Three Things that Make Me Happy Today

1. I'm somewhat recovered from my fever and severe headache of the past 3 days. Hence, I was able to conduct my church choir for 2 services in the morning. Then teaching Angelic Choir with other laoshi-es. And finally rehearsed with some of the church choir for Bang Albin's wedding.

2. I bought Catching Fire! The second book of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

After watching The Hunger Games movie, I put the book on my wishlist for Christmas and got it from my office mate. After reading it, I want to continue I decided to buy this second book :) Fortunately, I could buy it today.

3. I finished all preparation for my new motorbike to be able to take it on the road!

After buying it, I needed to wait for 2 weeks for the STNK to be ready. After receiving it along with 2 plates of the vehicle number, I needed to fix them to the bike of course. Alas, I have no tools. So I went to a small workshop, bought 2 plates that function as the frame (so I did not need to have the plates drilled), and let the mechanics fix them for Rp.25.000,- (it includes the price of the frame plates, which are Rp.20.000,-)

So, I'm happy :)

You made my Sunday :D

Last Sunday with Angelic Choir kid:
Alex, around 4 years old. He's bilingual.

Alex : Why are you wearing a mask?
Me : Because I have a sore throat
Alex : Why? Me : I don't really know, it just happened
Alex : Maybe you eat too much kerupuk...

And I LOL-ed so hard :)) :)) He's so little, yet so well articulated.. Maybe he remembered his mom's warning that too much eating kerupuk will induce coughing.

Vocal Rest

I'm very prone to sore throat and flue. And as a person who loves to sing, this is a torture.. Because I find my comfort when I sing songs to myself.

"Can't you just sing in your heart for that?" 

"Hey.. singing is a physical activity too. Much like sport, which combine a coordination of mind and motions. So, it would be different to just sing without the actual audible voice."

Anyway, unfortunately it happens now. It started last week when I got a sore throat, which I normally treat with Obat Batuk Cap Ibu dan Anak (Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa). It's a Chinese herbal medicine plus honey which I find to be very good to ease the pain of sore throat but not very effective (probably just for me) in curing the cough.

Today, the sore throat got worse as to affect my vocal chord, according to my office doctor. Further symptoms of flue such as cough, break and hoarseness of voice, and runny nose have also apparent.

My office doctor told me to have a vocal rest, meaning no talking (or minimal, if unavoidable) and definitely no singing. Hopefully not for long.

Just a note to myself, I was given :
- Alpara for the fever
- Mucopect 30mg for the cough
- Methylprednisolone for the throath inflammation
- Ciprofloxacine 500mg as the antibiotics.

This is not intended to be a suggestion to others who experience similar symptoms. Please consult your doctor. I think it's a good idea to take note of what kind of medicine we've consumed. I once had allergic reaction to a certain medicine for fever, and up until now I cannot remember the name of that medicine. Pity, because doctors usually ask if we have allergy to any medicine.


Other suggestions to ease the pain of sore throat that I've received are :
- honey
- kencur
- sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) + drops of lemon/lime.

You can try them too or add more practical remedies that work for you in the comment section :)

CD Lagu untuk Eric

Sore ini bikinin CD hadiah untuk Eric (6 tahun), anak Angelic Choir, untuk dikasihin hari Minggu nanti :)
Udah agak lama aku janji untuk ngasiin lagu Andrea Bocelli - The Lord's Prayer karena dia sangat excited cerita tentang berbagai penampilan Bocelli di DVD konser yang ditontonnya sama Papanya (ingat, umur 6 tahun lho) waktu acara kumpul-kumpul di rumah Ci Yenyen. Termasuk juga karena dia mintain papanya ngasi CD album The Best of Yutaka Yokokura yang sering didengar di mobilnya untukku. Menurut dia sih karena suara kami mirip, haha..

