The Indonesian language has been influenced by many factors. Indonesia’s geography and rich natural resources have a great deal to do with the outside intrusions that have been forced upon it. From the northwestern tip of Sumatra to the border with Papua New Guinea, Indonesia spans a distance equal to that of Anchorage, Alaska to Washington DC. Indonesia is a vast archipelago made of up over 17,000 islands stretching across the equator, and is due north of Australia and to the southeast of mainland Asia. Indonesia has both a diverse demographics and topography.
Performance Practice
It should be noted that common performance practice in Indonesia is incredibly flexible. Should a song be too high or too low, it is very common for performers to transpose the song(s). Also, if any given note is too high or too low, performers have tremendous liberty in changing pitches to best fit needs of the moment. The emphasis in Indonesian performance is engagement. Elaborate costumes are often used alongside mild forms of staging and movement. Simply standing still and singing is a rare occurrence for Indonesian song performers. Indonesian audiences prefer gripping interpretations.
Voice students in Indonesia who study classical singing often study Indonesian Art Song along with Western European Art Song such as German Lieder, French Melodie, and Italian Song. This contrasts with Indonesians who study more traditional Indonesian music traditions such as the many forms of gamelan. Gamelan singing is marked by a great deal of nasality, while Indonesian classical singing has an approach similar to the Italian Bel Canto school.
Indonesian Art Song is its own niche defined by both its eclecticism and by the simple nature of its use of the Indonesian language. The official moto of Indonesia is “unity through diversity,” and the song genre exemplifies this national moto. There are not set musical styles that define Indonesian Art Song. Rather, the setting of Bahasa Indonesia is what unites this style of song.
Composer highlight: Mochtar Embut
The songs of Mochtar Embut represent the largest number of surviving art songs in the genre that have been published among the three available collections of Indonesian art song. Embut was well known for arranging existing songs throughout Indonesia to be performed by voice and piano, or available accompaniment. A prime example is the Geding Sriwijaya (Song of Sriwijaya). This famous song was created by a team of artists in Palembang29 in 1945 during the beginning of the Indonesian War of Independence from the Dutch as previously described. Embut set this preexisting tune and text for voice and piano in 1975.30 Mochater Embut was born in Ujung Pandang Makassar, 31 Sulawesi Selatan in 1934 and died in Bandung32 in 1973. He composed more than 100 songs. Three of the best known are: Di wajahmu kulihat bulan (I see the moon in your face), Di sudut bibirmu (Close to your lips), and Tiada bulan di wajah rawan (There is no moonlight in a troubled face).
