On pronouncing "R"
J then discussed how he noticed the ongoing trend of improperly pronouncing "R" by the Indonesian singers lately.
They pronounced "r" as an English speaker would as opposed to a clear pronunciation of "r" as an Indonesian would.
I, being an absent minded listener that I am, did not really notice it. So I asked him to enumerate those offenders.
He mentioned Andy /rif did it. I kinda remember he has always done it before. If I'm not mistaken it was indeed because he couldn't pronounce "r" properly. J then mentioned Armand Maulana, Fadly Padi then Inna Kamarie in that Harmoni show.
I have no idea abt the last one, haven't watched her performance yet. But I vaguely remember Armand did have the same problem with Andy /rif and has been using the improper "r" instead in his songs.
I didn't really notice this trend that J dicovered, but I did notice the unconventional pronunciation of everything by this singer in particular : Astrid.
J, using his detective skill, located the unusuality of the pronunciation of "k" : "kyu akyui" and "akhyiri" hahahaha xD.
And later the pronunciation of "i" as "yi". Aside from the common improper "r".
I thought it was just the side effect of her unconventional singing style though. I don't know, I don't really enjoying listening to her style of singing x_x
But then with time, after listening to more and more Indonesian latest songs, I do notice this trend!
I understand we are now already in the phase where we are already very familiar with English language. And thus we started to have this language mixed to our language in the song. I accredit all the singers who then properly pronounce the English parts of their lyrics properly. But that doesn't mean you should pronounce the Indonesian parts with English-style pronunciation!
I understand for the sake of expressing the song, it is sometime needed to accentuate the "r" by pronouncing it strongly, or accentuating the other part of the word, such that the "r" is pronounced rather softly. But pronouncing it softly is a different story to pronouncing it English-way. Much even worse if you pronounce it European way, with "r" spoken from the throat (in German: in the way you say Berlin, Hamburg; in French : in the way you say Paris).
I think there are those three levels of "r" pronunciation:
1. Indonesian, Italian, Spanish style : strong "R"
2. English style : rolled "R"
3. French, Germany style : throat spoken "R"
We should be happy being a nation with a language that trains us to properly do the strong "r". It's super hard for French native speaker to say the "r" like we do.
So how about being proud of our language and maintaining this identity of our own language properly?
On a side note, there's one surprising performance for me in that Harmoni SCTV show. It was from Anji Drive:
Oh, he really does sing?!! o_o
and pretty well too apparently? o_0
It's surprising because I've really never heard that he's a good singer.
The only things I heard of him were the news that he impregnated girls x_X
How sad is that? A singer known for his mischievous "love adventure" instead of his own singing ability.
On singing technique
All in all, J touted Reza from The Grooves as the singer with the best technique on that Harmoni SCTV show. And... I'm not so good about singing technique stuff, but I think I could agree with him.
This talking about singing technique reminded me of a vid applauding Indonesian singers technique. While the captions and the tone of the makers clearly is flaming and abashing the other team, I must agree that the vid maker conveyed some truths there.
This correct singing technique is one I can't master either though.
I was taught about it in my uni choir group:
"Imagine the note first in your head, aim at it first, before then fully sing the full note, imagine it as you'd hit a target with a bow and arrows".
It's easier said than done. Super hard, really x_x
I finally just decided to sing to my heart content anyway,
After all it's just me, and sometimes my poor husband, who has to listen to it anyway hahaha.
So, I really applaud you my dearest Indonesia singers who are singing correctly! *_*
On latest Indonesian songs trend
I'm not really talking abt the KPOP imitation trend.
While I'm glad for the fact that Indonesian songs do have the diversity in that area, I haven't seen one that impressed me in the term of dancing skill and vocal strength.
So, yeah, on that genre of music I'm still waiting for one worth to be dance-covered to as I said here :D
The one genre that I'd like to discuss here is the back-to-Malay-pop style trend.
I just can't ignore anymore how almost all of the new Indonesian songs lately are in this vein.
J called it Dangdut v.2.0. Dangdut minus the percussion and flute accompaniment.
And I can't agree more to that x_x
I think it was all started by ST12 band. Despite their "urban" appearance and music style, apparently lots of people do love their songs. This new found popularity of this kinds of music apparently fueled all these recent new artists and songs.
Don't get me wrong, I love the diversity in music. And surely the popularity means a lot of people do like this music genre. But that doesn't mean all have to be uniformed to that genre. How about more creativity?
And what bugs me the most from this kind of music is their lyrics tendency.
I understand this kind of genre commanded that the singing is done with certain degree of melancholy.
However this doesn't mean all your songs have to be about all the sad sad things and all your desperation in love, does it?
This brings me to my next rant topic :
On lyrics
I hardly could stop complaining listening to each of the recent Indonesian songs. I found more and more questionable and mind-boggling lyrics every time. Up to the point that J commented on how I just like to complain and am asking too much :D
But, well, if human is known for never asking too much, we wouldn't have invented anything would we? xP
So let me bring to light examples of lyrics that just bugged me:
Abracadabra :
aku sulap kamu jadi lelaki setia
yang tak suka main perempuan
.... what the?
If you do have that magical power, how about asking something more ambitious?
You know, such as creating the perfect human maybe?
Rather than fixing just that one flaw which I think is just the surface wound of one rotten soul? I can't even find the proper translation of "main perempuan". That's how bad that term is.
And then there's song about a guy who got so heartbroken he wondered, should he die to be fine?
Well, yeah, if you're that desperate just go die already then!
What kind of a man would sing such song?
I think the only appropriate song for heartbroken guy is this song.
Sure, he's sad and crushed, but it doesn't mean he'd compromise his pride and grovel before the infidelity.
I could go on and on and on about lyrics that I found disturbing. The recent trend is about loving someone who has already someone else, or about affairs it seems. But let's stop at these two examples.
My main point in talking about this is that :
I think singers, through their songs, could really convey ideas to the listener.
They could inspire you to do something big. The way I always feel inspired every time I sing songs such as Bendera for example.
What kind of a nation would you like us to be when you kept on singing these hopeless melancholic songs?
Our former first men had spoken. Soeharto on his time had warned us out about this melancholic song phenomenon ("lagu cengeng"). He pointed out how these kind of songs would defer us from empowering ourselves in the development of our country.
Soekarno at his time banned the "ngak-ngik-ngok" songs for they conveyed the capitalism culture. They defer us from developing our national identity.
And if I could conclude this rant, just as Soekarno and Soeharto had spoken on these matters, music is not just something trivial.
Lots of good thing could come up from good music.
So how about creating more and more songs with empowering lyrics?
And with more creativity in the term of the tune and style?
And with proper Indonesian language, PLEASE!
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