Daripada cuma ngasi satu lagu, aku kumpulin beberapa lagu yang aku suka dan (semoga) Eric juga suka. Walaupun amatiran, I'm proud of my work, hehe. Here's the result:

(Hiks, namanya Eric salah tulis)

Gary Valenciano - Lead Me Lord

I stumbled upon this song when I was listening to Gary Valenciano's other song in YouTube. And I fell in love with this song instantly.

The lyric is very comforting for me.
When I told Kia about the song (he studied in the Phillipines where Gary resides), he surprisingly said that the very song is the next song we will sing in our new choir, Ethereal Singers. Nice :D

May you be blessed.. I am :)

Gary Valenciano - Lead Me Lord

Verse 1:
Lead me Lord
Lead me by the hand and help me face the rising sun
Comfort me through all the pain that life may bring
There's no other hope that I can lean upon
Lead me Lord
Lead me all my life

Verse 2:
Walk by me
Walk by me across the lonely roads that I may face
Take my arms and let your hand show me the way
Show the way to live inside your heart
All my days, all my life

Chorus:
You are my light
You're the lamp upon my feet
All the time my Lord I need You there
You are my light
I cannot live alone
Let me stay by Your guiding love
All through my life
Lead me Lord

Verse 3:
Lead me Lord
Even though at times I'd rather go alone my way
Help me take the right direction
Take your road
Lead me Lord and never leave my side
All my days, all my life

Chorus:
You are my light
You're the lamp upon my feet
All the time my Lord I need You there
You are my light
I (just) cannot live alone
Let me stay by Your guiding love
All through my life

All through my days
Lead me O Lord
Lead me Lord

Krashna Musika Proms Concert

Krashna Musika orchestra and choir will have another concert this September. It will be in Delft Market Square and it's FREE!! :D

It's the 40th anniversary of Krashna Musika.

We will perform:

Prokofiev - Romeo & Julia suite;
Guus Westdorp - The Hymne of Delft (on world premiere!).

Glinka - Ouverture from Ruslan and Ludmilla;
Borodin - Danses Polovtsiennes from Prince Igor;
Bizet - Les Voici from Carmen;
Verdi - Va pensiero from Nabucco;
Verdi - La donna e mobile from Rigoletto;
Gounod - Deposons les armes, gloire immortelle de nos aieux from Faust;
Wagner - Treulich geführt from Lohengrin;
Puccini - Nessun dorma from Turandot.

Before the evening concert, there will be another concert in the afternoon for Children. It will be the Romeo and Juliet, by the orchestra, and there will be a narration for Children by Petra Pijnaker (penulis musiknya gitu klo ga salah ingat).

My favourite choir piece from the program are Danses Polovtsiennes (Prince Igor) and Les Voici (Carmen). Les Voici is so lively and extravagant! While Danses Polovtsiennes is grand and mystical :D

So, for those of you who can reach Delft, please do come! :)

One video of Danses Polovtsiennes that I can find in YouTube:

PS: I haven't written anything about the Concert Tour several months ago.. I hope I can write it soon.

The One With The Concerts

The first concert of Krashna Musika was in Maria van Jessekerk, Delft; and the second concert was in Dr. Anton Philipzaal, Den Haag. Guys were asked to wear black suit, white shirt, and a black bowtie or a gray Krashna bowtie. Fortunately I brought my black suits with me from Indonesia. Yoben lent me his extra Krashna bowtie.

The warm up started a bit late from the actual plan of 17.45. After warm up, we had dinner. We had to bring it or buy it from surrounding shops, haha. It's different from our concerts in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, we are used to have committee to prepare the dinners so that everybody will surely have his/her dinner before the concert and keep them in the concert venue. It's hard to gather a bunch of people on time in Indonesia. Well, people can argue that it depends on the person. But as committee for the concert, someone would like to keep them in the same place. It's also done that way in the hope that singers can focus on their performance better (well, hoping is not a sin :D).

Here, I find people should be more responsible for him/herself due to too few people in the committee to take care of that. Ga ada manja2an deh.. Bagus juga, soalnya emang menyebalkan klo harus ngurusin orang2 sok ngartis, hahaha.

