Violinist Idris Sardi: Discipline, awareness, farewell

Violinist Idris Sardi: Discipline, awareness, farewell

By Lenah Susianty

JAKARTA (JP): In Indonesia's music world, violin means Idris
Sardi. Ask people on the street to name an Indonesian violinist
and Idris Sardi will top the list.

"Idris Sardi and the violin have blended together and become
an image," said Suka Hardjana a musician and music observer who
prefers to put "jobless" as his profession on his card.

"Usually, instrumentalists do not have such a place in the
music world here, but Idris is a different phenomenon. It could
be his 'border crossing' musical philosophy," Suka said in a
booklet entitled Idris Sardi, an episode of an artist published
in conjunction with a concert to spotlight Idris' dedication and
role in Indonesian music held at Puri Agung Hall in the Sahid
Jaya hotel yesterday.

Border crossing means that Idris is not a fanatic who keeps
playing one kind of music and ignores others.

"I play everything, keroncong, dangdut, Indonesian traditional
music, jazz, rock, everything," Idris said in a press conference
held recently in conjunction with the concert.

At the very young age of 5, Idris, who was born on June 7,
1938, was taught classical music in a very disciplined manner by
his violist father Mas Sardi.

Each time little Idris broke a rule, his father slapped him or
shouted at him. The rules required that he be serious, on time,
clean, neat, honest and diligent.

When he was only seven, everything was centered around his
violin, with an hour of practice in the morning before going to
school, another two hours in the afternoon after school and then
another in the evening. The little boy did not have any time to
play.

"My father was not only strict about those things, but later
when I was older, he also forbade me from drinking, gambling and
chasing women," Idris said, adding that his father's spartan
teachings had made him a very disciplined person.

The young arranger and conductor of the Twilite Orchestra,
Addie M.S., who considers Idris as one of his teachers in
orchestration and music arrangement, confirmed this, saying that
Idris is so disciplined that sometimes he is not flexible.

"Idris is always on time and does not tolerate those who are
late," Addie told The Jakarta Post.

Russian teacher

Idris Sardi's second music teacher was a Russian named Nicolai
Varvolomijeff. The Russian, who was previously a member of the
Tsar Philharmonic Orchestra, fled to Indonesia on the brink of
the 1918 October revolution.

His first meeting with little Idris touched Varvolomijeff so
deeply that he willingly adopted Idris as his student for free.

"My father paid him, but he returned the money in the form of
music books," Idris said, recalling Varvolomijeff's soft and
gentle character which impressed him a lot.

Totally different from Idris' father, Varvolomijeff taught the
violinist with patience and affection. He corrected Idris'
mistakes by saying softly "God will be angry".

The close relation between Idris and the Russian resulted in
Idris' move to Yogyakarta where Varvolomijeff opened the so
called first Indonesian Music School. Idris was only 12 years
old.

Among Idris' schoolmates at the music school were boys which
are now well known in the Indonesian music world, including
Slamet Abdul Syukur, Paul Gutama Soegijo, F.X. Soetopo and
F.A.Warsono.

Learning at a school, where the teachers understood music
well, shaped and polished Idris' talent. During this period,
Idris was also trusted to play Radio Republic Indonesia's opening
score. There was no recording stem at that time, so at six every
morning Idris had to play Antonin Dvorak's Humoresque.

The pinnacle of this period of learning was when Idris played
Beethoven's Romance in G and Henryk Wieniawski's Legendeat a
concert of the Indonesian Music School Symphony Orchestra,
attended by Sardi senior.

"You played very well, maybe better than me. But there is
still a long way to go, I will send you to Vienna in 1955," Mas
Sardi told his son.

They turned out to be Mas Sardi's last words to his son and
the promise was not fulfilled. Sardi senior died, leaving behind
his seven children, a pregnant actress-wife Hadidjah and an ill
mother.

Idris, the oldest, immediately joined the Jakarta Studio
Orchestra to earn money to support his family.

"I consider it as the first step in my career development. At
that time, I was appointed as concert master and was the youngest
concert master they ever had," Idris said, adding that it was
1954 and he was only 16 years old.

Idris was first introduce to music outside classical pieces in
the same year.

"And then I realized that my classical music background only
helped me to know how to play other music technically. But it did
not provide me with the feeling and the soul of other music such
as keroncong and dangdut that I needed," he said.

Entertaining

Idris left classical music totally in 1955 and has since stuck
to the entertainment line. In the sixties, his most successful
time, he started playing Helmut Zacharias' chart topping songs
and earned himself the reputation as Indonesia's Zacharias.

The imitation of Zacharias' techniques is the basis of Idris'
style, "but, he has also developed this technique by exaggerating
the vibrations. Therefore people can tell which one belongs to
Zacharias and which one to Idris," Suka explained.

Idris' compositions are also special because of their
orchestral and instrumental forms, with violin as their
primasolist, he added.

During the sixties, Idris, in cooperation with singer Lilis
Suryani, presented Indonesian traditional songs accompanied by a
big orchestra. It was the first time that traditional music had
been treated this way so his arrangements, such as Jali-jali, Es
lilin, Teungteuingeun, became hits.

Idris also started composing music scores for films. Pesta
Musik la Bana (La Bana musical party) was his first composition
in 1960.

Today, there are 180 film scores, 10 of which have earned
Citra awards, the highest movie award in the Indonesian, for best
film music score. He has also attained international awards,
including at the 1970 Asian Film Festival for the score to the
film Bernafas Dalam Lumpur (Breathing in a Swamp).

"Idris' scores are considered by some people as too sweet and
sentimental," Suka said, "But that is not absolutely true,
because he treats the music not only as an illustration, but also
to enliven and interpret the film."

However, Suka acknowledged that melodramatic and romantic
films are Idris' specialization.

Obsession

Discipline seems to be Idris' obsession as well. In a press
conference early of this week, he announced that yesterday's
concert, organized by the Kompas daily, was his last because of
the lack of professionalism among Indonesian orchestral
musicians.

"Our musicians lack discipline and professionalism," Idris
said, "Some of them are always late for rehearsals, some of them
do not come at all, some of them come only to the last rehearsal.
Technically they are all right, they can play, but there is
something missing. They play without feeling and music is not
only technique but also feeling."

He said at first he tried to ignore this, but gradually he
felt guilty.

"I am responsible for everything I give to the public, because
it is the public who made me what I am today. I tried to make
them aware, but it seems useless," he said, adding that leaving
show business would be best for him.

"Idris is always serious about music. That is why I understand
his choice and we are already prepared to face any risk," Idris'
actress and singer wife Marini told the Post, adding that her
husband will not totally leave the music world.

As if to convince the public of their vow, Marini and Idris
launched a music agency called Griya Artissa recently.

However, Addie said that Idris' withdrawal from the Indonesian
music world will be a great loss to the country.

"Especially since our music is still far behind, we have a lot
of things to do to develop our music. We still need Idris Sardi,"
Addie said, in deep regret.