When the Devil Presents in Carnegie Hall

By Benny YP Siahaan

What are you going to do if the devil (Dedemit) is in the room?  Run or scream right? But the people at Carnegie Hall that night in silence, stayed, and enjoyed it.

In collaboration with Indonesian Consulate General in New York, Jaya Suprana together with his current and former students held a concert titled The Indonesia Pusaka at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York on Oct 20, 2015.

The concert features 12 young Indonesian pianists, mostly from Jaya Suprana School of Performing Arts, Jakarta.

Locals and Indonesian diaspora from New York and surrounding cities packed the 268-seat hall. Desra Percaya Indonesian ambassador to UN, former Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and several members of diplomatic circles in New York were also seen attending the concert.

In her opening remarks read by Indonesian Ambassador to US B. Bowoleksono, Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi congratulates Jaya Suprana for his effort in promoting Indonesia to the world trough arts and culture.  

She also underlines the importance of cultural diplomacy in promoting Indonesia’s State philosophy, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (one out of many).

Bedhaya, the sacred dance from Central Java, kicked off the show performed by eight female dancers symbolizing various acts of adolescence girls.

The centerpiece of the show was the piano concert which featured among others Jesslyn Handoko, Evelyn Abidin, Randy Ryan, Ryan Ferguson, Gabriela Handoko, Viona Sanjaya, and Gillian Gani.

Whist Suprana informatively yet entertainingly explains each of his compositions and introducing the pianists who are mostly in their teens except Jesslyn Handoko, age 9. All the performers are award winning pianists and have performed in other world class stages like Sydney Opera House.

They played Suprana’s favorite compositions like Tri Reminiskenza, For Ayla III & XI, Aforisma& amp; Geguritan, For Ayla IV, Fantasi Arum Dalu, Sonata Sekar Setaman, Fragment Dolanan, Variasi Gethuk, Aforisma, Rhapsodia  Lir-Ilir, Uro-uro and Dedemit.

The audience seemed to drift in the inner emotion of each composition, from cheerful and witty (Fantasy Arum Dalu), romantic (For Ayla) to melancholy (Aforisma).

Hendrata Prasetya performed the pinnacle of the concert by playing “Dedemit” (devil) composition. Suprana said that Dedemit is the most difficult composition he has ever made.

He even asked the technician to dim the lighting to create a creepy atmosphere. Yet Hendratta played it beautifully. It was crisp with beautiful control of the delicate repertoire.

The last part of the show, the audience heard Armonia Choir who performed Javanese traditional folk songs like Manuk Dadali and Jali-Jali as well as a special song composed by Suprana for the event called Indonesia.

The concert drew a mixed review. Joseph from Italy said that the piano concert was superb.  He was so entertained by the young talented Indonesian pianists.  Eugene from Singapore said that he was so surprised that he never heard of Jaya Suprana.

Lukewarm comments mostly went to dance and choir performances which they said that the performers need more practice to meet the high standard and reputation of Carnegie Hall.

In general, what spectators most appreciate was the piano concert. Some of the audience even said that without dance and choir the recital would be more focused and beautiful. Even some said the choir became the anticlimax of Hendrata’s excellent performance.

According to Suprana, with more Indonesian artists perform in world class stages like Carnegie Hall, he hopes that it will make more Indonesian young talents get worldwide recognition.

And surely this concert was a great opportunity to grow, to nurture their already innate talents to the next level, to even greater heights”, he adds.

Indeed, with their splendid performance, they showed us a hint of the direction they are heading.

All in all, it was an entertaining event.

                                                                                                                  New York,  October 2015

The Comparison Between Soekarno's and Jokowi's Initial Visit to the US

By Benny YP Siahaan

While many don’t really comprehend the logic behind President Jokowi’s decision not to attend one of the most historic events in New York, September 2015 -- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reportedly President Jokowi decided to visit the US from Oct 25-28, 2015 to meet President Obama. The two leaders will discuss a wide range of global, regional, and bilateral issues of interest to both countries. Nonetheless, critics have criticized the visit, claiming it is uneconomical for the VP and President to visit the same country in less than a month. The VP visited New York from 23 September to 2 Oct 2015.