This characteristic also happened for choir's blocking. Singers position was not arranged. I had to find a good place for myself (i.e. I could see the conductor without being blocked by a tall Soprano or Tenor before me :p). Well, this was understandable for such a big choir. We had approximately 150 musicians in the concert (one of the committee told me this), with 100 people as singers I think. However for a smaller choir, I prefer the conductor to arrange the position for better sound. Pssst.. Di hari kedua konser, aku sengaja kabur dari posisiku di kanan panggung (pas Gladi Resik) ke posisi tengah (pas konsernya) karena tenor2 di sampingku sering kali lip-sync doang(ato diam aja).. Alhasil suaraku terlalu menonjol sendirian di lokasi itu. Untuk hari pertama, lokasiku sih oke.

For the whole concert itself, I'm quite satisfied. The first session was the orchestra performance. They did well. Although the choir could see the percussion section dropped one of the instrument that made unexpected noise, hahaha.

We performed with the orchestra on the second session. Some friends said the sound was impressive (thanks to the Church interior design and the number of the performers, I think :D). I'm not happy with the last part of Movement 3. The polyphony sounded messy. Actually most of the song couldn't be said tidy being heard from singers position, but it's insignificant for the audience. The dynamic range was not very wide, but it's still alright. The Baritone Soloist was great and I really really loved the voice of the Soprano Soloist :D

We got several minutes of standing ovation at the end of both concerts. I have checked with my Dutch friends whether it's a formal thing to do after a concert in Netherlands :D Well, they said it's not. So, I hope the audience was actually satisfied with our performances :)

PS: I spent 1,5 hours learning how to tie a bowtie from Youtube and some other websites one night before the concert, hehehe.

First Concert With Krashna Musika

Haaa, the Brahm's Ein Deutsches Requiem that we have rehearsed since September 2007 will be presented for the first time to public tonight.

My music score, checked. My suits, checked. My Vocal cord, still there, checked :D I just need to fill my stomach now, hehe. I cook Chicken Rendang for today. Hmm, I wonder if it will be okay for my throat. But whatever, I need a decent food after this 2 weeks full of Integration Moment assignments.

Tomorrow will be the last day of Integration Moment, which is the day of assessment by doing a business game/simulation. The whole knowledge from all courses that we learned from this semester will be tested there (well, if we did learn them). I hope I can still read some of the materials after the concert tonight.

And right after the assessment tomorrow, I will be rushing again to the concert venue, which is in Den Haag. 15 minutes by train from Delft and some more time (I don't know yet) to the exact building. I hope I can make it. Otherwise I will miss the warm-up, which I badly need for singing the Brahm's Requiem.

Wish me luck for tonight!

Sinterklaas at Krashna Musika

We had a visitor at Krashna Musika Choir rehearsal..
Sinterklaas... Yaayy!

Earlier at the rehearsal break, we went downstairs and made a paper shoe for ourselves. Coloring and cutting the paper, I felt like I was 5 years old again, haha. See the picture, that's my paper shoe.. We left our paper shoe near the Christmas Tree downstairs.

At the end of the rehearsal, two Zwarte Piets appeared and threw us with cookies (It's not suitable to call them cookies I think. Because it's soft. Or was it kruidnoten? But it's different with kruidnoten that I know). Well, it's edible anyway.

The choir sang some Sinterklaas songs (I don't know the song). Then Sinterklaas sat on a chair and called some people. They sat on Sinterklaas' lap one by one (Gilles, the conductor got the first turn ) and listened to what Sinterklaas read from a book, haha (I don't know what he's talking about, it's in Dutch. Apparently it's something funny ).

Before going home, we visited our shoes near the Christmas Tree and found them already filled with chocolates and candies, yipee

Today's a fun day

Dinner with Krashnees

Sejak gabung sama Krashna Musika Choir, aku cuma kenal sama beberapa anak2 baru juga, plus sejumlah tenor2 yang duduk di sekitarku, (yang bantuin nerjemahin apa yg diomongin conductor. Pake bahasa Belanda sih..), plus sejumlah kecil anggota lama dari golongan suara lain.

