Slamet Abdul Sjukur
Encyclopedia
Slamet A. Sjukur is the founding father of contemporary Indonesian music
. He studied and worked in Paris under Olivier Messiaen
and Henri Dutilleux
. He was a lecturer at IKJ (Institut Kesenian Jakarta) but because of his unconventional ideas, he finally had to leave. He has been living in Jakarta and Surabaya as a freelance composer, teacher and music critic. Developing the idea of minimax in music, his compositions are "notable for their minimal constellation of sounds and for their numerological basis which indicate the composer’s interest in a new ‘ecology of music’".
This idea views limitation not as obstructions but as a challenge to work with a simple material, maximally.
His honors include the Bronze Medal from the Festival de Jeux d’Automne in Dijon (1974), the Golden Record from the Académie Charles Cros in France (1975, for Angklung) and the Zoltán Kodály Commemorative Medal in Hungary (1983). More recently, Gatra magazine named him a Pioneer of Alternative Music (1996) and he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2000) and a life member of the Akademi Jakarta (2002). Some of his prominent students include Rahayu Supanggah
, Gilang Ramadhan and Soe Tjen Marching
.
), 2 genders (gamelan instruments), 1994; Marsinah (incidental music, play by Ratna Sarumpaet), ensemble (specially-made instruments), 1994
GAMELAN: GAME-Land for full sundanese gamelan orchestra slendro-pelog and female voice (2004/orchestra); GAME-Land 2 for javanese gamelan orchestra slendro (2005/orchestra).
ORCHESTRAL: Õm, 14 strings, 1995; Concerto, arpegina (5-string viola), string orchestra
, 2002
CHAMBER MUSIC: Bulan Hijau, clarinet, piano, 1960; Point contre (players also speak), trumpet, harp, percussion, 1969; Ronda Malam, angklung ensemble, 1975 (section of Angklung; may be performed separately); Kangen, 3 shakuhachi, kokyu, Japanese percussion, 1986; Suwung, flute, 1988; Ji-Lala-Ji, 2 players (flutes, percussion), 1989; Cucuku-Cu, guitar, 1990 (also version for 5 pianos 20 hands); Lesung, synthesizer, 1992; Uwek-Uwek, 2 mouth explorers, 1-2 djembés, 1992; Minimax, variable spatial ensemble, 1993; Jawara, percussion, 1993; ‘The Source, Where the Sound Returns’, clarinet, cello, piano, 1999; Dedicace-1, arpegina/viola, 2000; PAHA for brass quintet
(2006/chamber music); KUTANG for cl,bsn,tpt,tbn,percussions,violin and db (2007/chamber music)
CHORAL: Angklung, mixed chorus (+ angklungs), angklung ensemble, 1975 (one section, Ronda Malam, angklung ensemble, may be performed separately); Muni, mixed chorus (+ karunding [bamboo jaw harps]), 1998
VOCAL: Bunga, Weekend and Kabut (texts by Sitor Situmorang, Toto Sidarto Bachtiar), voice, piano, 1960; Mais, ces oiseaux, mezzo-soprano
, baritone, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, 1967; Parentheses V (text by Chairil Anwar
), mezzo-soprano, 4 celli, 1981; Gelandangan, female voice, karunding, 1999 (version of work for karunding, tape); Sunyi, soprano, 2 cellular phones
, small orchestra, 2002
PIANO: Tobor, 1961; Svara, 1979; NZ, prepared piano
, 1992; Cucuku-Cu, 5 pianos 20 hands, 1992 (version of guitar work); Yu-Taha, 1997
ELECTROACOUSTIC: Astral, tape, 1984; Gelandangan, karunding, tape, 1998 (also version for female voice, karunding, 1999)
MULTIMEDIA: Parentheses I-II (dance music
, choreography by Denis Carrey), female dancer, suspended chair, piano, lights, 1972; Parentheses IV, 2 dancers, flute, 2 electric guitar
s, violin, cello, prepared piano, synthesizer, percussion, live painting, 1973; Parentheses III (dancers also speak, text by Ronald D. Laing, choreography by Samuelina Tahija), coloratura soprano, male speaker, 2 dancers, choreographed conductor, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, string quartet
, large sculpture (by Elizabeth Gleason), 1975; Jakarta 450 Tahun (environmental work), unlimited sounds of Jakarta, 1977; Wangi, female dancer, gamelan orchestra, lights, 1999
FILM SCORE (DIRECTOR): Aku Perempuan Dan Laki-Laki Itu, 1996 (Aria Kusumadewa, Afrizal Malna)
At the moment, he is working on GAME-Land 3 for brass sextet, and MIRA konserto for piano, saluang and orchestra
Music of Indonesia
The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character. This...
. He studied and worked in Paris under Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
and Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
. He was a lecturer at IKJ (Institut Kesenian Jakarta) but because of his unconventional ideas, he finally had to leave. He has been living in Jakarta and Surabaya as a freelance composer, teacher and music critic. Developing the idea of minimax in music, his compositions are "notable for their minimal constellation of sounds and for their numerological basis which indicate the composer’s interest in a new ‘ecology of music’".
This idea views limitation not as obstructions but as a challenge to work with a simple material, maximally.