Why not just combine them into one visit? Jokowi could have met bilaterally with Obama at the UN just like other Heads of States do, this is a common practice. Reportedly also, his visit to the US is not a state visit but only an official visit, which implies that there will be no State Dinner etc. Aside from the above debate, I am more interested in viewing Jokowi’s initial visit to the US from a different perspective. Jokowi is a popular leader in Indonesia.

This reminds me of the visit of President Soekarno, also a popular leader, who made the first visit to US in 1956 which many considered a huge success. Hence I would like to compare the first visits of the two presidents, including the different challenges and environmental factors faced by the two leaders in their respective times and what possible benefits might be derived from Jokowi’s visit.

Soekarno’s first visit to the US was from May 16 to June 3, 1956. The world in 1950s was in the early era of the Cold War and Soekarno was very popular internationally as “neutralist”, since he was considered champion of the NAM which had just conducted its first Conference in Bandung, April 1955. He visited not only Washington DC, but also other cities like New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, LA, and San Francisco. During his visit, Soekarno had a State Luncheon, State Dinner, and speech before the Congress Joint Session. Aside his son Guntur Soekarno Putra, he was accompanied by only 15 delegation from Jakarta –a very efficient number for a State Visit.

Jokowi reportedly will only visit Washington DC and San Francisco to meet with business and universities leaders. Since it is not a State Visit, there will be no State Dinner, speech before Joint of Congress or any public ceremonies. Jokowi is known for being efficient in term of number of delegation. While visited the US, Soekarno faced many internal problems ranging from local insurgencies to national political rift and economic problems, which were common as a fledgling nation. Jokowi will now visit US when Indonesia at its 70th year. Indonesia is no longer a young nation but still has problems to address. Now insurgencies are on the wane. Currently, perhaps, only Papua is still a problem, but the difference is that during Sukarno’s visit, Indonesia was in the process of securing Papua to become its territory from the Dutch; the following years after the visit, the US became one of the supporters of Indonesia in this endeavor which was demonstrated through the New York Agreement in 1962.

In the 1950s, Indonesia was considered a champion of human rights in its early years, because it was at the forefront supporting the struggle of many countries against colonialism. In 1956, only 80 countries were registered with the UN, there are now 193 countries with South Sudan being the latest member. On the other hand, Jokowi inherited the consequences of past human rights abuses by his predecessors notably President Soeharto, including the 1965 Communist purge.

Geopolitically, in the 1950s Southeast Asia was not a stable region since it was on the brink of proxy competition between the Eastern and Western bloc. Now ASEAN is considered as one of the most progressive and stable regions in the world despite potential flashpoints such as South China Sea issue. Furthermore, Indonesia was known as the country with the highest Muslim population and impoverished economy, it has now become the third largest democracy and the biggest economy in Southeast Asia. Psychologically, during Soekarno’s visit, the US was at the peak of its time as super power and victor of WWII, but Soekarno with high confidence met President Eisenhower and gave a persuasive and excellent but blunt speech before Joint Session of Congress about non-alignment and independency, a speech which drew a big applause from Congress. Now, the US is not that great anymore.

It was due to Soekarno‘s extraordinary oratory skills and charismatic personality that he could brilliantly manage the liabilities of his country to become assets and get sympathy from the US public such as through laying wreath on Thomas Jefferson’s grave in Virginia and said “Jefferson was one of my teachers”. He received a warm in all cities he visited --about 80,000 New Yorkers cheered his motorcade parade from Battery to City Hall.

            In short, his visit was a great success. On the other hand, Jokowi has long been known as a timid person (typical of Solo people) in contrast with Soekarno from East Java who are known to be more direct like the American people. Apart from that, the current standing of Jokowi is higher than that of Soekarno initial visit to the US. Although it is only an official visit, it is hoped that the impact will be greater than that of Soekarno’s first visit.

Furthermore, time and challenges faced by the two leaders might be different but the goals to make Indonesia great and prosperous has to be the main objectives of Indonesia’s leaders including through their foreign visits.

Ah, the last but not the least is about their names. President Jokowi actually has two names: Joko Widodo, while President Soekarno just like any old Javanese has only one name. But jokingly, the US media said Soekarno may have only one name but he has multiple wives. Reportedly, the reason why Soekarno in his visit was only accompanied by his son was since the First Lady Fatmawati divorced him due to Soekarno’s marriage to other women. In Jokowi’s upcoming visit, I believe he will be accompanied by the First Lady.