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Sjukur, Slamet Abdul (b. June 30, 1935, Surabaya, Java). Indonesian composer of mostly stage, chamber, vocal, and multimedia works that have been performed throughout Asia and Europe; he is also active as a scholar.
Mr. Sjukur studied piano privately from 1944–52 and studied at the Sekolah Musik Indonesia in Yogyakarta from 1952–56. He later studied analysis with Olivier Messiaen and organology with Madame de Chambure at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in 1962–63, on a grant from the government of France. He then studied chamber music with V. Gentil, composition with Henri Dutilleux, counterpoint with Simone Plé Caussade, harmony with Georges Dandelot, and piano with J. Gentil at the École Normale de Musique de Paris from 1962–67. He also briefly studied with Pierre Schaeffer and his Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris in 1968.
His many honors include the Médaille de Bronze from the Festival de Jeux d'Automne in Dijon (1974), the Disque d'Or from the Académie Charles Cros (1975, for a recording of Angklung) and the Zoltán Kodály Commemorative Medal in Hungary (1983). In more recent years, the magazine Gatra named him a Pioneer of Alternative Music (1996), he was inducted into the Millennium Hall of Fame of the American Biographical Institute (1998), he was given the title Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France (2000), and he was named a life member of the Akademi Jakarta (2002).
As a scholar, he has studied indigenous music, including the Indonesian folk-music style influenced by early Portuguese settlers Krontjong Toegoe in 1981, on a grant from the Ford Foundation. He later undertook research on the aesthetic affinity of Claude Debussy with the gamelan in 1989, on a grant from the government of France.
Mr. Sjukur is also active in other positions. He founded the philharmonic society Pertemuan Musik Surabaya in 1957, which featured monthly concerts and lectures from 1957–82, and was a founding member of the Alliance Française in Surabaya in 1960. He served as head of the music committee of the Jakarta Arts Council from 1977–81 and invited numerous composers and performers to Indonesia for concerts, lectures and workshops and organized the first festival of contemporary French music in Southeast Asia. He was later a founding member of the music foundation Yayasan Musik Laras in Surabaya in 1985 and of the composers union Asosiasi Komponis Indonesia (AKI) in 1994 and served as its director from 1994–99. He served as a board member of the Sekolah Musik Surabaya in 1987, gave a series of lectures for broadcast on Wereld Omroep in The Netherlands in 1987, produced two weekly contemporary music programs for Radio Suara Surabaya from 1991–97, and co-organized with the Indonesian Director-General for Culture a conference-festival of the Asian Composers League in Solo and Yogyakarta in 1999.
He lectured on various subjects at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts from 1976–87, where he also served as dean of its department of music from 1981–83. He has lectured for the post-graduate program of the art academy STSI Surakarta since 2000.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: slakur@centrin.net.id
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: Sangkuriang (miniature opera, libretto by Utuy T. Sontani), mixed chorus, 1958; Latigrak (ballet music, choreography by Frédéric Franchini), gamelan, 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), 2 gender (Indonesian metallophones), 1994; Marsinah (incidental music, play by Ratna Sarumpaet), specially-made instruments, 1994
ORCHESTRAL: Ōm, 14 strings, 1995; Concerto, arpegina (5-string viola), string orchestra, 2002; 100 ABG BABU, bamboo blocks (100 amateur players), 2003; Game-Land (Tsunami), mixed slendro-pelog Sundanese gamelan, 2004–05; Game-Land 2 (Homage to Ton de Leeuw), slendro-tuned Javanese gamelan, 2005
CHAMBER MUSIC: Bulan Hijau, clarinet, piano, 1960; Point contre (players also speak), trumpet, harp, percussion, 1969; Ronda Malam, large number of angklung (Indonesian bamboo rattles), 1975 (section of Angklung; may be performed separately); Kangen, 3 shakuhachi (bamboo flutes), kokyu (violin), Japanese percussion, 1986; Suwung, flute, 1988; Ji-Lala-Ji, 2 flutes (both + percussion), 1989; Cucuku-Cu, guitar, 1990 (also version for 5 pianos 20 hands); Lesung, synthesizer, 1992; Uwek-Uwek, 2 players (exploring their mouths), 1/2 djembé (African drums), 1992; Minimax, variable spatial ensemble, 1993; Jawara, percussion, 1993; Gelandangan, karunding (bamboo jaw harp), tape, 1998 (also version for female voice, karunding); 'The Source, Where the Sound Returns', clarinet, cello, piano, 1999; Dedicace-1, arpegina/viola, 2000; Paha – Thigh, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 2005–06
CHORAL: Angklung, mixed chorus (all voices + angklung), large number of angklung, 1975 (one section may be performed separately: Ronda Malam); Muni, mixed chorus (all voices + karunding), 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
MULTIMEDIA: Parentheses I–II (dance music, choreography by Denis Carrey), female dancer, suspended chair, piano, lights, 1972; Parentheses IV, 2 dancers, flute, 2 electric guitars, violin, cello, prepared piano, synthesizer, percussion, live painting, 1973; Parentheses III (text by Ronald D. Laing, choreography by Samuelina Tahija; dancers also speak), coloratura soprano, male speaker, 2 dancers, conductor-choreographer, 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, lights, 1999
FILM SCORE (DIRECTOR): Aku Perempuan Dan Laki-Laki Itu, 1996 (Aria Kusumadewa, Afrizal Malna)
(Last updated on March 12, 2006)
