NOTE:
If anybody wants to send in any of the lyrics of Sawung Jabo's songs, especially with English translations, I will put them up on the blog.
On August 5 in Jakarta, we attended a concert: “Satu Langkah Sejuta Cakrawala: an anthology by Sawung Jabo” (One step, a million horizons) with the performaces by the musician Sawung Jabo and his musical comrades: Innisisri (drum and percussion), Totok Tewel, Suzan Piper (backing vocals), Firman Sitompul (Cello), Hari Pochang (harmonica, guitar, vocal), Mukti-Mukti (guitar vocal), Gondrong Gunarto (percussion, kecapi, cuk, saluang), Ary Juliyant (tin whistle, fiddle), Ucok Hitabarat (violin), Baruna (backing vocal), Julyandi (electric guitar) and Donny Suwung (backing vocal).
I don’t know enough about musical categories to be definite about how to categorise the music. For me it was a kind of dynamic pop music, incorporating a range of Indonesian instruments as well as Western instruments. The music ranged from being soothing and pleasant to energetic and lively and awakening. It was great to listen to. Each of the musicians were able to display their skills and talent and impressed me and the audience.
The audience seemed to comprise a strong core of followers of Sawung Jabo’s music and songs. The performance was preceded by an extended series of video footages of testimonies to Sawung Jabo by a wide range of musicians, artists in other areas and activists.
Unfortunately, the sound mixing was not optimal and it was often difficult to hear the lyrics being sung by Sawung Jabo, which were being drowned out by the energetic music. But, combined with reading some of the lyrics printed in the programme, the lyrics dealt mainly with spiritual issues. For me these are the kind of ke-an issues – kebenaran (truth), keindahan (beauty), kehidupan (life). The prefix and suffix ke and an turn adjectives into abstract nouns. The emphasis on these issues is also a part of the tradition of Bengkel Teater drama group, led by poet and dramatist, W.S. Rendra. Bengkel’s tradition is to anchor its members in a philosophical orientation, which is reflected in Sawung Jabo’s lyrics. One of the song’s was also based on one of Rendra’s poems.
The lyrics imply a critique of society and the world, but the critique is more implicit that explicit. For people not integrated into the vocabulary that developed through the course of political and social struggle under Suharto, especially that forged in the 1970s among some sectors of the opposition, the lyrics may feel abstract, set at that ke – an level. However, in the Indonesian context they are embedded with elements of a code with strong references to social injustices. In Rendra’s own works, there are many poems with a similar ke-an character, as well as poems that combine the ke-an spirituality or abstractness with very concrete descriptions/exposes of reality.
For those interested in finding out more about Sawung Jabo do a google search. There are many references to his work both in Indonesia and Australia. He has also been very active in Australia as well as Indonesia.
If anybody wants to send in any of the lyrics of his songs, especially with English translations, I will put them up on the blog.