Eleven university choir groups collaborate in an August Ode #3 event at Bentara Budaya Jakarta on Friday (25/8).
The celebration of the Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia serves as an important moment for the gathering of hundreds of students and young musicians at Bentara Budaya Jakarta on Aug. 24-25, 2017. In their uniqueness, they collaborated for an ode to the country.
Two months ago, Andreas Lumampauw, 21, a student with Bunda Mulia University, coordinated with around 330 students from 11 universities to prepare for the Ode in August #3 event at Bentara Budaya Jakarta. Amid their tight schedules, they practiced and rehearsed for the annual parade at the “showroom of culture” at the Kompas daily newspaper.
“Four months ago, we started practicing three times a week for this event. This is a precious opportunity for us, a student choir, which is still very young. We were established three years ago,” Andreas said on Friday (25/8) before performing at Bentara Budaya Jakarta.
The choir from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Agria Swara, in the past three weeks had to allocate time every day for rehearsals. This August was the busiest month for Agria Swara as they performed in three concerts consecutively.
“This is our third concert this month. Previously, we performed at our campus and then performed along with composer Addie MS at Aula Simfonia Jakarta,” Agria Swara Choir deputy chairman Fahmi Kausar, 20, said.
The choir, which has won choir competitions at home and abroad, instills discipline in all members during practice. In order to stay focused, the singers are not allowed to bring their cell phones with them during practice.
Joint performance
After each choir performed on the first day of the Ode In August #3, on the second day all choirs mixed and collaborated with the band Didiet Violin Group. Despite only briefly rehearsing with one another for two days, they could perform together and sang eight national and traditional songs.
The parade on the second day at Bentara Budaya Jakarta kicked off with the national anthem “Indonesia Raya” composed by WR Soepratman to the tune of Didiet’s violin. Performing national songs is not a new thing for the young violinist. Last year, during the Youth Oath Day at Taman Ismail Marzuki, he performed “Indonesia Raya” using a violin belonging to WR Soepratman.
In the following show, the Didiet Violin Group performed “Garuda Pancasila”, “Bendera Merah Putih” and “Hari Merdeka”. Mirroring the dynamic spirit of young people, the medley started with drums.
After three national songs, Didiet and his band presented a mellow song composed by Guruh Soekarnoputra titled “Melati Suci”. The song, a tribute to his beloved mother Fatmawati, was played elegantly by Didiet.
Popular music
Two years ago, classical nuance was more dominant in the performance of Ode in August. This year, Ode in August was more fresh and popular.
Didiet tried to rearrange the songs into modern arrangements that suited a band format. In the parade, all musical genres were performed, such as pop, jazz, funk, rock, waltz and keroncong.
The variety of musical nuance appeared during the collaboration of Didiet with guitarist Jubing Kristianto and Dion Subiakto on drums and percussion. They performed “Bungong Jeumpa”, which started with Middle Eastern music, combining guitar, violin and percussion.
In the second song, all band members collaborated to perform the medleys “Sepasang Mata Bola”, “Candra Buana” and “Juwita Malam”.
The festive atmosphere of Ode in August #3 was even warmer with the performance of Lea Simanjuntak. Lea, with her communicative style, crooned “Belaian Sayang” and “Cinta Indonesia”.
The parade of national and traditional songs was cheered up with a performance by vocal group Jamaica Café, which presented “Indonesia Pusaka”, “Satu Nusa Satu Bangsa” and “Bendera”. Aside from presenting wonderful harmonies, the acapela group also performed a beatbox routine.
The collaboration of around 330 students from 11 student choirs returned to the stage for the medleys “Anging Mamiri”, “Kaden Saje”, “Ampar-ampar Pisang”, “Manuk Dadali”, “Cublak-Cublang Suweng” and “Gundul-Gundul Pacul”. At the end of the parade, all the performers presented “Indonesia Jaya” with conductor Ria Deni Sulistya.
Kompas chief editor Budiman Tanuredjo said at the campus that the students debated over Indonesia’s national condition during the Ode in August.
“Each year there are more participants. Let us love Indonesia. Do not be tired of loving this country,” he said.
Today, Saturday (26/8), at 6:30 p.m., the Ode in August 3# will play at the Driyarkara Auditorium at Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta.
