Writer-musician Dewi emerges from 'shell'

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 03/19/2006 8:29 AM | Life

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A double-launch was held Wednesday at the Piano Bistro on Jl. Wijaya I, South Jakarta, featuring musician and writer Dewi Lestari's new works: a short story anthology and a ""companion"" CD.

Filosofi Kopi: Kumpulan Cerita dan Prosa Satu Dekade (Coffee philosophy: A decade's collection of stories and prose), published by Truedee Books in collaboration with Gagas Media, compiles 18 short stories and prose pieces. Written in orthodox Bahasa Indonesia, Filosofi Kopi is the first anthology released by Dewi, who writes under the pen name ""Dee"".

Essayist, senior journalist and literary critic Goenawan Mohamad writes in the foreword: ""Uncomplicated, in fact quite brilliant ... There is an English word, wit, that can perhaps be translated as cerkas (vivacity, verve). This collection of prose will revive the cerkas of Indonesian literature.""

A concise tome of 134 pages, several prose pieces span a mere two pages in length, but read like a snapshot that evokes mood and reflection.

Meanwhile, Out of Shell, a self-produced album under the Truedee label, contains eight ballads in English. Linked by imagery of heat and cold in various forms, as well as by the juxtaposing themes of flight and belonging, and of strength and vulnerability, the album as a whole appears to traverse a journey of self-reflection.

Dewi made her breakthrough on the literary scene in 2001 with her cult-pop bestseller Supernova, then followed with its prequel, Supernova: Akar (Supernova: Roots). The lyrical prose contained within Filosofi Kopi, which alludes to the musicality of the written word, along with the complexity of nostalgia and longing contained within Out of Shell, appear to indicate a new emergence -- at once brave and demure -- for this multitalented woman.

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