Jadinya aku kepikiran untuk kumpul-kumpul sama beberapa teman Krashna Musika (namely Krashnees), makan bareng ato sejenisnya. Eh, tau-tau Nicolas (Bass, French) mengundang untuk dinner di roomnya di Spacebox, bareng beberapa teman Krashnees. Kok pas banget, hehehe..

Jadi tadi jam 7 malem kami kumpul di kamarnya. Nicolas lagi masak dibantu Roser (Alto, Spain). Masak sesuatu bernama Fi-something (I don't know it), seperti pastel berukuran setengah piring, isinya bayam dan potongan salmon.

Sambil nungguin matang, Rizky (Bass, Indonesia) dan Aleksander (Baritone, Serbia. Iya gitu tulisan namanya :D) main piano sambil membahas tentang partitur musik klasik (ada electric piano di kamar Nicolas). Ling Juan (Soprano, China) dan aku (Tenor, Indonesia. Aiyaah, ga penting :p) cuma dengerin aja sambil ngomentarin dikit-dikit.. Hahaha, dasar pengetahuan minim.

Sambil makan, obrolannya makin melebar ga jelas.. Mulai dari piano, musik klasik, ukuran pulau di Indonesia, gempa dan tsunami, Beijing/Peking, karakter tulisan China, kaitannya dengan Jepang, Taiwan, gerakan separatisme di Spanyol, Politik, pronounciation Spanish & Catalan, dll. Dessert-nya Chocolate fondue(potongan buah dicelup ramuan coklat cair + cream + cengkeh).

Agak2 ngaco emang, tapi overall sangat menyenangkan. At least kita ga cuma ketemu di latian choir. Looking forward to our next gathering.. At badminton games in the sport center, maybe :D

Shalom Chaverim

'Shalom Chaverim' is the name that some friends from GII Dago Choir and I (and some other friends ) use if we sing separately from GII Dago Choir. Every time I hear the name, I remember those GII friends.

I just found a song in ISC's (International Student Chaplaincy) songbook with the same title. It's an Israeli folk song (This might be where our choir's name came up after all ). After reading the translation of the song, I found another reason to remember those GII friends..


Pronunciation: Shah-loam khah-vair-eem (hah will do if you can't make the "kh" sound); Luh-heet-rah-aut.

Translation:

Shalom, chaverim, Shalom, chaverim, Shalom, shalom; L'hitra'ot, L'hitra'ot, Shalom, shalom.

Shalom, o my friends, Shalom, o my friends, Shalom, shalom; Till we meet again, Till we meet again, Shalom, shalom.

The melody, sung in canon can be heard here in youtube.

So, Peace friends.. Till we meet again

My New Choir..

Sesudah lebih sebulan ga nyanyi di choir, akhirnya aku bergabung dengan choir di TU Delft. Namanya Krashna Musika. Latiannya tiap hari Rabu jam 19.30 sampai 22.30 di room 232, Cultural Center di Mekelweg 10.

Rasanya sayang aja ga nyanyi di choir lagi. Kalo ga latian kan lama-lama hasil latian 7 taun belakangan ini bakal ilang pelan-pelan. Sempat bingung karena ga nemu choir yang bisa dimasuki. Di gereja ISC, choirnya belum berbentuk choir beneran, karena anggotanya juga masih minim.

Akhirnya pas ngobrol2 lewat YM dengan Kak Rino dapat pencerahan kalo ada choir yang bernama Krashna Musika (KM) di Delft (hehehe, K' Rino malah lebih tau padahal ga di Delft. Thanks ya Kak). Setelah lewat 3 minggu kuliah, karena masih adaptasi dan ada Introduction Week di luar kota dari jurusanku, baru aku kirim email nanyain tentang cara masuk KM itu ke board-nya. Oh iya, sekalian nanya apa aku boleh telat ke latian karena ada kuliah malam tiap Rabu sampe jam 19.30. Ternyata ceunah open registrationnya udah tutup. Tapi aku boleh datang aja dulu Rabu, 26 September 07 ke latiannya. Di akhir latian akan ditest/audisi dan kalo lulus baru boleh ikut gabung.

