Waldjinah's ups and downs to prominence

Waldjinah's ups and downs to prominence

Singgir Kartana, Contributor, Surakarta, Central Java

Fifty-seven years ago, a small girl sang a song while she watched
over four goats grazing in a field in Purwotomo, Laweyan, Solo.
The song, The Rainbow, was sung haltingly with a slight falter to
her voice. Still, the girl's face beamed as she was in high
spirits. Little did anyone know at that time that this same
little girl would grew up to become one of Indonesia's most
popular singers.

Fifty-seven years later, she has five grandchildren. She is
Waldjinah, a famous singer known nationwide for singing keroncong
and other traditional Javanese songs. She has made thousands of
songs popular on the hundreds of albums she has released on long
play, cassette and compact disc. Her golden voice has earned her
dozens of awards.

Waldjinah was born to a poor family in Surakarta on Nov. 7,
1945. She was the tenth child born to her parents, Sri Hadjid
Wirjorahardjo and Kamini. Her father earned a living as a laborer
painting batik patterns on plain unbleached cloth. Her mother
sold rice and Javanese salad at the Mangkuyudan intersection.
Every time her father took his drawings to the boss in Laweyan,
little Waldjinah would accompany him.

While she was at the batik-making factory, she listened to the
women workers singing traditional Javanese songs, such as
dhandhanggula, sinom and pangkur. She developed an interest in
these songs and tried to sing what she had heard.

When she was in the fourth grade at elementary school, she won
first prize in a traditional Javanese song contest open to
elementary school students in the Laweyan district. When she
entered junior high school, she began to sing keroncong. In 1958,
the Surakarta radio station of state-owned RRI broadcasting
station cooperated with the film-making company Perfini, then led
by Usmar Ismail, to organize a keroncong festival that used
Kembang Kacang (peanut blossom) as the compulsory song. Waldjinah
again won first prize.

Her success marked a new phase in Waldjinah's early career as
a singer. Lokananta, then the only recording company owned by the
state, gave her an opportunity to record her songs. Kembang
Kacang was the hit from her debut album, recorded on long play
vinyl records.

Unfortunately, Waldjinah could not continue her studies after
junior high school due to her busy singing and recording
activities. On February 12, 1961, she married Soelis Mulyo Boedi,
a mathematics teacher at a private junior high school in
Surakarta and also a singer of the Irama Sehat keroncong group
led by Gesang. She gave birth to five children during their
marriage: Bambang Hery Santosa, Harini Dwi Astutiningsih,
Erlangga Tri Putranto, Ary Mulyono and Bintang Nurcahyo.

In 1965, Waldjinah came in first during a national-scale
keroncong singing contest held by state-owned radio broadcasting
station RRI in Surakarta. She was invited by then president
Soekarno to the State Palace in Jakarta to receive an award for
her singing talent. Afterwards she received many more invitations
to sing and she was able to raise the standards of her family.

In 1966, Waldjinah and her husband set up Bintang Surakarta, a
keroncong music group. This group would accompany her during her
recordings and stage performances. Earlier, she joined other
groups, such as Ksatria, Irama Baru, Cempaka Putih and Irama
Sehat.

Two years after the inception of Bintang Surakarta, she
released her Walangkekek (Grasshopper) album. This song instantly
became a hit and would be recorded three more times. The song
earned her her nickname Walangkekek.

"During a Walangkekek promotional tour in Malang, two people
were crushed to death in the pushing and shoving to watch me
sing. I cannot forget this tragedy," she said.

In 1972, Waldjinah and her group performed in Suriname. The
proceeds from her Suriname tour went to building a house in
Mangkuyudan, Surakarta, where she still lives to this day. A year
after she returned from Suriname, she received an invitation to
perform in Singapore.

In her career as a singer, Waldjinah has traveled practically
all over Indonesia visiting places, such as Jakarta, Surabaya,
Malang, Lampung, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Bali, Ujung Pandang,
Manado, Maluku, Bengkulu and so forth. The foreign countries she
has visited include Malaysia, Singapore, China, Holland, Britain,
Greece and Japan.

Waldjinah has earned dozens of awards, which is evidence of
her loyalty to keroncong and traditional Javanese songs. In 1958,
for example, she was given an award as the Queen of Kembang
Kacang from Perfini. In September 1965, she received a prize from
then president Soekarno as the winner of a national-scale
keroncong contest. Then in February 1985 she got an award from
the Surakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Journalists Association
(PWI) in connection with National Press Freedom Day. Two years
later she earned an award from the then minister of public works,
Suyono Soerodarsono. In August 1994, she received an award from
state-owned television station TVRI in conjunction with the 32nd
anniversary of TVRI.

In 1993 she received the Bhakti Budaya (Cultural Dedication)
plaque from the Javanese Culture Institute of Surakarta. Two
years later she earned the Upakarti award from the government.
The next year she won the Citra Adhikarsa Budaya from private
television station SCTV. In 1997, she got the Budaya Bhakti
Upradana award from the Central Java governor. When she
celebrated her 54th birthday in 1999, she was bestowed with the
honorary name of Nyi Mas Tumenggung Hajjah Waldjinah Kencong
Laras Madyo from Pakubuwono XII.

