Indonesian Rhyming Dictionary

I've finished my project of writing the Indonesian Rhyming Dictionary, or "Kamus Rima Bahasa Indonesia". Hopefully this book can soon be released to the public. Currently in the process of finding a publisher.

Currently I'm just having fun with it

"Sonata Duta Junta Pendusta"

Dewata semesta,
beta bercerita nyata, beta meminta cinta wanita jelita berkacamata, juwita berpita magenta. Pendeta buta renta berkata terbata bata, serta merta bersukacita, berpesta bergempita beserta anggota tahta mahkota junta pendusta.

Ternyata, penderita kusta ternista serta anggota kasta jelata, mengkudeta, bersenjata, meminta harta permata, bercita cita menata gulita dukacita, mencipta pelita sukacita.

"Kita terlunta lunta, penderita tata kota. Junta menyita harta, kereta, talenta, unta ... Vendeta!!"

Dewata semesta, beta meminta cinta wanita jelita berkacamata, juwita berpita magenta. Fakta berkata, "meronta ronta!", wanita berkata "airmata", junta berkata, "Anumerta."

Time Signatures

Why should every single song on MTV is written with 4/4 time signature?? Well, Igor Stravinsky thought about this issue a few decades ago, and wrote "The Rite of Spring", with the time signature changes every single measure, but his great idea is now forgotten, and we are back with the Bum tch Pffst tch type rhythm (that is the reason why we have so many crossover artists nowadays, classical music has more or less the same rhythm as today's rock music)

In Stravinsky's time, the most important element of music is the harmony, an old idea propagating from the romantic era. Today, most musicians' still judge the quality of a composition from its harmony. However, I noticed that it is no longer true among non-musicians. They are much more inclined to hear the rhythm, and do not really care about the underlying harmony, even the melody.

So here it is, a piece of solo guitar with irregular time signature, that I believe is easier on 21st century ears. I plan this piece to be a part of a larger scale work, so there will be more movement coming.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4u99z5tze9m

Carawitta and Fugue no 1

A friend of mine, Syarif Maulana, had a concert last year. I contributed a composition for two guitars. It was premiered at his concert, 9 November 2007, with another young guitarist from Jakarta, Johan Yudha Brata. The piece features an interplay between a baroque style music with Indonesian traditional music.

Both players had only 2 weeks to study the piece before the concert, but they managed to deliver the performance. At least the audience appeared to be very pleased. Unfortunately there was no recording of that event, but the score is available here

http://www.mediafire.com/?bs69exkxnz9

As always, let me know if you want to perform this piece in public at fauziew/at]gmail[dot\com

Selendang Sutera on Youtube

The long awaited recording of "Varition of Selendang Sutera" is now available from youtube. This is the 4th performance of this piece (premiered December 2006), performed by the piano virtuoso Ananda Sukarlan. Thanks Chendra for uploading the video.

"Selendang Sutera" (the silken scarf) is an Indonesian nationalistic tune by Ismail Marzuki. It tells a story about a soldier who received a scarf from his lover before he went to war. During a battle his arm was wounded. He used the scarf as a bandage, survived, and return as a hero.

see it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik2-MmQ8b84

The score is available here.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4oyg4eyiyuu

The score is copyrighted by Fauzie Wiriadisastra (2006), all rights reserved

Another Prodia Project

It looks like the folks in Prodia Lab (a health laboratory) really like to sing and dance. A few months ago a nation-wide competition was held between Prodia's branches to create the best song (about the company) with choreography. So one of the branch in Bandung asked me to write one. So I did it. I wrote a song, arranged it, and recorded a minus-one for them to sing along. Thanks god, they received the 1st prize with this song.

So ... they want to make another one for another national gathering between their marketing staffs. Yes it is just a gathering, no competition. With one note, they want it in the salsa style. So here is the minus-one, Salsa!

Prodia 2

The previous one is still available here:

Prodia 1

President, Prince, and Angklung

This is a picture from Kompas, showing Indonesian President Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2nd from left) and Prince Akishino from Japan during the prince's visit to Indonesia on January 2008. Both men are playing angklung, one of my favorite native Indonesian instrument.

The funny thing about this picture is that the Japanese prince held the instrument correctly (although at a slightly wrong angle), while the Indonesian president was totally wrong.