Datanglah aku ke latiannya itu kmaren. Untung kuliah Economics-ku kelar lebih cepat, jadinya bisa sampe di tempat latian KM cuma telat 10 menit. Dari jauh dah kedengaran suara orang2 vocalising.. Deg-degan dikit pas ijin masuk, lalu ambil posisi di kanan belakang. Ternyata itu gerombolan Bass, lalu pindah ke bagian Tenor, hehehe..

Abis vocalising, latiannya mulai. Ternyata lagunya Brahms dengan not balok (gyaaa...). Syukurlah agak2 bisa ngikutin. Tapi oh noo, conductornya ngasi instruksi dan penjelasan make bahasa Belanda. Akhirnya orang di sebelahku (Stephen? not sure about his name) dengan baik hati menawarkan terjemahan ke Bahasa Inggris. Rata-rata suara dan tekniknya bagus. Tapi ada satu Tenor yang suaranya menarik banget. Baguus dan proyeksinya juga bagus.. Enak banget didengar. Mereka rata-rata bisa dengan mudahnya mencapai nada tinggi (yang bagiku dah tinggi dan perlu konsentrasi mengkoordinasikan organ-organ tubuh *aiyyaah* untuk mencapainya). Apa karena emang tipikal suara orang sini emang tinggi-tinggi ya? Rasanya pernah baca suatu tulisan tentang itu. Jadi rada minder, hehehe..

Abis latian, akhirnya dipanggil untuk audisi (ada 1 orang cewek juga diaudisi). Untung yang lain udah bergerak keluar ruangan karena emang ada acara pergi bareng ke suatu kafe. Audisinya biasa aja sih, nyanyiin beberapa tipe rangkain not yang dibunyiin pelatihnya pake piano dan bergerak up and down the scale. Tapi ada satu melodi yang agak2 aneh dan ga biasa (agak gagal pas awal-awal, hehe).

Trus pelatihnya nanya apa aku pernah ikut vocal training dan apa aku pernah gabung di choir sebelumnya.. Tentoenja! (ya, ga gitulah jawabnya, hehe ). Dan repertoir seperti apa yang biasanya dinyanyiin.. He said he could recognize that my vocal is built and that he liked the sound. Waaa, senangnya...

Setelah deg-degan karena udah ngedenger bagusnya anggota2 yang lain, akhirnya aku diterima di Krashna Musika. It's good to know that what you like and do a lot is appreciated by others. Not that the appreciation is the most important, but it just... feels good..
It's not that I wanna boast or something.. I know many people around me that can sing better than I do, and I love their voices..

Aku juga senang bisa nyanyi di choir lagi. Emang betul-betul kerasa beda dengan kalo nyanyi sendiri ato di vocal group. So, let's see how far I could involve in this new choir..


Ini logonya Krashna Musika. Tadinya aku heran ngeliat logonya itu... Kok kayak setan gitu ya, hehehe.. Pas kutanya sama pengurusnya, ternyata itu gambar Faun, dari mitologi romawi yang suka main musik gitu deh. Di film/buku The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe-nya C. S. Lewis, ada Faun yang bernama Mr Tumnus, yang pertama kali ditemui Lucy di Narnia. Krashna itu sendiri artinya Beautiful, aku lupa dari bahasa apa.. Slovakia? Jadi kira2 arti namanya itu Beautiful Music.

NB: Sengaja nulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia, supaya orang KMnya ga bisa baca, hehehe..
NB lagi: Untuk Soprannya, aku rasa Soprannya PSM-ITB lebih bagus deh, hehehe. Tauk ya, siapa tau yang kmaren ini Sopran KMnya blom full formation.

