Winners' guitar concert draws large audience

JAKARTA (JP): It was a classical guitar winners' concert that ensured a packed-hall audience of more than 350 people in South Jakarta.

The evening looked bright when Wildan Kamil Arifin appeared on stage clutching his amplified classical guitar. Soon after, he belted out five classical pieces including Asturias composed by Issac Albeniz and Vals No. 3 by A. Barrios Mangore.

An oversized picture of him picking up the guitar was projected on a white screen in the background.

As was expected from a winner, Wildan played his instrument with utmost confidence as did the four other players that evening, including Daniel Tjahja, Rahmat Raharjo, Ridwan Budihutama Tjiptahardja and Jubing Kristianto.

Apart from Jubing, who played some popular Indonesian tunes in classical guitar style like Naik Delman (riding a horse-drawn carriage) composed by Pak Kasur and a traditional Minang song Kampuang nan Jauh Dimato (home away from the village), all the rest played the works of great guitar composers like H. Villa- Lobos, F. Tarrega, J. Rodrigo and J. Malatz.

Wildan, the youngest player in the group, was winner of Indonesia's Yamaha Guitar Festival in 1999, when he was 16 years old, and in 2000. The concert was held at the Yamaha building on Jl Gatot Subroto on Saturday Aug. 25.

Wildan and Rahmat are taking part in an ongoing Spanish Guitar Awards festival organized by the Spanish embassy in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education and Philharmonic Society. Finalists of this festival will compete for top places on Oct. 3 to 5 at Gran Melia Hotel in Jakarta.

Rahmat, a guitar instructor at both the Yogyakarta-based Institute of Arts and the Indonesian Music Foundation, was the guitar festival wonder boy, having won top prize three times and runner-up four times.

The others have won at least one guitar festival in recent years. Of the five players, only Rahmat and Ridwan are fulltime guitarists. Wildan is a university student, Daniel a businessman and Jubing a journalist.

The concert was the second one held by the Music Foundation of Indonesia.

John R. Legoh, a senior guitar instructor at the foundation said that it planned to hold a regular classical guitar winners' concert. (hbk)