TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A traditional Javanese song ‘Singgah-singgah’ which usually played in Javanese weddings opened the solo concert of keroncong singer Indra Utame Tamsir at Jakarta Art Building on Wednesday last week. The 2013 Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) award winner brought out a rather sacred ambiance on the stage. The keroncong fans packing up the venue sang along when ‘Yen Ing Tawang Ono Lintang’ written by deceased Andjar Any was sung by the artist.

Indra sang 10 songs along with the melody performed by Koko Thole band. With her typical sassy and cheeky data-style, Indra sang the song in relaxed manner and sometimes interacting with the audiences.

"It feels like in a wedding," a young audience whispered to a friend next to him.

Indra was born on July 16, 1974 in Blora, Central Java, where she had been familiar with langgam or keroncong since she was young. She was taught to sing keroncong and traditional Javanese music gamelan by her father who was a traditional music teacher.

Six years ago, Indra had planned to retired from the entertainment world. She wanted to focus on being a housewife, taking care of her three pre-teen daughters. With the retiring plan on her mind, Indra recorded songs of Manthous which was intended for private collections and distributed to relatives and colleagues. But, apparently Indra's luck had just starting to shine as one of her colleague, Koko Thole, offered to record and write song for her.

The "Goddess of Luck" continued to smile on her as she was nominated in 2012 AMI Awards and won the award the next year.

"I won the AMI Awards with my second album entitled ‘Nggayuh Katresnan’," she said.

Indra is hopeful that with her concerts, more young people and public in general would have more understanding in the differences between langgam, keroncong and stamboel. Although her soul had fallen in love with Javanese langgam, Indra is more focusing on singing keroncong.

“Because Javanese langgam will be familiar only for Javanese. But keroncong can be enjoyed by people in the whole country, all ethnics,” Indra added.

KORAN TEMPO