Lagu Jomblo

Percakapan ga penting antar 2 orang teman lama yang secara (ini penggunaan "secara" yg betul dan ga sok gaul ) ga sengaja bersajak, ternyata bisa jadi inspirasi untuk buat lagu.

Tadi ngobrol2 dengan Andrew ttg teman kami yang bakal menikah Maret nanti (Hai Sinta ) dan tentang cuaca di Bandung dan di Belanda (Eh, di kota mana kau Ndrew?).


Jadilah:

Di kota ini hujan melulu
Jalanan basah, dingin selalu
Romantis memang setiap hari
Tapi sayang ku masih sendiri

[This would be the reffrain. Still working for the melody]

Hwahahahaa.. This song suppose to be a funny & 'slengean' song, sang by a group of 'jomblo' in 'himpunan' or 'sekre' or whatever 'tempat nongkrong', with the backsound of pouring rain, accompanied by 'genjrengan' guitar, a plate of hot 'gorengan' and cups of hot tea

Ah, ntahapahapa..

Busy (Singing) Saturday..

Long road to "Konser Terima Kasih"

Well, my activity started at 5 o'clock in the morning. Early morning, I would say. Got myself prepared for Prayer Service at the Church (GII Dago). Arrive at the church at 6 o'clock. After the service, it was already 7.30. I went to the Choir Room with Elvina & Silvia to play piano. We spent like an hour there.

I went home and got myself prepared for TLV Male rehearsal and sound check at 10.00. The rehearsal lasted until 12.30. Other ITB Choir members arrived at Aula Barat ITB and the rehearsal went on until 15.15. I should've joined ITB Choir alumni at Aula Timur for our first and last rehearsal (since we're practicing separately in Bandung and Jakarta), but I have to go to GII Dago for my Sunday Service choir rehearsal.

Then there I was at GII Dago, rehearsing until 17.00. So sorry that I couldn't accompany the singers for a practice. I needed to go back to the campus since the concert would begin at 19.30. Eh, stopping by at Kartika Sari first for some 'upeti'(or 'Perjamuan Kasih' if you wanna say so ) for the next day.

Then at the vocalizing moment, I felt it. I couldn't sing comfortably. My throath's having some trouble Heck, I must've gone over my limit. Too much singing for the day, huhuhu.. And I felt tired also from all the activities. Yeah, I guess no matter how fond you are of something, you have to know your limit!

Anyway, glad to be able to sing those Xiamen songs again. Though it's not our best performance (ya iyalaaah..). I'm not happy with my part in "You Raise Me Up". Something's not going well..(my voice, I mean). Singing in TLV Male was surely a great fun. The formation was a quartet, 2 tenors and 2 basses. Eldi, me, Sahat, and Mr Hablay. Khekhee, instead of me, Dhacun was supposedly join this formation. But he was away in KL at the moment, hehe.

Ahahaha, at first I didn't think "Solo Otra Vez" was a good choice of song. But it turned out that I like the climax of it very much. The "Emotion" was relaxing, like it. Other songs were: "If I Ain't Got You", "Can't Help Falling In Love With You", and "When You Tell Me That You Love Me". Thanks to Alrin for his great skill in playing the piano

Huuff.. Now time to go home.. I'm exhausted.

Christmas Choir Vaganza: Qualification Round

After about a month of rehearsing, we, Il Elefante Chorale, is ready for our qualification round in Christmas Choir Vaganza.

Mestinya sih sekeren itu Tapi aslinya sih not ready2 pisan sih, abisnya latiannya juga sering kali tanpa personil lengkap. Karena kesibukan personilnya dengan pekerjaan masing2, lokasi tempat tinggal yg jauh, dan lain sebagainya.

Tapi dah lumayan sih kesiapannya. Walopun hingga hari terakhir latian, ada personil yang baru latian koreografi sekali (me me me! langsung ngacung deh, hehehe)

Untungnya kami2 ini cepat belajar koreografinya. Babak penyisihannya terbagi dua bagian dan kami kebagian jadwal yg malam. Uji coba panggungnya agak ga biasa menurutku (tauk deh klo cara ini tnyata umum di tempat lain). Tiap2 choir diminta mengirim 5 orang untuk UCP, dan jadilah perwakilan2 itu berkumpul di panggung.

