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Jakarta Post

Bookworm: Glenn Fredly Books for balance

Singer, songwriter and producer Glenn Fredly loves to read non-fictional books to balance out his life in the entertainment industry

Andreas D. Arditya (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, June 16, 2014

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Bookworm: Glenn Fredly Books for balance

Singer, songwriter and producer Glenn Fredly loves to read non-fictional books to balance out his life in the entertainment industry.

'€œI am not crazy about novels. I love reading books about history, philosophy, as well as biography. I read those books to fill myself with knowledge and understanding on politics, society and culture,'€ Glenn said.

'€œI grew up with pop culture. I have a career in pop music. These kinds of books help me to balance my life, especially as an Indonesian, because this country has a really diverse and complicated background and history.'€

Glenn said he developed his reading habit thanks to his grandfather.

'€œWhen I was a kid, I often visited my Opa [grandfather] and he would tell me to read books whenever I was at his place. '€˜You can play, but you should read too'€™, he'€™d say. He has a reading room at his home,'€ Glenn said.

Glenn said his Opa often bought him books, even through his teenage years. '€œOne of the books he regularly bought me was [volumes of] the Lima Sekawan series,'€ Glenn said, referring to the Indonesian translation of The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton.

Born in Jakarta in 1975, Glenn displayed a talent for music from a young age, winning several singing competitions during his elementary school years.

In 1995, he won first prize in a singing contest organized by a local TV station, and became a finalist in the Asian Song Festival the following year. Five years later, he won third prize and was awarded the '€œBest of the Best Singer'€ prize in the International Song Festival '€œAsia Dauzy'€ in Russia.

Glenn has released 11 albums as a solo singer. Recently, he has also been producing and acting in feature films.

 

Lekra Tak Pernah Membakar Buku....
by Rhoma Dwi Aria Yuliantri and Muhidin M. Dahlan

Lekra Tak Pernah Membakar Buku, Suara Senyap Lembar Kebudayaan Harian Rakjat 1950-1965 (Lekra Never Burns Books, Harian Rakjat'€™s Cultural Page'€™s Silent Voice) is a really interesting book. The Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) banned this book, so it was hard to find. I was able to get this book in Yogyakarta. I learned about the thoughts of figures of the era and about how Lekra artists have their own opinions on communism and politics.

 

Dibawah Bendera Revolusi
by Sukarno

Authored by Indonesia'€™s first president, Sukarno, Dibawah Bendera Revolusi (Under the Banner of Revolution) is fascinating for me. It is a collection of some of his ideas and speeches, particularly on politics and freedom; I get to understand his thoughts through the books.


Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie
by Karl Marx

This critically analytical book is one of my favorites because I get to understand Karl Marx'€™ thoughts on political economics and social revolution.

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