around the world in thirty three years
30.3.06

well, it’s not really around the world,
but on 28th March 2006,
I’m officially a five-continent traveler :-)



it all started in 1976
when a four years old was carried along by her parents
to live in a small town in rural Australia

twenty nine years later
she had seen more cities than just Armidale
and witnessed the amazingly created landscape and scenery,
made acquaintance with people from various ethnicities,
heard numerous tongues spoke different languages,
learned about the cultures and traditions of the world;
and thus realizing what an amazing world
she has been brought into.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"
I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world
-- "What a wonderful world" by George Weiss and Bob Thiele


Asia (Hongkong – Indonesia – Israel – Jordania – Malaysia – Qatar – Saudi Arabia – Singapore – UAE)
Africa (Egypt)
America (USA)
Australia
Europe (Austria – Belgium – Czech Republic – France – Germany – Hungary – Italy – Netherland – Slovakia – Spain – UK)

penciled by -rino @ 2:09 PM


Akhir minggu yang penuh nyanyian
14.3.06

(atau penuh makanan ya???)

Jumat 10.00 Rapat persiapan acara pernikahan seorang teman (yang belum mau disebutkan namanya) di Black Coffibar.
Karena konsep acara yang diinginkan kedua calon mempelai (hihihi) adalah ”musical”, susunan acara yang dibuat jadi sedikit berbeda, dan masih ada pe-er untuk memilih-milih lagu. Rapat kemudian berlanjut ke acara makan siang di Ciganea.

Jumat 19.30 Jemput Budi Susanto, sang komposer, di Bandara Husein.
Seharusnya sih pesawat mendarat di Husein Pk. 19.00, tapi berhubung berangkat dari Surabaya pun sudah terlambat, ya akibatnya kita harus menunggu di sana. Dari Husein, langsung menuju Sierra untuk makan malam.

Sabtu 10.30 Rapat Tim Artistik ITB Cultural Tour (ICT) 2006 bareng Budi di Dapur Cobek.
Karena lokasinya sudah di rumah makan, pastinya rapat juga dilakukan sambil makan siang.

Sabtu 13.00 Les vokal dengan Pak Indra Listiyanto di kantor.
Ternyata Pak Syamsuddin masuk kerja hari itu. Maaf sudah mengganggu, tapi suaranya OK kan Pak? Hehe...

Sabtu 15.00 Latihan ICT 2006 dengan Bang Daud Kosasih, komposer lagu ”Alamku Indonesia”.
Senang bisa latihan dengan Bang Daud, bisa gambaran yang lebih baik tentang lagu itu. Rencananya juga akan ada revisi di bagian akhir lagu, mudah-mudahan bisa membuatnya lebih klimaks.

Sabtu 17.00 Latihan ICT dengan Budi.
Kali ini yang dibahas adalah interpretasi lagu ”Luk Luk Lumbu”. Vokal kita kurang ”kampung”, menurut Budi. Hehe...

Sabtu 18.30 Break latihan, kabur sebentar ke resepsi pernikahan Ririn dan Ronaldi di Graha Manggala Siliwangi.
Benar-benar kunjungan tersingkat yang pernah dilakukan deh. Begitu sampai, mencicipi lidah saus keju, salaman, dan langsung angkat kaki lagi.

Sabtu 19.45 Masih latihan dengan Budi.
Sampai di kampus, sudah terlambat 15 menit, dan latihan koreografinya sudah dimulai. Hualah, pegel juga, sepanjang lagu harus mendak terus sih.

Minggu 8.00 Pemanasan dan latihan di rumah.
Sebelum mandi, latihan sebentar buat lagu-lagu yang akan dibawain di HKBP nantinya.

Minggu 10.00 Latihan dengan Eklesia di HKBP.
Kita akan nyanyi lagu ”Holy is He” sebelum khotbah nanti. Kok cowok-cowoknya sedikit banget ya yang datang.

Minggu 10.30 Bertugas sebagai song leader di HKBP.
Pak Pendeta sempat-sempatnya berimprovisasi meminta jemaat menyanyikan lagu yang tidak terdaftar. Untung lagu yang dipilih cukup populer dan pianisnya juga bisa memainkannya.

Minggu 11.00 Nyanyi lagu ”Holy is He” dengan Eklesia di HKBP.
Cowok-cowoknya akhirnya berdatangan dan kita nyanyi dengan lumayan bagus, menurutku.

Minggu 11.25 Akhir kebaktian di HKBP.
Nyempet-nyempetin ngobrol dengan anak-anak Eklesia sebentar. Eh, malah ditawari Bang Sudung ikut audisi Pesparawi Nasional. Wah, gimana harus bagi waktunya nih, apalagi Pesparawi Medan yang akhir Juni itu terlalu mepet dengan Choir Olympics Xiamen yang pertengahan Juli.

