Fans of Michael Jackson must be familiar with the lyrics of the King of Pop’s 1998 hit Man in the Mirror. The song has touched the hearts of millions of fans and inspired them to do better in life.

One fan was a little girl who listened to the song repeatedly. The song stayed in her heart for so long and left such a lasting memory that it inspired her to change.

The girl was Maylaffayza, who would later grow up to become one of Indonesia’s most prominent and recognizable violinists. The music of Michael Jackson was enough to motivate her to change the music scene.

Maylaffayza certainly needed the song to constantly motivate her in her difficult journey through the landscape of the country’s pop scene.

“I was alone in the music scene. I tried in vain to gain the attention of people in the music industry and then I decided just go my own way,” she said.

She said that the music industry did not know what to make of her, a solo musician — a violinist, no less.

“Solo violinists are a novelty in show business.

“It was hard to break into the music industry. Meanwhile, pushing the idea was just too risky for them and for us,” her manager, Yasha Chatab, said. Chatab is also Maylaf’s husband.

Rather than waiting for record labels to find her, Maylaffayza decided to go for it alone. She started promoting herself as an indie performer.

“We started everything from zero. We saved money for producing and releasing my own record,” she said.

It turns out that being an independent performer was a wise career move. First, it allowed her to have complete artistic freedom, as she did not have to haggle with handlers from the recording companies about what was popular and what was not. Being independent, however, required her to become business savvy.

“I am a professional in show business. I am not a serious artist who does not try to make a living from their arts. I do this for a living, but I also want others to be able to enjoy my music,” she said.

Maylaf learned from performers such as English classical music crossover sensation Vanessa Mae and classically oriented Corrs Irish pop band about how to make it big in the music business.

Technically, Maylaf also learned from the best. Among her violin teachers was music legend Idris Sardi.

She learned to play the violin for the first time at the age of nine, after her uncle gave her the instrument.

She also took vocal lessons from some of the best teachers, such as  Elfa Secioria and Etta “Bertha” Herawati.

Becoming a violinist never crossed her mind. “I never thought of becoming a violinist, but as I grew up I had a feeling that playing the violin was going to be a big part of my life,” she said.

Her hard work and toil in obscurity paid off. She is now one of the most recognizable faces in the classical and pop music scene.

It seems that the discipline nurtured in her by teachers from early childhood finally did her good. She is known in the music business as a committed and punctual artist.  

“Maylaffayza can guarantee all her clients that her team will always be punctual,” she said, referring to herself in the third person. Sometimes she even arrives early.

She said that Maylaffayza is a brand that should be associated with integrity, honesty, creativity and artistic freedom.

It has not always been a smooth sailing for the artist, who was born Maylaffayza Permata Fitri Wiguna, — a difficult name to get right. It took five years before people started to spell her name correctly.

She started her professional career in music in 2000 but it took her eight years before she released a 10-track full-length album Maylaffayza was comprised of five instrumental and five vocal songs.

Maylaf billed herself as a pop-classical crossover performer, yet her debut album has a tinge of pop, blending various genres and styles. She was the album’s music director, producer and arranger. For the album, she received a helping hand from her former teacher, Idris Sardi.

Sardi was the only big name with whom she collaborated. Maylaf was confident that she had what it took to become a successful performer in the music business.

Another theme bandied around by Maylaf is liberation, which she understood as celebrating life to the fullest and true to herself.

One of manifestation of the spirit of liberation is the cover art of her debut album, which pictured her in a dress she called gliteratti —  a mix of masculine and feminine dress styles.

Self-liberation also meant she could get out of the box and was not afraid to try something new. Being a violin player does not mean that she has to dress in the drab and grey classical style.

The album sleeve also reinforced the rebel status that she tried to promote. Rather than a traditional pose, wielding a violin on her shoulder, Maylaf posed as if she was about to smash the violin in a gesture that gave a metaphorical finger to the musical establishment, classical or otherwise. The picture was an allusion to her intention of using violence as a means to rebel against the establishment.

Recently, Maylaf received a scholarship from the International Design School to pursue a Master’s degree in creative and media enterprise for successfully combining the power of the media and her talent and coming up with a strong band in the entertainment industry.

One of her work that fits the bill is the song Sukaria (Happy), a composition she wrote in 2009 that was inspired by people jogging at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sundays..

She waited for the right moment to release the song: the celebration of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The upbeat single was also adopted by a local television channel as the theme song for its 20th anniversary celebration. After the boost, the song has been all over the pop charts and has been downloaded for ring-back tones thousands of times.

Maylaf has shared her passion for music and its liberating power. She wants her fans to celebrate life.

— Photos courtesy of Maylaffayza Management

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