Twilite Orchestra launches album feting national songs

JAKARTA (JP): Twilite Orchestra conductor Addie M.S. bowed his head and stretched his cheeks with the palms of his hands, as if cowering from a scolding or terribly ashamed of something he had done.

There was none of that. He was merely overcome by shyness after praise was heaped upon him by Youk Tanzil, the general manger of Teater Tanah Airku opera house, who recorded the national songs arranged and conducted by Addie and Singgih Sanjaya.

With help from vocalists Rita Effendy and Agus Wisman, Twilite Orchestra Choir master Aida-Swenson Simandjuntak and the 60- member Victoria Philharmonic Orchestra from Melbourne, Australia, Addie wrote symphony orchestra arrangements for a collection of national songs.

The album, Simfoni Negeriku (Symphony of My Country) was launched on Tuesday evening at the Jakarta Hilton Hotel. It contains 10 songs, including the national anthem Indonesia Raya (Great Indonesia) by the late W.R. Supratman, which still bears the footprint of the old arrangement by the late Jos Cleber due to strict government regulations.

Other songs include the late R. Kusbini's Bagimu Neg'ri (For You, My Country), H.S. Mutahar's Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) and Syukur (Thank God), the late Ibu Soed's Tanah Airku (My Homeland) and the late Ismail Marzuki's Rayuan Pulau Kelapa (The Lure of The Archipelago) and Indonesia Pusaka (Beloved Indonesia).

Addie, 39, said inspiration for the album came 11 years ago when he heard a German national song in a symphony orchestra arrangement.

"I was so moved by it. It got me thinking that since our national songs have never been arranged as such and have never sounded so beautiful, why not try?" Addie said.

The husband of pop vocalist Memes felt that he could do some "extra reworking" on arrangements and scores of some of the more popular national songs, so he went hunting for them in the archives of the state radio station RRI. He could not find them.

"They were not available. I had to start from scratch," he said.

The project took three months and cost nearly Rp 1 billion eventually bore fruits and the recording company PT Aquarius Musikindo joined up to handle distribution of the album. Around 50,000 promotional CDs have already been distributed to schools, educational institutions, embassies, government offices and libraries around the country, while 600 have been handed over to the Ministry of Information's directorate general of radio, television and film to be forwarded to both government-run and private TV stations.

One thousand CDs and 5,000 audio cassettes will be distributed to around 800 music stores nationwide, but Youk does not expect to make a particularly high commercial return on the venture. "Still, I do not expect much from sales, because people are not inclined to listen to national songs unless during major national events," Youk said.

Addie added that the classical music market is too limited to give the venture much hope of commercial success. "This was purely an idealistic project... and it has been fulfilled," he said. (ylt)