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Ananda Sukarlan: His Unending Dedication
Ananda Sukarlan - Courtesy of Ananda SukarlanRenowned composer Ananda Sukarlan finds it odd that many Indonesian kids speak English all the time
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Ananda Sukarlan - Courtesy of Ananda Sukarlan
Renowned composer Ananda Sukarlan finds it odd that many Indonesian kids speak English all the time.
As one of the greatest living pianists and classical composers this country's ever had the misfortune of letting go so quickly, Ananda Sukarlan's story speaks of a larger issue.
In Indonesia, classical music has always been known as a segmented field, but never a largely ignored one. Well, according to Ananda's repeated lamentations, it is.
That issue is crystallized in the government's consistent orphaning of classical music and its growth. Ananda recently wrote an opinion piece lamenting the lack of subsidies for classical music shows.
As a result, the room for growth is next to nothing. 'I've done the best I can, but so far it's nothing,' he said with a sigh.
Ananda is a man qualified to be frustrated about this. He's one of the few classical musicians from Indonesia and he's reaped myriad of awards ever since his career took off when he was still in his 20s, one of which was the country's prestigious cultural award presented by Culture and Education Minister Anies Baswedan this year.
This reeks of wasted potential. Ananda then explained that it is.
Ananda, who lives in Bilbao, Spain, said that ever since the Guggenheim ' a museum of modern art ' was built in the late 2000s, it became not only a landmark, but also a marketing opportunity. Thousands came to Bilbao for the major attraction. 'If a state is a shop, then art is the display window,' he said.
Salsburg is similar to Bilbao in a way. As the hometown of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ' which it clearly states in every TripAdvisor description you can find ' the government of Austria capitalizes on its potential to a great result, which means profits going into state coffers. If you think it's a shame that the Indonesian government fails to see this opportunity, wait; Ananda's not done yet.
'Rapsodia Nusantara' was an epic composition that Ananda wrote to critical acclaim. It has since been played by hundreds of pianists from Indonesia and overseas. But the composition itself is licensed as Spain's intellectual property.
'Indonesian laws on intellectual property are not clear,' he said, adding that when he receives royalties from covers, the money he has to pay in tax belongs to the Spanish government. Also, just imagine the profit from selling the sheet music.
Not only that, but classical music generates interest. Again, Ananda used 'Rapsodia Nusantara' as an example. Say Argentinian pianists who played the piece became curious about what our deal was, Ananda said. They could ask, 'What is it about the Indonesian understanding of how rhythm works: the tempo and everything?'
His frustration was understandable. He has been fighting hard for this ' he has curated a host of young underprivileged musicians under his Yayasan Musik Sastra Indonesia music foundation ' but as a regular 47-year-old guy, he's tired of it as well.
Why would the government miss out on this huge opportunity? 'Classical music is still very segmented, but still, the government could change this if it wanted to,' he said.
So far, it doesn't want to. But how about the people? How about those who teach their kids that the only way to get ahead in life is to exclusively speak English all the time? The conversation then travelled to a familiar phrase: inferiority complex.
'Many of our classical musicians back home are still ashamed of playing Indonesian compositions. Aren't they supposed to be our weapon?' Ananda said.
'For many people playing classical music, they still think it's cool to play Beethoven or Mozart or other European compositions,' he said.
To be fair, he admitted he thought the same way when he was first starting out. Why did he change his mind to the other extreme, then? 'I went abroad for my career. Most of them didn't.'
Giving a somewhat innocuous example to illustrate the nation's inferiority complex, he then explained that the Japanese dish sashimi is also known by the same name in Indonesia.
On the contrary, in Europe, nasi goreng is best known as fried rice and lumpia are known as spring rolls.
That's why he said he would refuse any translation of his composition. 'Rapsodia Nusantara' is and should always be 'Rapsodia Nusantara' everywhere ' not Indonesian Rhapsody.
As an avid user of Twitter, Ananda also finds social media a great way to spread the word in an otherwise dusty classical music field. Incidentally, he doesn't like the term 'classical music' ' musik sastra (written music) is more his thing.
There's really no more reason to doubt the potential of classical music, as Ananda's unending dedication to his craft allows him to say.
Much like his career, people could say the same thing about his fight for the relevance that classical music deserves: It's still going.
'I'll keep on moving, only because I don't feel satisfied with all this. There's always a peak from which we go down, but there's why I keep on moving.'
