The Indisposed City; a Protest
Yogyakarta, a quite small city in Java Island, is well known for its slogan; Yogyakarta Berhati Nyaman (acronym from bersih, sehat, indah, & nyaman/clean, healthy, beautiful, and comfortable).
As an immigrant living in this city since late 1999, I have been feeling much comfortable with the environment and the people. However, for late few years, this city has not been comfortable anymore. For the sake of investments and domestic income, many capitalists have built hotels and malls while local government fails to manage urban planning well.
It seems that local government who is led by Mayor Haryadi Suyuti does not consider how environment and social life can be affected. Nowadays, receding groundwater and traffic jam have occurred in some areas because of this excessive development.
Sadly, they are not responsible for these problems. The Mayor has not appeared for a long time while the Governor cannot overcome these directly. Some of local residents tried to speak to the hotel managers but they faced deadlock.
Therefore, society initiated movements as protests. For example, there were mural gravity "Jogja Asat" initiated by Warga Berdaya on Oct 2, 2014 at around Jembatan Kewek/Kleringan and theatrical act "Sand Bathing" performed by Miliran Village resident Dodok Putra Bangsa on Aug 6, 2014 in front of Fave Hotel.
I also felt the city complexity because of traffic jam. While many hotels and malls has been constructed, local government---again---fails to make policy about proper public transportation. How can people use that bad public transportation when local government has not made an effort to improve the system?
Seeing that matter, I composed a new music as a protest for the problems. This is for a graphic score. The reason I use a graphic score is to depict the real problems and I am not able to write it easily using standard notation. With a graphic score, I wish that any performers can feel the story and convey the music deeply.
Because I am not a good drawer, I drew it very carefully. Fortunately, I have ever had a drawing lesson when I was a kid and been a visual art lover for few years. It really helps me in making a graphic score.
This composition is for indeterminate instruments and improvisation. It is divided into two parts (two pictures); Parasites and Mind Tense. It is going to be performed at the National Gugak Center on Oct 31, 2014 by Gamin (with her Saenghwang & Hun) and Jay Afrisando (with his Saluang & Siter).
Note :
A graphic score (or picture notation or visual-symbol notation) was evolved by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, etc. in 1950s as a breakthrough while standard notation could be ineffective.