His honors include the Bronze Medal from the Festival de Jeux d’Automne in Dijon (1974), the Golden Record from the Académie Charles Cros in France (1975, for Angklung) and the Zoltán Kodály Commemorative Medal in Hungary (1983). More recently, Gatra magazine named him a Pioneer of Alternative Music (1996) and he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2000) and a life member of the Akademi Jakarta (2002). Some of his prominent students include Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah is an Indonesian composer of more than 100 pieces, known mostly for his part in the international collaboration Realizing Rama and the music score composed for Robert Wilson's I La Galigo. His compositions for Opera Jawa won the Asian Film Award in 2007. Since 2007 he is resident...
, Gilang Ramadhan and Soe Tjen Marching
Soe Tjen Marching
Soe Tjen Marching is a feminist and a composer of avant-garde music in Indonesia. She studied composition with Slamet Abdul Sjukur in Indonesia and John Cousins at Canterbury University in New Zealand. In 1998, she won national competition for Indonesian Contemporary Composers held by the German...
.
Complete list of works
STAGE: Sangkuriang (miniature opera, libretto by Utuy T. Sontani), mixed chorus, 1958; Latigrak (ballet music, choreography by Frédéric Franchini), gamelan orchestra, tape, 1963; Parentheses VI, low-voiced comedian, 2 dancers, flute, 2 guitars, whistling tupies, some gamelan instruments, 1983; Migrasi (music theatre work, text by Afrizal Malna), 1993; Spiral, female dancer, flute, piano, 1993; Awang-Uwung (dance music, choreography by Suprapto Suryodarmo - see Amerta MovementAmerta Movement
Amerta movement is a form of non-stylised movement practice that draws on free movement, the practice of Vipassanā, Javanese Sumarah meditation and Javanese Theravada Buddhism...
), 2 genders (gamelan instruments), 1994; Marsinah (incidental music, play by Ratna Sarumpaet), ensemble (specially-made instruments), 1994
GAMELAN: GAME-Land for full sundanese gamelan orchestra slendro-pelog and female voice (2004/orchestra); GAME-Land 2 for javanese gamelan orchestra slendro (2005/orchestra).
ORCHESTRAL: Õm, 14 strings, 1995; Concerto, arpegina (5-string viola), string orchestra
String orchestra
A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
, 2002
CHAMBER MUSIC: Bulan Hijau, clarinet, piano, 1960; Point contre (players also speak), trumpet, harp, percussion, 1969; Ronda Malam, angklung ensemble, 1975 (section of Angklung; may be performed separately); Kangen, 3 shakuhachi, kokyu, Japanese percussion, 1986; Suwung, flute, 1988; Ji-Lala-Ji, 2 players (flutes, percussion), 1989; Cucuku-Cu, guitar, 1990 (also version for 5 pianos 20 hands); Lesung, synthesizer, 1992; Uwek-Uwek, 2 mouth explorers, 1-2 djembés, 1992; Minimax, variable spatial ensemble, 1993; Jawara, percussion, 1993; ‘The Source, Where the Sound Returns’, clarinet, cello, piano, 1999; Dedicace-1, arpegina/viola, 2000; PAHA for brass quintet
Brass quintet
A brass quintet is a five-piece musical ensemble composed of brass instruments. The most common instrumentation is two trumpets or cornets, one horn, one trombone or euphonium/baritone horn, and one tuba or bass trombone....
(2006/chamber music); KUTANG for cl,bsn,tpt,tbn,percussions,violin and db (2007/chamber music)
CHORAL: Angklung, mixed chorus (+ angklungs), angklung ensemble, 1975 (one section, Ronda Malam, angklung ensemble, may be performed separately); Muni, mixed chorus (+ karunding [bamboo jaw harps]), 1998
VOCAL: Bunga, Weekend and Kabut (texts by Sitor Situmorang, Toto Sidarto Bachtiar), voice, piano, 1960; Mais, ces oiseaux, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
, baritone, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, 1967; Parentheses V (text by Chairil Anwar
Chairil Anwar
Chairil Anwar was an Indonesian poet and member of the "1945 generation" of writers. He is estimated to have written 96 works, including 70 individual poems....
), mezzo-soprano, 4 celli, 1981; Gelandangan, female voice, karunding, 1999 (version of work for karunding, tape); Sunyi, soprano, 2 cellular phones
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, small orchestra, 2002
PIANO: Tobor, 1961; Svara, 1979; NZ, prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
, 1992; Cucuku-Cu, 5 pianos 20 hands, 1992 (version of guitar work); Yu-Taha, 1997
ELECTROACOUSTIC: Astral, tape, 1984; Gelandangan, karunding, tape, 1998 (also version for female voice, karunding, 1999)
MULTIMEDIA: Parentheses I-II (dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, choreography by Denis Carrey), female dancer, suspended chair, piano, lights, 1972; Parentheses IV, 2 dancers, flute, 2 electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s, violin, cello, prepared piano, synthesizer, percussion, live painting, 1973; Parentheses III (dancers also speak, text by Ronald D. Laing, choreography by Samuelina Tahija), coloratura soprano, male speaker, 2 dancers, choreographed conductor, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
, large sculpture (by Elizabeth Gleason), 1975; Jakarta 450 Tahun (environmental work), unlimited sounds of Jakarta, 1977; Wangi, female dancer, gamelan orchestra, lights, 1999
FILM SCORE (DIRECTOR): Aku Perempuan Dan Laki-Laki Itu, 1996 (Aria Kusumadewa, Afrizal Malna)
At the moment, he is working on GAME-Land 3 for brass sextet, and MIRA konserto for piano, saluang and orchestra