Berhubung personil kami pada sibuk dan belum datang ke tempat lomba, dan cuma ada Eldi, aku, K'Gita & K'Wae, jadilah cuma kami berempat yang naik panggung, hehehe.. Yg dengerin dr pihak kami ga ada

Abis tu Mbak Widya (salah satu juri) memimpin rombongan itu untuk check sound bareng. Sopran "cek cek, do re mi fa sol la si do si la sol fa mi re do". Alto bernasib sama. Abis tu Sopran & Alto barengan. Cowok2 nya diem aja dulu. Baru kemudian cowok2nya melakukan hal yg sama. Jadi ga ada choir yg mencoba panggung secara utuh (blocking, sound, dll) sebagai satu choir di panggung. Cuma check sound biasa aja.

Btw, ada satu pengalaman cukup menyebalkan. Pas ada seseorang cowok yg ga tau mesti berdiri dimana bertanya, "Eh, Tenornya dimana ya?". Berhubung si Mbak Widya ga nyebut posisi Tenor-Bass spt saat dia mengatur posisi Sopran-Alto, jadinya aku n Eldi bilang, "Di sini aja dulu, gapapa" (sotoy sih, tapi ya darimana mondar-mandir ga jelas). Trus, dengan semangat persahabatan dan itikad baik, aku bertanya sama cowok di sebelahku, "Eh, Tenor di sini kan ya?" Dan O My God! Dia menjawab dengan nyolot & angkuh , "Ya disinilah. Di belakang Sopran. Piano kan di situ, Tenor ya dekat piano dan di belakang Sopran."
Aku terpana.. Dan tak bisa berkata-kata.. Heahaha, kaget pisan. Penjelasan yg bagus sekali ya (sarcasm, if you don't get my tone.. ehehehe..)

Lagu pertama yang dinyanyiin ILE(Il Elefante Chorale) adalah The First Noel. Tanpa koreografi dan dinyanyikan spt layaknya choir-choir biasanya. Berkostumkan jubah warna..(oh no warna apa itu..) merah (klo ga salah) & ada beberapa yg make putih. Actually, aku ga suka jubahnya deh. Abisnya berpita2 gitu, hehehe. Tapi ga protes ahh, kan anak kostumnya dah repot2 nyariin.

B'Wenk nyanyiin bagian solonya agak goyang2.. Duhh, padahal pas latian bagus deh, aku suka suaranya. Grogi ya Bang? Eldi bilang sih Tenornya bagus pas lagu ini (Yang dibahas Tenornya, krn kami adalah para Tenor, hwahaha..)

Trus waktu mo lanjut ke lagu kedua, kami melakukan adegan striptease alias ngebuka jubah di depan penonton dan mempertontonkan... polo shirt kami.. khekhekhe
Iya gitu deh, di dalam jubah kami udah make jeans biru + polo shirt merah & putih + topi santa. Kenapa kostumnya gitu? Krn lagu kedua kami Jingle Bell Rock yang lagunya nge-swing. Asyik banget. Lagunya jadi menarik banget karena ada instrumen2 kecil yang dimainkan sambil nyanyi. Kayak Eldi yg bawa krincingan (Ceritanya bunyi sleigh bell), Alfi yg megang lonceng kecil, K'Bie yg bawa.. ntah alat apa itu :p (batang beruas-ruas yang digesek dengan tongkat spt sumpit ke arah melawan ruas2 tadi). Bunyinya jadi, "trr..rreek.." gitu (hahaha, ga menjelaskan ya ), Sahat yang melakukan suitan ala preman Tanjung Priok, dll.

