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World-Class Concert Marks 70 Years of Goenawan Mohamad
Top-notch artists from Indonesia, Australia and the United States are coming together on Thursday and Friday to celebrate the 70th birthday of Goenawan Mohamad, one of Indonesia’s greatest literary figures.
The artists will perform a series of musical compositions based on Goenawan’s poems in a concert titled “Pastoral,” previously performed in 2006 in New York and at Taman Ismail Marzuki’s Graha Bhakti Budaya in Central Jakarta. This week, the concert will be staged at the Komunitas Salihara cultural center in South Jakarta, where the poet has co-founded.
Goenawan, a poet and essayist as well as a co-founder and former chief editor of the news magazine Tempo, is one of the most important figures in the development of Indonesia’s contemporary literary scene.
Born on July 29, 1941, in the small town of Batang in Central Java, Goenawan has been writing since childhood. He translated Emily Dickinson’s poems into Indonesian when he was only 19 years old.
In addition to essays and poems, Goenawan has also written a number of plays, many of which have been performed at prominent venues. Two of his works have been performed in the United States: His English-language libretto “Kali,” which was staged in Seattle in 2000, and “The King’s Witch,” a spin on the Balinese folktale “Calon Arang,” which was performed in 2001 at New York’s Lincoln Center. 
“[‘Pastoral’] is a melding of music and poems,” said Rama Thaharani, Salihara’s marketing and communications manager. “The composers involved in the event will interpret the poems through their musical compositions. The works will give new perspectives on the poems and the audience will be able to follow the marriage between the two art forms.”
For today’s and Friday’s concerts, she said, a string quartet, sopranos, choreographers and visual artists will work together to present compositions based on their favorite Goenawan poems.
Musicians involved in the event include Tony Prabowo, Ananda Sukarlan, Betty Beath of Australia and Jarrad Powell of the United States.
“The musicians have chosen their own poems to be interpreted for their musical compositions. ‘Pastoral’ is also the title of one of Goenawan’s poems,” Rama said.
The poem “Pastoral” tells the story of two lovers’ passionate joy, love and lust. It was chosen as the title piece by Tony Prabowo, who previously collaborated with Goenawan on “Kali,” “The King’s Witch” and “Tan Malaka Opera,” Goenawan’s first Indonesian-language opera, which premiered earlier this year.
Beath will present “A Tale Before Sleep,” her adaptation of Goenawan’s poem “Dongeng Sebelum Tidur,” and “Asmaradana,” based on the romance of Anjasmara and Damarwulan from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, which she has adapted for piano and vocals.
Powell will present his take on the opening scene of “Kali,” titled “The Waiting,” arranged for vocals and viola. Powell, a professor at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, is no stranger to Indonesia’s contemporary music scene. Since the 1980s, he has developed a deep affection for the traditional gamelan orchestra and mixed it with electro-acoustic instruments. He also co-founded the Gamelan Pacifica ensemble. 
Also performing tonight will be Jakarta’s Batavia Madrigal Singers and the avant-garde, New York-based Momenta Quartet, which has recorded more than 50 works since 2004 and collaborated with more than 70 composers.
“With that kind of lineup, suffice to say, we are bringing a world-class concert here,” Rama said.
Emmy Fitri
Jakarta Globe, September 28, 2011
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