On May 15, 1999, she performed in Japan at the Shizuoka Grand
Prix music festival held at Shizuoka Art Hall. After her
performances, she got an offer to record the songs composed by
Gesang, including, among others, World at Peace, Handkerchief,
Tales, Village Edge and the world-famous Bengawan Solo (Solo
River). "The performance in Japan was most impressive for us. The
public greatly respected my songs. Well, I have performed there
six times," she said proudly.

Although she started with keroncong, in 1995 she began to
devote herself to traditional Javanese songs, a blend of
keroncong and the Javanese gamelan. She later appeared as a
special guest in a performance by Didi Kempot. She has been
involved in the world of women singers of traditional Javanese
songs since 1990, particularly in the shadow puppet shows by Ki
Manteb Sudarsono and Anom Suroto. This performance was aired on
one of the private television stations.

Waldjinah's husband died in 1985 and she remarried. Her second
husband, Didit Hadinanto, and one of her children, Ari Mulyono,
helped her a lot in managing her group. Before the financial
crisis hit Indonesia in 1997, her group did not set a price for a
performance. Today, however, the group's fees are fixed: Rp 5
million for performances outside Surakarta, and Rp 2.5 million
for performances in the city.

Waldjinah has 31 long-play albums containing 242 songs that
she sings herself, and 176 cassette recordings boasting a total
of 1,524 songs. Unfortunately, nearly all recording companies
that recorded her songs have now gone bankrupt or been closed.

Waldjinah sings songs composed by other composers, including
Gesang, Anjarani, Nartosabdo, Didi Kempot and Manthous.

Some of her hit songs include Yen Ing Tawang Ono Lintang,
Walangkekek, Caping Gunung, Lara Branta, Nyidham Sari, Putra
Nuswantara, Putri Solo, just to name a few. Waldjinah has also
written some songs, such as Patience, Telo Tulodho, Kites and
From Darkness to Light. "Pak Gesang has helped considerably with
the lyrics of my own songs," she added.

Waldjinah's popularity did not happen overnight. She has
certainly been down the long and winding road of fame. She still
remembers how her mother objected to her ambition to become a
singer. Her mother, like most people of that time, believed that
a woman singer was tantamount to being a cheap woman.

What are some of Waldjinah's special qualities? Apart from her
golden voice and her unique voice manipulation, which is evident
from her singing, Waldjinah is a self-made person. She is also
very social and easy to be around. Even in her advanced age, she
always tries to look her best.

"Many people think I've had a facelift. In fact, I keep myself
healthy by drinking Javanese herbal concoctions. I have ginger
drinks or just plain tea," she said.

Waldjinah dresses quite casually, too. Her reasoning is that
she needs to wear the appropriate dress to conform with the
prevailing situation. The most important thing is that the dress
needs to be decent and pleasing to look at. She also believes
that the Javanese style of getting dressed has to be maintained.
That's why every time she appears in public she will wear her
kebaya (Javanese women's traditional blouse) and have her hair
put up in a bun.

"Someone asked me whether I keep up with the fashion trend. I
have just realized that every year this trend changes. Who on
earth introduces these trends? I don't care about these things,
in fact," she said smiling.

Artists may enjoy immense popularity and then later see it
slip away. Fame is fleeting. In Waldjinah's case, all through the
year 2000, there were virtually no requests for recordings. Then
she did not receive as many orders for performances as before.
Prior to the onset of the 1997 financial crisis, she got an
average of 15 invitations, but she only gets five invitations at
most these days.

This is no indication that Waldjinah is losing her fans,
although she said that the number of her fans had greatly
declined as the type of music and other trends are on the rise.
She said that only people aged over forty made up the majority of
her fans.

Despite the rather gloomy situation, Waldjinah has made up her
mind to devote herself to keroncong and traditional Javanese
music. She also has a plan to set up a music school, especially
for keroncong music and traditional Javanese music. This school
is expected to nurture young people's interest in keroncong and
traditional Javanese songs. This would ensure, she argued, that
keroncong and traditional Javanese music would not fade away.

Apart from singing professionally on TV or live on stage,
Waldjinah always finds time for her five grandchildren. She also
plants flowers in her front yard. Sometimes, she is invited to
sit on a panel of judges in local music or singing contests. Then
she regularly invites artists from Surakarta for a get-together
at her own house.

"One thing stands out in my career. It was the time when I
collaborated with Chrisye in 1999 for an album titled Satu Musim
(One Season). I felt honored to perform with him," she said.

She has all that a woman could ask for: a nice house in
Mangkuyudan, Surakarta, cars, luxury furniture and great
popularity. Her name has gone down in the annals of music
history. She has introduced the outside world to keroncong and
traditional Javanese music and songs. She deserves to be called
the real envoy of performing art. Her golden voice has made
Waldjinah a living legend who will be remembered from one
generation to the next.