Trie Utami chooses to compromise in her new album

Trie Utami chooses to compromise in her new album

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): The pop music world never lacks female singers,
even though many rely on their glitzy appearance and the latest
technology to polish up the scuffs and stains on their voices to
succeed. However, this is not the case with Trie Utami, 30, who
has just released her fourth solo album, Aku Cemburu (I'm
Jealous).

Trie is a rarity in Indonesian pop music. Blessed with a
gifted voice that covers many octaves, she enhances this natural
talent with an extraordinary singing technique marked by rich
improvisation. With her long experience, she is now able to
master the falsetto.

She used to avoid this technique because "it was like a bumpy-
jumpy ride for me to go back to my normal voice smoothly after
using a falsetto."

In her new album she uses the technique quite a lot.

Iie -- as she is affectionately called by her peers -- also
has colorful musical skills. Having learned the piano from the
age of four, Iie submerged herself into music as an
instrumentalist -- performing with various groups, from school
bands to TV big bands like the 1980s Chandra Kirana Orchestra.

She can also play other musical instruments, including drums
and the saxophone. More than that, Iie is also a productive
songwriter. She has written 23 songs -- some of which were sung
by famous singers like Harvey Malaiholo and Utha Likumahua.

Iie, who formerly married Wiwie GV and is now the wife of Andi
Analta, started her professional career by joining widely
acclaimed fusion-jazz band, Krakatau, in 1986. Today, she is
still a member of the group.

"It was like a music school for me," Iie reflected.

Six albums and more compilations were born during her 12 years
with the group. Iie also enriched her musical portfolio by
winning prizes at several festivals -- one of them was the Grand
Prix Winner of The Golden Stag International Singer Contest in
Rumania, in 1992.

In between all of this, she produced singles and sang and/or
composed soundtracks for TV miniseries.

Despite all this impressive creative achievement and being
crowned BASF Award Winner for the Best Selling Album in the R&B
Category 10 years ago, Iie ironically is dubbed a singer who has
limited commercial value.

"They often 'warn' me not to sing intricately and that even
though my voice is good, it's not 'selling'," said Iie.

Nobody doubts her voice and devotion to good music -- but it
seems that the public fails to appreciate her multifaceted
musical talents due to her lack of pop star appeal. The 150-cm
woman is not like Reza, who is sensual, or the sexy Kris Dayanti.
She is just an affable girl-next-door.

"The voice is what I have," is always her statement.

The new album, Aku Cemburu, is her effort to go commercial.

Production began in 1995 but the release was halted since the
producer could not find a strong song to be highlighted as the
first single. Time passed until Iie and the recording company
realized that the contract was one year behind schedule. They
eventually renewed the contract.

"Finally they gave me this song, Aku Cemburu, by Harry
Tasman," said Iie. She liked it and wrapped the album.

It is indeed a "compromising" album.

"It's more like half the producer and half me," Iie confessed.

The producer wanted it to go R&B, like the current trend, yet
with more emphasis on easy-listening melodious pop.

"If everything had been up to me than I'd have gone very
'black' R&B," said Iien.

It means, if it had been up to her, she would have done it her
way -- by picking songs that would have allowed her to explore
difficult melodies, improvise to challenge herself to perform her
best singing techniques. In other words, she would have explored
an "intricate way of singing".

Instead of doing it her way, she conformed to more mainstream
easy pop tunes. "I don't challenge myself too much (in the
album), by not 'climbing' to reach the high notes or 'treating'
them as if I had to conquer a steep cliff as I did for Krakatau,"
said Iie.

Yet she was on her own for the production. She invited four
music directors to arrange 10 different songs rather than the
usual collaboration with a single music director. One of them is
Dodo Zakaria -- a big name of the 1980s pop scene.

"I know what I want. So I don't need a (dominating) single
music director to glue the whole album," said Iie.

She also "reinvented" herself. Now she is closer to the
accepted portrayal of a "pop diva" on the cover as well on the
video clip. Once known as "sanguine" and "dynamic" Trie Utami
("People used to call me bola bekel" - a small ball used in a
children's game, referring to her boundless energy), this time
she has posed as a more subdued, melancholic person on the sleeve
photographed by Pinky Mirror -- who also helped Kris Dayanti
adorn her portfolio with sensual photos.

"I think I'm much calmer now," she commented on her new image.

But is it in her character to go all mushy and melancholic
while in the past she belted out her love songs with limitless
expression -- whether performing solo or in a duet with male
singer Utha Likumahua?

Exploring various music styles is her nature. Iie has been
delving into everything from jazz, R&B, rock and dangdut to the
ethically charged music marked by local pentatonic or diatonic
scale -- by joining a group from Yogyakarta, Kiai Kanjeng, led by
poet and Moslem scholar Emha Ainun Najib.

"I'm lucky enough to find other 'playgrounds' in music," said
Iie, referring to her involvement to this alternative musical
group which performs a specific genre.

"I know where to find what I want to know - but certainly this
new album is a different thing," said Iie.

But the album is undoubtedly a compromise which is such a
waste of a rare talent like hers.

"I did compromise a few things, but not all," she retorted.
"If I agreed to sing a song they chose for me, I insisted on
singing it my way."

Still, it feels like a betrayal of her ability. Trie does not
need to push herself to win mass appreciation -- mostly marked by
the scale of the sales. It's not her territory.

It would be better for her to record a black R&B album as she
originally wished, or to explore other music genres she favors
which would bring out the best in her. True, this would put her
on the fringes of the glamorous side of pop music and result in
lower sales and reduced popularity. But her work definitely would
be appreciated by the more selective fans who applaud her true
virtuosity. Because that is how she started when she joined her
first professional band, Krakatau. And that is how Trie Utami the
singer was born.

Hopefully it's not too late. She still has another record to
make under the same contract and if she is lucky enough she will
be able to convince the producer to do it all her way. The
question is, will Trie Utami choose to dare?