Bravo Idris Sardi
It was a wet night indeed, with the rain pouring, as it usually did on a daily basis in today’s rainy season…. The many puddles of water that I had to skip across on my way from the car to the entrance of Istana Budaya, where my family and I were to watch the performance of Idris Sardi, a renowned violinist from Indonesia….
The night did not began well, when I had to wait behind a queue of 5 people, and we were not moving… The ticket attendant was using only 1 computer to serve people buying as well as collecting tickets (like myself)….This despite having an additional 2 computers, which were idle, and obviously caused much irritation, myself included…. I later found out that the server was down due to the lightning, and that only 1 computer was functioning…. If only they had put up a sign, informing us of their difficulty, I’m sure we would have all showed much more patience while trying to get our tickets…. The idiot trying to keep us off the red carpet (a lot of us didn’t notice as we were all lost, trying to get tickets, trying to buy merchandise and CDs, trying to find a place to put our wet umbrellas, finding out way to the right entrance closest to our seat, etc) for the pending arrival of some VIPs also didn’t help our mood… Again, signs or clearer announcements would have been more than welcomed…..
Luckily, the performance itself was enjoyable, and the inconveniences faced earlier in the night were soon forgotten as the orchestra was introduced, and Idris Sardi himself strolled in….. They had projected scenes of a village backdrop, or still pictures to suit the mood of the songs throughout the performance…. While the music was a little loud, and the various musical instruments were competing to be heard, one instrument clearly stood out, that of the violin belonging to Idris, who turned out to be a true maestro….
While there was clearly a western influence to the intro of all his music (very Hollywoodish in my opinion), there was no mistaking the Malay flavour (he is after all Indonesian) which made you think of the countryside, and the kampong way of life… and the richness of his music, and the different emotions triggered by the melodic tunes from his violin, I never did realise you could have such a wide spectrum of feelings being expressed from one musical instrument…. A guest appearance by friends playing the flute and traditional drums (for ignorance of its actual name) only made the performance even more unforgettable….
His musical compositions were very interesting, and ranged from the slow full of emotion piece, to the happy and very danceable joget number.... He also displayed his versatility in the music that he played, belting out snippets of Besame Mucho, Yellow Bird and a dangdut song which I was not familiar with…. But it was his tribute to P Ramlee (he played 7 of the legend’s songs) that got the loudest applause…. We also got an insight to Idris Sardi the man, when he spoke at great length about himself (errrr, close to 30 minutes actually), of his opinion of the music that he plays, how his father (who was also a very accomplished violinist himself) had influenced him, and made him wake up at 5 in the morning to practice….
I’m glad my dad had asked me to join him for the show, and while I’m sure the Salsa Congress over the weekend would have been a blast, I must say I have no regrets attending Idris’s wonderful performance, if anything, it has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Malay music!!!
The night did not began well, when I had to wait behind a queue of 5 people, and we were not moving… The ticket attendant was using only 1 computer to serve people buying as well as collecting tickets (like myself)….This despite having an additional 2 computers, which were idle, and obviously caused much irritation, myself included…. I later found out that the server was down due to the lightning, and that only 1 computer was functioning…. If only they had put up a sign, informing us of their difficulty, I’m sure we would have all showed much more patience while trying to get our tickets…. The idiot trying to keep us off the red carpet (a lot of us didn’t notice as we were all lost, trying to get tickets, trying to buy merchandise and CDs, trying to find a place to put our wet umbrellas, finding out way to the right entrance closest to our seat, etc) for the pending arrival of some VIPs also didn’t help our mood… Again, signs or clearer announcements would have been more than welcomed…..
Luckily, the performance itself was enjoyable, and the inconveniences faced earlier in the night were soon forgotten as the orchestra was introduced, and Idris Sardi himself strolled in….. They had projected scenes of a village backdrop, or still pictures to suit the mood of the songs throughout the performance…. While the music was a little loud, and the various musical instruments were competing to be heard, one instrument clearly stood out, that of the violin belonging to Idris, who turned out to be a true maestro….
While there was clearly a western influence to the intro of all his music (very Hollywoodish in my opinion), there was no mistaking the Malay flavour (he is after all Indonesian) which made you think of the countryside, and the kampong way of life… and the richness of his music, and the different emotions triggered by the melodic tunes from his violin, I never did realise you could have such a wide spectrum of feelings being expressed from one musical instrument…. A guest appearance by friends playing the flute and traditional drums (for ignorance of its actual name) only made the performance even more unforgettable….
His musical compositions were very interesting, and ranged from the slow full of emotion piece, to the happy and very danceable joget number.... He also displayed his versatility in the music that he played, belting out snippets of Besame Mucho, Yellow Bird and a dangdut song which I was not familiar with…. But it was his tribute to P Ramlee (he played 7 of the legend’s songs) that got the loudest applause…. We also got an insight to Idris Sardi the man, when he spoke at great length about himself (errrr, close to 30 minutes actually), of his opinion of the music that he plays, how his father (who was also a very accomplished violinist himself) had influenced him, and made him wake up at 5 in the morning to practice….
I’m glad my dad had asked me to join him for the show, and while I’m sure the Salsa Congress over the weekend would have been a blast, I must say I have no regrets attending Idris’s wonderful performance, if anything, it has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Malay music!!!
posted by zufar | 8:11 PM
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