Photo: from left: Ratnaganadi Paramita (soprano), Sidik K. Martowidjojo (painter), Ananda Sukarlan (composer / pianist) INDONESIAKININEWS.CO...
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| Photo: from left: Ratnaganadi Paramita (soprano), Sidik K. Martowidjojo (painter), Ananda Sukarlan (composer / pianist) |
INDONESIAKININEWS.COM - Something amazing (and historical) happened last Friday, 18th August at the Sky Lounge Lobby on the 52th floor of The Westin Hotel, Jakarta.
Two living legends in the arts world collaborated to make works of art in their respective fields, and according to the audience who were mostly the exclusive Marriott Bonvoy Members who witnessed this rare event, what came out were not just any works of art. They are masterpieces.
The painter Sidik W. Martowidjojo worked on a totally new and spontaneous painting while the composer / pianist Ananda Sukarlan played the piano.Ananda Sukarlan who was born with Asperger's Syndrome, has synesthesia as a "by-product" of this rare syndrome.
Synesthesia is when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously. In Ananda's case, he "hears" colours and forms and transform them easily into chords, melodic contours or simply sounds.
He has composed music based on paintings by Titian, Jose de Ribera, John William Waterhouse or by the Indonesian painter Kukuh Nuswantoro. "The music, or simply sounds, that I heard from combinations of colours and forms aren't necessarily nice to listen, so I usually modify them into real music that is quite listenable.
Those visual inspirations mainly serve as, well, a base or motif for my music", explained this musical genius who was bestowed Honorary Membership of the Rotary Club just two months ago.Last August 2nd, Ananda Sukarlan was invited to the opening of Sidik Martowidjojo's exhibition "Mengalir Membawa Cinta" ("Flowing bringing Love") that focuses on water and rivers.
It was then, and also with Sidik's niece Ratnaganadi Paramita who is an accomplished soprano that the three of them decided to do this rare and fascinating collaboration.
Ananda, wearing an Obin designed red and white batik shirt and with his usual trademark of shoes of different colours (this time it's black and white) played one piece which was already written down to start with, and then carried on with a totally new piece. The first piece is "Konser Sungai-sungai", based on a poem by Dorothea Rosa Herliany and written especially with Ratnaganadi's voice character and some of Sidik's visual figures in mind.
It was followed by a virtuosic piano piece what became a new Rapsodia Nusantara, used the material of the transformation of the river or water images into sound.
It was based on the melodic material from "Dayung Sampan" which was adapted a few years later into a Chinese popular song "Tian Mi-Mi".
The pianist explored different textures made by the piano which Sidik amazingly transformed into brushes of colour combinations on a 90x120 canvas. This process happened in under 20 minutes.
Sidik Martowidjojo (born as Ma Yong Qiang in Malang on September 24, 1937) is until now the only Indonesian painter who has had his paintings exhibited in the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris.
He first introduced his spectacular array of artistic talent to the French audience back in 2013, and his second exhibition in 2014, saw him receive two awards, namely the Medaille d’Orc Pienture for his landscape work and the Medaille d ‘Orc (general champion).
Momentously, these two gold medals were the first to be awarded since the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA) was a society consisting of two groups of French artists, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions.
At the most recent SNBA exhibition in 2018, Sidik was awarded the prestigious “Prix Special du Jury”, which as the name suggests is a special prize awarded after deliberation by members of the panel.
Amongst his signature techniques for painting has been making use of shien tze paper – which is said to last for thousands of years without the need for restoration.
Sidik Martowidjojo has also been known to have successfully fused both western and eastern philosophy through brush stroke techniques, and also the ability to mix various colors in one brush and scratch without repeating.
Ratnaganadi Paramita has been honored with the Appreciation Award from the Prince of Monaco and the Satyalancana Wira Karya Award from the President of Indonesia. Her vocal performance education was under the guidance of Prof. Phillip Larson, Prof. Tiffany Du Mouchelle and the late maestro Prof. Janos Negyesy at UC San Diego.
Ananda Sukarlan, who spends half of his time in Spain, has been appointed in 2020 as the President of the Jury of the Queen Sofia Prize for Composers.
He was bestowed with the highest knighthood "Ordine della Stella d'Italia" by President Sergio Mattarella in 2020. Tatler Asia (Mobiliari Media Group) has included him as one of the 100 Asian Most Influential Artists in 2021.
In his homeland he was bestowed the artistic knighthood Sri Raja Pujangga Nusantara from the King Sripaduka Baginda Maharaja of Kutai Mulawarman.
Liputan indonesiakiniws.com
