indonesia continue to be well-attended here
in France, much to the satisfaction of the Indonesian Ambassador
in Paris, Adian Silalahi.

"It is very important for Indonesia that excellent cultural
performances be shown here. Although these groups are relatively
small, their impact is still widespread," he said after Ida's two
concerts.

Cherif Khaznadar, the Egyptian-born director of the Maison des
Cultures du Monde, invited Ida Widawati to perform in Paris for
the sixth time. Her previous successes on five occasions since
1991 was guaranteed to draw a large audience.

Ida's talent also found voice in a very popular 1993 CD
recording of her performance in the INEDIT/Maison des Cultures du
Monde series.

Ida was ecstatic with the enthusiastic reception, considering
the unusual fact that they had performed solely for an audience
who came specifically to see them.

"Whereas in Indonesia, we only play at occasions like weddings
or state banquets, in the background. It does make a difference,
because I can see that people really concentrate on the quality
of our performance here in Paris," she said after their first
performance.

The tembang sunda genre is said to have originated from the
time of the Padjadjaran Kingdom, which reigned in the area now
known as West Java, in the 15th century. Now, the tembang sunda
vocal and instrumental style has spread to the heart of Sundanese
West Java in the mountainous region of Preanger and in the towns
of Bandung, Cianjur, Garut and Sukabumi.

It is here in this region that regular tembang performances
are organized, during which amateurs and professionals alike take
turns singing on nostalgic times of the past or of romantic
trysts, among other popular themes.

Based in Bandung, Ida Widawati is to be found at the center of
an enthusiastic group of tembang sunda performers, and she is
constantly encouraging younger singers and musicians to continue
performing.

Soft-spoken and full of sparkling wit and humor, she says she
was mainly self-taught, although she was a one-time pupil of the
master tembang sunda singer Apung S. Wiratmadja. She has spent
most of her performing career researching songs and traditions by
herself, and has never attended an academy of vocal training.

Asked about the challenges faced in the long-term survival of
this traditional form of performing arts, she answered:

"The lack of public funding to carry out research and to
support young performers through scholarships. There is also the
phenomenon of the gradual loss of interest in Indonesia for
traditional performing arts due to, for example among the younger
generation, competition with rock concerts, for which tickets can
cost up to Rp 1 million a seat."

Here in Paris, Ida was accompanied by vocalists Nani Sukmawati
and Ujang Supriatna, while Ajat Sudrajat played the kacapi
indung, Dede Suparman the kacapi rincik and Iwan Mulyana the
flute. These performers form the core of the performing group
around Ida.

Ida's expressive voice ranges from the melancholic, to the
romantic and to the serene. She was the laureate of the Damas
Competition for tembang sunda singers successively in 1972, 1974
and 1976, which in turn helped launch her international career as
an interpreter of tembang sunda.

Ida is already preparing for her next tour abroad in December
this year, when the group will travel to the Netherlands.