Minggu 11.45 Pertemuan dengan Seksi Kostum ICT di Hotel ITB Sawunggaling.
Sebenarnya rencana awal adalah pertemuan dengan Bu Tuti Cholid, calon desainer ICT. Ternyata si Ibu tidak jadi datang dan hanya mengirimkan rancangannya, jadi akhirnya kita bahas sendiri saja. Berhubung sudah lapar, pesan juga nasi goreng ikan asin Sawunggaling yang rasanya bener-bener asin :P

Minggu 13.30 Lanjutan latihan ICT dengan Budi.
Kali ini kita belajar koreografi lagu ”Janger” yang tetep penuh dengan mendak. Yah, diambil sisi positifnya aja deh, mudah-mudahan bulan depan berat badan bisa turun 3 kg ;-)

Minggu 15.00 Masih latihan ICT.
Setelah menari-nari di sesi 1, sesi 2 diisi dengan interpretasi lagu ”Keraben Sape” dan ”Janger”. Pak Indra juga sudah datang dan ikut mengusulkan jurus-jurus ”maut” buat koreografi. Hehe...

Minggu 17.00 Latihan ICT belum berakhir.
Di sesi terakhir dengan Budi, kita kembali berlatih koreografi. Kali ini semua yang sudah diberikan sebelumnya diulang kembali. Udah lupa semua ternyata…

Minggu 19.15 Berkunjung ke rumah Pak Tommyanto Kandisaputra di Kembar.
Ceritanya mengantar Budi yang mau beli CD. Beli apa borong nih, Bud? ;-)

Minggu 20.00 Makan malam di Kafe Halaman bareng Budi dan panitia ICT.
Ngobrol-ngobrol A, B, C; juga sempat terlontar beberapa ide untuk dana ICT yang sekarang sedang seret banget :-( Bambang Jusana a.k.a Bembi juga menongolkan diri karena mau ketemu dengan Budi.

Senin 12.00 Makan siang di Matematika.
Sambil makan kita mendiskusikan konsep musik acara ”In Memoriam Moedomo” dengan Pak Yudi Soeharyadi. Acaranya akan dilaksanakan 1 April di Aula Barat.

Senin 18.00 Diskusi dengan Bu Premana Premadi (Nana) dan Pak Taufiq Hidayat di kantor.
Yang didiskusikan dengan Bapak dan Ibu dari Astronomi ini adalah susunan acara pelepasan Pak Winardi besok dan juga lagu-lagu yang akan dibawakan. Bu Nana akan mengiringi dengan piano. Surprise juga mendengar Bu Nana yang akan mengiringi, selama ini aku kira hanya Pak Yudi nya saja yang pianis.

Selasa 7.30 Latihan untuk acara pelepasan Pak Winardi di Aula Barat.
Pemanasan dilanjutkan latihan. Untung lagu-lagunya mudah sehingga cepat dipeljari walaupun hanya sekali ini saja latihannya.

Selasa 8.30 Acara pelepasan Alm. Prof. Winardi Sutantyo (Astronomi) di Aula Barat.
Kita menyanyikan 2 lagu: ”Pie Jesu” dari Requiem-nya Andrew Llyod Webber dan ”You’ll Never Walk Alone” dari musical Carousel-nya Rodgers dan Hammerstein. Di lagu kedua, tampil juga dirigen tamu Fabian Kamaunang (alumni PSM dan Astronomi’83). Selain itu, Jodi Yulianto dan Mrs. Yulianto (Tina, red.) juga memainkan beberapa lagu duet trumpet dan piano. Sedih rasanya waktu melihat peti ditandu keluar Aula Barat dengan diiringi lagu ”Amazing Grace”.
Sepertinya apa yang kita nyanyikan cukup menyentuh banyak orang. Bu Cynthia Radiman (KI), Pak Bambang Hidayat (AS), dan Pak Oki Neswan (MA) semua bilang, ”Aduh, bagus sekali”. Pak Sembiring (MA) malah bilang ”Sampai berkaca-kaca mata saya”. Pak Maman Djauhari sempat bertanya, ”Tadi siapa penyanyinya ya? Harus nyanyi juga di acara Pak Moedomo.”

Sepertinya minggu penuh nyanyian masih harus berlanjut ke hari Rabu, karena rencananya...

Rabu 17.30 Latihan rutin ICT.
Mudah-mudahan kali ini ga pakai mendak-mendak lagi...

Rabu 20.00 Nonton ”Konser 3 Diva” di Sasana Budaya Ganesa.

Jadi, kalau ada yang bertanya, ”Kamu itu mathematician bukan sih?”
harus dijawab apa ya?

I've got a handful of songs to sing you,
I've got a heart full of love to bring you,
True love for you love, and love's a thing you keep,
So here's a handful of songs going cheap.
From “A Handful of Songs” by Jerry Rasmussen

penciled by -rino @ 5:11 PM


It takes 6 for a perfect performance
7.3.06

Way back in 1990, in one of our vocal group sessions,
our vocal instructor played a song performed by a then unknown group
and told us that this is what a vocal group suppose to sound.
The sound of the song was beautifully touching,
even for us eleventh graders who didn’t know much about
vocal technique, harmony, and composition.


