T

he popularity of the traditional Javanese musical style keroncong might have been declining in recent years, but one of its most celebrated figures, the late composer Gesang Martohartono, is still fondly remembered by musicians and artists alike.

Celebrating the memory of Gesang, who passed away in 2010, Galeri Indonesia Kaya at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta, recently screened a special documentary titled Gesang: Sang Maestro Keroncong (Gesang: The Keroncong Maestro).

The film highlights the legendary composer'€™s daily life and the creative process of composing his timeless masterpieces.

Documentary filmmaker Marselli Sumarno who directed the film said that he felt very fortunate to be able to screen it for the public as he had nearly lost all of the recorded footage and materials.

'€œThe filming began in 2004. I did not use digital technology to record the footage. Not long after the filming, I got busy with other projects and the recording tape was neglected for several years,'€ Marselli said.

'€œA couple of years ago, I opened the recording tape container and the materials were almost destroyed. There was a lot of dust on it but fortunately, I was still able to save it and edit it so that it could finally be screened,'€ he added.

Due to this, the visual and audio quality of the documentary was somewhat mediocre. The film was grainy, the colors had a very high contrast and the audio was not very clear in most parts of the interviews with Gesang.

Marselli also did not put subtitles in the documentary and this made it even harder for the general audience to understand what Gesang said, since he often spoke in a mixture of Indonesian and Javanese.

Despite of the flaws of the documentary, it is still an important work that immortalizes Gesang and will allow the younger and future generations to appreciate his legacy.

One of the main highlights in the documentary is a scene in which the then 87-year old Gesang shares his views about songs and how he approached the creative process in composing a song.

'€œYou have to treat a song you are about to compose as if it is your own child,'€ the composer who wrote 42 songs over his career said in the documentary.

'€œYou have to embrace it, nurture it and develop it until it reaches its complete beauty.'€

Gesang also said that most of his inspiration came from his own observations of his daily life and surroundings like in his greatest masterpiece, the '€œBengawan Solo'€ song.

'€œBengawan Solo'€ is not just a part of Indonesia'€™s musical treasure chest, it has also become somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon.

The song initially gained prominence among the local Javanese community. After several radio stations aired the song during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, some Japanese soldiers took a liking to it and translated it into Japanese.

The song was also popular among war prisoners, especially the Dutch, in Japanese camps. The melody somehow appealed to those longing for their homeland in Europe.

When World War II ended, some surviving Japanese soldiers brought the translated version of the song back to their country. The Japanese people, who were facing devastation after the war, also fell in love with the mellow mood of the song and soon it become a bestseller covered by popular singers in Japan.

At present, the song has been translated to at least 13 languages.

According to Gesang, the inspiration for the internationally acclaimed '€œBengawan Solo'€ song came to him when he was observing the dried-up Bengawan Solo River during the summer of 1940.

In the documentary, Gesang explained about '€œBengawan Solo'€ as he sat in a boat floating on the river. According to Marselli, the scene was the only surviving footage that showed Gesang sharing a screen with the river that inspired him to create his most well-known masterpiece.

Marselli said that during the time he spent with Gesang, he saw that the legendary composer was both complex and simple as a person.

'€œHe can be very naïve but he also has this depth, which was possibly triggered by a painful romantic experience that made him a great composer,'€ Marselli said.

'€œHe was divorced and he never married again. He also did not want to talk about this painful experience, but he clearly translated his pain into romantic and mellow lyrics that are often found in his songs, such as the words of '€˜Jembatan Merah'€™ [The Red Bridge], which tells a story of a man who will wait an eternity for the return of his lover.'€

The film also features interviews with keroncong singers, such as Waldjinah, who give their testimony about Gesang and his influence on the genre.

'€œPak Gesang has this ability to create a song that has lyrics that are truly compatible with the melody. Everything is perfect and in balance,'€ Waldjinah said.

'€“ JP/Hans David Tampubolon