Choir lain juga menarik2 banget. Vox Angelorum nampak bersih banget dengan kostum putih2nya. Nyanyinya jg bagus (tentunya, vox gitu). Glorify spt biasa, nyanyinya heboh. Bagus sih, tapi sayangnya menurutku cm spt serombongan org yg nyanyi bareng. Bukan paduan suara. Tapi Aku suka energi mereka. Infinito Singers bagus as a choir. Tapi mgkn programnya kurang pas untuk acara Christmas Choir Vaganza ini, apalagi komposisi jurinya seperti itu.

Abis lomba, anak2 Ile mencar. Ada yg pulang (kan besoknya kerja ), ada yg makan, dll. Aku sama Saut, Eldi, Patty, K'Mimi, & Desy makan ke foodcourt Wisma Bank Mega itu. Trus Saut, Desy & K'Mimi masuk lagi ke tempat lomba untuk dengar pengumuman siapa yg masuk final. Dan ternyata:

Il Elefante Chorale masuk final! Hehehe, hore hore hore..!

Finalis lainnya: Glorify, Vox Angelorum, Terra Voce, & PS. St. Clara.

Let's go on to the finale!

Recharging Energy in Jakarta

Baru juga sehari di Jakarta dah bosen Karena ndak tau mau ngapain selain masuk kantor (emang lagi banyak kerjaan jg sih). Untung diajakin sama Eldi untuk latian choir bareng anak2 ILE (Il Elefanthe Chorale) untuk ikut kompetisi Christmas Choirvaganza (CCV). *Ups, mo nulis sesuatu tapi dibatalin aja krn bisa mempengaruhi rencana2 ke depan klo dibaca orang2 tertentu *

Tadinya aku dah diajakin Leo & Toghie untuk ikut kompetisi CCV itu bareng Amazingers(so called Mendadak Choir or Money-Oriented Choir, hwahahaha Lucu banget d anak2nya). Latiannya tiap Senin dan Selasa. Tapi karena kepindahanku ke Jakarta sementara latiannya di Bandung, jadinya aku ga bisa gabung bareng mereka. Padahal dah 2 kali latian. It feels good to sing in a new choir because I can hear new voices and the sound's different from what I usually hear. Yahh, sayang banget, padahal aku senang bisa nyanyi bareng mereka. Maybe for next singing project

Nah, karena ILE latian di Jakarta, jadilah aku ikut latiannya ILE. Latian pertama di rumahnya B'Wenk dan K'Ntine. Uh oh, aku ga tau jalan ke sana. Elson online(teman choir sejak taun 2000), dan dia berbaik hati ngajak aku berangkat bareng ke tempat latian. Dari kantorku menuju kantor Elson tinggal jalan kaki ke depan Kantor Pos Cikini, trus naik bajaj ke Tugu Proklamasi. Elson tanya dah dimana, dan aku bilang lagi di jalan dan bakal segera sampe. Pas di depan tugu proklamasi, tanya2 orang dimana kantornya Elson (tanya alamatnya dong, mana orang2 di jalan tau siapa itu Elson ).
Tut tut.. tut tut.. Ada SMS, isinya:

"Okay. gw pake baju merah di depan halte tugu proklamator ya. Hehe, Kayak blind date ajah"

(Dalam hati) Hwahahahaha!! Emang! Ngapain juga ngasi tau pake baju apa. Emangnya aku ga ingat mukamu apa Son. Dasar, aneh2 aja..

Jalanlah aku ke arah haltenya dan melihat si pria berbaju merah bernama Elson itu Then kita cabut ke rumah B'Wenk. Oh no, tnyata jauh pisan. Untung perginya bareng Elson. Ahh, senang banget bisa latian lagi. Dan ketemu anak2 PSM & ILE lagi. Ada K'Mimi, Patty, & Saut juga yg anak PSM Unpad. Dan ada si abang ini!!!! Waaa!! Don't expect to meet you that soon!

Sepulang latian, I feel really relieved.. Kebosanan lenyap. Dan ngerasa recharged lagi untuk hari baru (berlebihan banget ga seeh, hehe ). Thank you all!