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Arireda: Capturing Harmony
Reason to linger: With only their voices and a guitar, the duo introduces the public to some of Indonesiaâs finest poetry
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Reason to linger: With only their voices and a guitar, the duo introduces the public to some of Indonesiaâs finest poetry.(Courtesy of Yose Riandy) (Courtesy of Yose Riandy)
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span class="inline inline-center">Reason to linger: With only their voices and a guitar, the duo introduces the public to some of Indonesia's finest poetry.(Courtesy of Yose Riandy)
AriReda's recent album Menyanyikan Puisi (Singing Poetry) is arguably an album that will give you 'a reason to look up the words and poetry of Indonesian writers'.
Again, AriReda doesn't sing its own lyrics. They didn't even compose most of their songs ' they had help from musicians like Budiman Hakim, AGS Arya Dipayana and Umar Muslim.
But that's where the beauty of AriReda's music sets in: With only their voices and a guitar, the duo introduces the public ' or at least the audience at Teater Kecil ' to some of Indonesia's finest poetry and gives it a reason to linger.
We have a term for the kind of music that AriReda plays: musikalisasi puisi ' adding music to existing poems.
As elementary students, Indonesians became used to this kind of drill; harmonizing vocals while we read poems in turn. Musikalisasi puisi, however, is incomparable with other variations of music. Seeing AriReda run through its musikalisasi puisi was simply a wonderful experience.
Anyway, the concert, billed as the release party for the duo's second album, was a real testament to this quality. It was one of the warmest and pleasant concerts I've been to, as though it was planned by a great buddy instead of a promoter.
The intertwining vocals, the subtle guitar work and, most importantly, the poetry were wrapped in unbelievable harmony.
Right from the very start, the audience was in for a treat as the Bandung-based band Tetangga Pak Gesang (literally, Mr Gesang's Neighbor) opened the show.
Similar to AriReda in its simplicity and harmony, Tetangga Pak Gesang (consisting of duo Meicy and Arum) made for a good opener as with vocals in sync ' if a bit raw ' together; reminiscent of Indonesia's retro pop songs of the 1960s.
Then a good friend of AriReda, a writer and the owner of the nearby Tjikini café, Dharmawan Handonowarih, delivered a speech, saluting the duo and welcoming them to the stage.
And then there were two: Ari and Reda. Over two hours of music and a 27-song set, AriReda's concert was indeed very long. It featured poems by Sapardi Djoko Damono, Mozasa, Goenawan Mohamad and others.
They ripped the first part of the concert with songs like 'Pada Suatu Pagi Hari' (One Morning), 'Bunga-bunga di Halaman' (Flowers in a Garden), 'Kartu Pos Bergambar Jembatan Golden Gate San Fransisko' (Postcard depicting San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge) and others.
It was very wise to split the concert into parts, but I was apprehensive the interludes would be a mediocre affair. I was wrong. During the first break, noted poet Sapardi took to the stage to tell a story about how he had met AriReda before reading some of his poems.
The most unnerving poem that night was called Dongeng Marsinah (Marsinah's Tale), one that Sapardi confessed took him three years to finish due to the anger that would come every time he worked on the draft. It was a true event to see a legend read his poems ' a rare sight these days.
Teater Kecil couldn't have been a better place for AriReda to whip out its entire small but meaningful discography ' Menyanyikan Puisi is its second record in 9 years, after 2007's Becoming Dew.
Ari and Reda's voices reverberated with such grace that I couldn't help but smile all the way through. Two hours isn't normally a manageable length to sit through a folk music concert without betraying a yawn, but there was something about AriReda's warmth that was just arresting.
After playing songs including 'Dingin Tak Tercatat' (Unaccountable Cold), 'Di Restoran' (At the Restaurant), 'Nokturno' (Nocturnal), 'Hujan Bulan Juni' (Rain in June) and others, AriReda stepped aside for a third break to welcome the other musician on stage that night: guitarist Jubing Kristianto.
Jubing went on to give the nursery song 'Naik-naik ke Puncak Gunung' (Up and Up to the Mountain) some wizardry through his guitar-playing and played his song 'Hujan Fantasy' (Fantasy Rain) to a rapturous crowd, whose cheers almost drowned out Jubing's music.
Jubing stayed around for a while to perform a song with AriReda called 'Gadis Kecil' (Little Girl). That was the most jubilant song on the concert as Reda and Ari's harmony became a lot more energetic and dynamic.
Sapardi's poems Sajak-sajak Tentang Cinta (Poems About Love), Kuhentikan Hujan (I Stopped the Rain) and the encores Aku Ingin (I Want) and Ketika Kau Tak Ada (When You're Not Here) were then played to a solemn crowd.
With these songs AriReda said goodbye to the crowd and exited the stage. To be honest, there's only one word that lingered in my mind after leaving the building: harmony.
There was harmony in Tetangga Pak Gesang's music. There was harmony in how the words of Sapardi's poems danced. And then, needless to say, there was harmony in AriReda's music. It was a harmony that must have taken years to perfect.
Days after the concert, when asking Reda about the first thing she thought of whenever she heard the word 'melody', she said one doesn't force the other to change or to be the same.
'The differences are still there. They're even nurtured, because the marriage between those differences is what leads to beauty. From music to batik, singing to life problems, harmony is always somewhere to be found.'
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Entering their 34th year together as the contemporary-folk duo AriReda, guitarist/singer Ari Malibu and singer Reda Gaudiamo performed shows ' two nights of poetry and crisp harmony ' at the Teater Kecil hall of the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta.
