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'SAIA': Djenar Maesa Ayu's spontaneous celebration
Kartika JahjaâThese are things that make me want to live another thousand years,â writer and filmmaker Djenar Maesa Ayu said, referring to the audience and her friends on stage
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Kartika Jahja
'These are things that make me want to live another thousand years,' writer and filmmaker Djenar Maesa Ayu said, referring to the audience and her friends on stage.
Djenar celebrated her birthday by launching her short story collection titled SAIA, the stories of which were interpreted by a number of artists in a multiform and multigenre performance at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Jakarta that evening.
She said the evening was of great timing.
'Today is Jan. 14th, 2014. It is a special date because today I celebrated my 41st birthday and launched a new book,' Djenar says.
SAIA contains 14 short stories and a snippet of her future novel titled Ranjang (Bed). Djenar said that in her new book, she continued to discuss and put forward the theme of women and violence against them.
In the book's publication notes, SAIA is described as part of Djenar's 'consistency to voice silenced women, especially those who live in metropolitan society, exploring morality and sexuality in a straight forward manner'.
Three of the short stories that were previously published were Air (Water) and Dan Lalu (And Then) by Kompas and Mata Telanjang (Naked Eyes) by Esquire magazine.
SAIA the performance, directed by Agus Noor, featured diverse interpretation of the stories through songs, music, theatrical fragments, monologs and multimedia.
The performance opened with scene bits from Djenar's 2008 film Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet (They Say I'm A Monkey) on a screen at the center of a stage.
On the left side of the stage, multitalented songstress Kartika Jahja emerged in a hooded black dress and a pair of knee-high boots of the same color, reading aloud part of the short story Lintah (Leech), which was included in Djenar's critically acclaimed 2001 debut anthology Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet.
Kartika then belted out a song accompanied only the sound of a guitar played through sound effects and a synthesizer.
The screen then turned to show light and comedic interviews with Djenar's family and friends speaking about the writer. The interviews were abruptly stopped by a scene from Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet in which the main character shouts 'Heh, tau apa lo semua! (Shut up, what do you all know!)'.
Indie group Bonita and the Hus Band took over Kartika's spot as singer Bonita crooned a jazzy blues tune accompanied by acoustic guitar, saxophone and djembe percussion.
Kartika later returned to the stage reading Kulihat Awan (I See Clouds) from the SAIA anthology accompanied by six child performers from the Teater Tanah Airku theater troupe in a fun musical illustration.
The children's joyous performance accompanied the grim feel of Kulihat Awan. The fragment ended with a large white drape on the left part of the stage lifted to reveal a large iron bed.
Writer and singer Dewi 'Dee' Lestari went on stage to perform 'Firasat', a ballad she penned herself, to tingling piano played by her husband, Reza Gunawan.
As Dee's song ended, a giant white screen adorned with a large decorative mirror descended upon the right stage, providing a background for the next performer, actress and director Ine Febriyanti.
Ine performed a somber yet gripping monolog of Air from SAIA.
After Ine, the stage was filled by a row of musicians headed by Anda Perdana with his powerful voice. Then Imada sang a folk song tinged with keroncong and traditional Javanese tunes.
Imada then played the guitar accompanying musician and dalang (puppet master) Sujiwo Tejo howling Javanese tunes. Tejo sang two songs, but used the majority of his time telling anecdotes ' and roasting Djenar and other artists, garnering laughter and applause from the audience.
Rapper Iwa K then joined Tejo on stage to sing his hit 'Bebas' (Free) with Bonita. Iwa stayed on stage to accompany singer Oppie Andaresta with Anda and drummer Sri Aksana 'Aksan' Sjuman.
The musicians' performance culminated with an impromptu jam session after the stage manager confirmed that Kaka Slank was not going perform due to a scheduling problem.
The jam session ' featuring Iwa, Oppie, Anda, Kartika, Aksan and Bonita and The Hus Band ' served as the high point and was a true reflection of the whole event: the spirit of friendship kindled with appreciation of the birth of a new work.
The SAIA performance was closed by fiery poet Sutardji Calzoum Bachri singing a freestyle rendition of George Gershwin's 'Summertime' and Chairil Anwar's 'Aku' (I).
'I am at a loss for words. I can't thank my friends and those who have supported me through these years enough,' Djenar said.
' Photos by JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
