Symphonic Stanza for the Nation

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. The famous quote from one of the presidents of the US, John F Kennedy, has stayed with musician Sugiarto. He finally decided to ‘donate’ voices through free shows of national and regional songs.

KOMPAS/DAHLIA IRAWATI

Sugiarto

Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. The famous quote from one of the presidents of the United States, John F Kennedy, has stayed with musician Sugiarto. He finally decided to ‘donate’ voices through free shows of national and regional songs.

Sugiarto, better known as Ugik, is a music teacher and musician who usually performs at celebratory events. An ordinary person, he had no big dreams of contributing to the nation’s service. However, through the cadence of his melodious voice and the harmony of the stringed instruments that became part of his skills, Ugik hoped he could make some small contribution to his country.

One of the ways that Ugik achieves this is by taking the music group he cofounded, the Arbanat String Ensemble, to perform free “concerts” at elementary schools (SD) that were enthusiastic about having them. Usually, they prioritized suburban elementary schools. Later, Ugik invited the other music groups he cofounded, Soegeng Rawoeh and the keroncong-styled Kinjeng Kustik, to take part in these mini concerts.

The concerts revived regional and national songs among the elementary students. Today, such songs tended to be forgotten in favor of contemporary hit songs. In fact, it is now the now to hear children singing love songs with lyrics intended for adults.

“Don\'t worry, sir, you can invite us for free. The important thing is that the children are able to recognize and continue to love national and regional songs. At most, you need to only prepare 10 glasses of mineral water,” Ugik said, laughing. He was speaking on Saturday (27/10/2018) on the sidelines of the “Love for the Motherland Symphony” concert at SMP PGRI 01 junior high school in Dau, Malang regency. Ugik stressed that nationalistic songs must be introduced from childhood.

“Love the Motherland Symphony” is an annual concert and a kind of tribute to the nation from the music groups, which had invited elementary school students to sing national songs and regional folk songs together. During the mini-concert, they sang songs like “Gendhing Sriwijaya”, “Janger Janger”, “Indonesia Subur”, “Indonesia Pusaka” and “Gemu Famire”.

The symphony concert is usually performed on national holidays, such as Indonesian Independence Proclamation Day or Youth Pledge Day. Ugik has been doing this since 2005.

“I feel concerned because lately, our children do not know the national songs or local folk songs. They know more modern songs about romance. That is really ironic. How can their love for their homeland grow if they do not know the national songs or the folk songs of their own regions?” said the father of three.

Snacks

In 1998, Ugik was a violinist. His childhood interest in the violin prompted the communications graduate to abandon his professional career, which is common among communications graduates. His preoccupation with playing the violin drove his neighbors to dub him “tukang arbanat”, a seller of the traditional treat arbanat, a kind of spun sugar that is popular among children in Greater Malang. An arbanat street vendor usually plays a simple stringed instrument to call to his customers.

So Ugik named the music group he formed in 2000 the Arbanat String Ensemble. Originally a classical music string ensemble, the group later became better known for performing national songs and regional folk songs.

The Arbanat String Ensemble has five members: Ugik (solawa, an ancient musical instrument replicated from the Karmawibhangga Borobudur relief), Lu Image (violin and erhu), Albert Budianto (violin and erhu), Viola Farida Hasna (violin) and Nungki Nugroho (violin). Albert and Lu work as dentists, and been playing music with Ugik since they were dental students at Malang’s Brawijaya University.

How can Ugik and his fellow musicians go on a weeklong roadshow to perform free mini-concerts? How is it funded? The answer is that they hold the “Love the Motherland Symphony” concerts voluntarily. As for making money, Ugik and his fellow musicians in Soegeng Rawuh and Kinjeng Kustik usually perform for a fee at celebrations.

“The ‘Love the Motherland Symphony’ does not cost much. The schools usually provide the sound system. We come with our instruments and simply perform. We can also do this in an open field. It’s simple, said Ugik. “One of the problems is scheduling, because two of us are dentists. We usually wait until they have free time,” he said. Although the two Arbanat dentist-musicians are busy with their work treating patients, the two still make the time to perform and contribute to the country.

From the school visits they have made so far, Ugik realized that many students had generally forgotten national and regional songs. So have their teachers. It might be because they had never heard the songs at school, and certainly not outside of school. “Through this effort, we hope that the teachers at the schools will again teach national songs and folk songs to their students,” said Ugik.

Although he has never evaluated the results of his efforts, Ugik believed that national songs and regional folk songs would continue to exist as long as people continued singing them. “Many teachers ask us to keep coming back to teach their students. However, we cannot always do so, because we also perform for students at other elementary schools. So we usually ask the elementary teachers to make an effort to teach [the songs] their students,” he said.

Ugik and his friends are only a few of the people who still work in the service of this country. He accomplishes in a simple manner without fanfare. They just do it.

KOMPAS/DAHLIA IRAWATI

Sugiarto

Born: Malang, May 25, 1973

Wife: Melani Astuti

Children: Viola Kharida Hasna, Cello Afla Fauza, Melody Raeesa Nabila

Education: Bachelors in communications, Muhammadiyah University, Malang

Occupation: Musician

Activities: Private recital at the home of Ratna Indraswari Ibrahim (2002); “Love the Motherland Symphony” annual concert (2005-present); Traditional music concerts; Illustrator, theatrical music and dance; Keroncong musician