It was love at the first encounter
which made me tried to find out more about the group.
This results in buying three albums during the next couple of years,
which then replaced by CDs when CDs started to be “in fashion”.
And the collection kept on growing until the ninth CD “Beautiful World”.

Last Saturday,
I heard again the beautiful sound that has been so dear to my heart.
The difference was then I could see the owners of those sounds for the very first time
and witness how their live performances can really touch people’s hearts.
When they sang “What the world need now is love”,
it seemed like I went back
to that first moment I heard a song (“The Quiet Place”, as I found out later)
by the amazing Take 6.

I know that I am not the same eleventh grader anymore,
and I have learned more about music and vocal technique through the years (Well, at least I should’ve learned).
Now I can hear a perfect pitch intonation that never once got out of tune,
songs’ compositions that have high difficulties with such close chords,
those well-in-time attacks and releases although no one was giving signs.
(Yea, timing should be from within. All we have to do is sing in one heart. I realize now that you are right, Pak Indra.)
I also hear dynamics that unites with the expressions of the songs,
vocal balance although they continually take turn in singing the melody,
and those 6 beautiful voices that amalgamates to become the one voice of Take 6.
(Probably it wasn’t really 6, there were 2 or 3 over tunes in some particular chords. But, hey, that’s another thing.)

It’s just like listen to their perfect recordings.
Only it’s much much better, probably 10 times better.
Because last Saturday I can hear new arrangements for some favorite songs,
see 6 people communicate to each other through music.And also I can see how they truly believe in a message; and with their skill and love for music they try to spread this message to each and everyone in the audience. And you know what, the message is about love, the very same thing that drew me to become a Take 6’s fan 16 years ago.

So Take 6, wherever you are;
(I’m sure you guys won’t be reading this, though)
I just want to thank you for the things that I had privilege to be part of last weekend:
about being confident in boldly declaring what we believe in,
about how it is important to be good in what we do
so that our message will be better accepted by others,
about not to be afraid to rise for a better and better bar
since, hey, you’ve shown us that almost perfect is not impossible,
and off course,
about how to give others attention and be humble no matter who we are.

You guys have been such a blessing,
may God bless you in everything that you do.

Something within me that hold the rain
Something within me that vanishes pain
Something within me that I can't explain
All I know I thank my God I’ve got something within me
from “Something within me” sung by Take 6

penciled by -rino @ 8:54 PM


The must see list
6.3.06

With the amazing (and amazing is an underrated comment) performance by Take 6 in Java Jazz Festival last Saturday, one name is gone from my “must see” list. Still far from complete though and there is still quite a big possibility for it to grow.

And here the list goes! (Have seen items written in blue)

Choirs:
Cambridge Singers
Hungarian National Choir
Oreya (Bremen Choir Olympics, July 2004)
Brigham Young University Singers
The University of Philippines Madrigal Singers

Conductors:
John Rutter
Eric Whitacre
Jerry Jordan (Bremen Choir Olympics, July 2004)
Gabor Hollerung (Bremen Choir Olympics, July 2004)

Groups:
Take 6 (Java Jazz, March 2006)
Il Divo
Neri per Caso
Amici

Singers:
Andrea Bocelli
Michael Crawford
Anthony Warlow (“Annie” Lyric Theatre Sydney, November 2000)
Barbra Streisand
Lea Salonga (“Flower Drum Songs” Mark Taper Forum Los Angeles, November 2001)

Musicals:
The Phantom of The Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre London, October 2001)
Les Miserables (Civic Theatre Newcastle, December 1999 & Palace Theatre London, October 2001)
Miss Saigon

Operas:
Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovani (SND Bratislava, Juli 2001)
Barber of Seville
Aida
La Traviata
Carmen (Divadlo Arena Bratislava, August 2001)
any opera in La Scala Milan

Looking again into the list, there are some names that should’ve been taken off some times ago; names like Bocelli, Crawford, and Streisand (tickets were way too expensive for a, then, postgrad student) or Ner per Caso (schedule collided with a more important thing which I already forget what it is now).

Which one will go off next? Hopefully it’s Whitacre, as I heard he’ll be in Xiamen Choir Olympics next July. Although his being there will be an extra pressure for us, since we’ll be singing his - again - amazing composition Water Night.

As for the rest of the list, there’s no plan whatsoever for the time being. :-)

Seeing is believing and I like what I see here.
I like where I am, what I'm feeling...
What are we doing? Can you believe it?
Oh well, I might as well enjoy this moment...
from Aspects of Love's "Seeing is Believing" by Andrew Lloyd Webber

penciled by -rino @ 8:54 PM