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Sandhy Sondoro sings to put Indonesia on the map
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Indonesian singer-songwriter Sandhy Sondoro won first place at the International Music Festival at the White Nights of St. Petersburg, Russia in early July. (Courtesy of BestBeat Music/File)
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fter enchanting Russia to win the grand prize at this summer’s White Nights of St Petersburg international singing competition, Indonesian singer-songwriter Sandhy Sondoro is determined to serenade a bigger global audience.
Sandhy sung two songs at the event held on July 8-10, which saw 14 singers from 10 different countries go head-to-head in the three-day competition.
Held at the Oktyabrsky Grand Concert Hall, Sandhy sung his own song "End of the Rainbow" on the first night of the event. The 43-year-old singer followed up his performance by singing a cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" on the second night and cemented his position in the first place before the competition was even over.
"This is for Indonesia," Sandhy said of his win during an interview with The Jakarta Post in Jakarta earlier this month.
The international stage was a good platform to put Indonesia on the music industry's map, Sandhy said. The event also provided a networking opportunity for possible projects in the near future, given that at the after party he got to mingle with Kid Creole, Dr. Feelgood and Alejando Irizari.
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Sandhy expressed the hope that the performance also helped him to become better known among Russian audiences. Noting that people would at times mock the idea of "fame", the singer was straight forward about the necessary element in his chosen career.
"It's a fact, you have to be famous to get lots of gigs wherever you are," Sandhy said.
The singer, who moved to Berlin after graduating high school to study architecture, also began his career as a singer in Germany and is no stranger to European audiences. His most well-known achievements in the past include winning the 2009 New Wave, an international contest for young pop singers.
He's not stopping there. Since diving into the music industry in 1998, Sandhy has nurtured an ambition to tour the world. That goal right now begins with the UK, with performances expected to see him tour at least three cities in October, one of them being Manchester.
When asked the place he would most like to perform in, Sandhy answered Brazil. He admires the way the Latin American country is able to inject its traditional rhythms into popular music, such as Samba and Bossa Nova.
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"Because they believe in their own ability and their own culture. We can learn from that here, for example, maybe in how to urbanize dangdut music," Sandhy said.
Before conquering further international shores, however, the singer is slated to drop a new album in Indonesia within the next few months. Without specifying a date for the anticipated release, Sandhy said the seventh studio album would include 11 new songs.
Beyond his own music, he said he's ready for collaborations with other international artists that could perhaps also include some Indonesian-inspired sounds into the pieces.
"Who knows? I don't know how it would work. That's something for us to figure out later," he said. (kes)
