9.08.2008

Jason Mraz and The Street Musicians

"Every Bataknese can sing well, except one person, and that's because he is dumb. Oh, and another one. Mona."

That was my friend's joke describing my singing capability. Unfortunately, she is right. I don't have any sense of music. I never value a song from its musical quality. So, I am sorry if I don't have any interest toward classical or instrumental music.

For me, a good song is the one that be able to make me think about something. It could be a "soundtrack" which brings back memory about some people or some moments. Or, it could be a motivation for me. And that will bring us to Jason Mraz.

Mraz always hypnotizes me with his genuineness in playing words. He had me with Remedy, exactly with this line: "You can turn off the sun but I'm still gonna shine and I'll tell you why".

Then, he had me more with Geek in The Pink: "Don't judge it by the color, confuse it for another. You might regret what you let slip away."

Listening to that kind of lyric makes me quite averse to local songs that never care about meaningful words. Do I sound like denying my country's identity? I don't think so.

I never consider dangdut with cheesy words as my country's identity. The music is, the lyric isn't. Bring me dangdut songs with genuine and intellect words, and I'll absolutely compliment them.

How's about local band? If that's the case, can somebody bring the old Sheila on 7 from the days they sang "Kita" and "Kisah Klasik"?

Hmm ...Ok. I thought I would always think that way in any given situation. But, honestly, there's a time when I really enjoy listening to dangdut with cheesy lyrics. Like few days ago.

Usually, it only takes approximately an hour by train to get home from my office. But, last Friday was a hell. From my departure to the third station, it took two and a half hours. My arrival point is the twelfth station. And at the moment, I got into the crowd one, with no AC inside. Yeah, that was a hell.

At the third station, my train got emptier. It gave space to street musicians along with their instruments. Then they sang some cheesy songs. For those who know how cheesy a dangdut could be, they will definitely know the level of cheesiness I implied.

But, instead of rejecting them, I enjoyed their music. It was such a relief. It was entertaining.

It just came at the right moment.

7 comments:

Bambang Suprapto said...

hehe...itu artinya lo harus belajar buat menghargai selera orang laen, Mon.

jadi inget ama Cepek yang doyan nyanyi dangdut, hehe...

btw, blog lo udah gw add tuh. thx

nocturnal-Mona said...

Musiknya sih ga masalah buat gw, Bem. Liriknya itu loh .. kagak nahan! Hehehee ...

Tapi gw suka sama Ikke Nurjanah, kok. :)

alwaysalia said...

wah kebetulan mon, satu-satunya lagu dangdut yg gw suka itu emang lagunya ikke nurjanah sama aldi itu loh :p
sebagai seorang anti-k*******s, selera musik lo sih bener2 korban pasar bebas (major label) mon :p gak bisa disalahkan jg sih, coz musik dgn lirik antikemapanan juga harus lewat major label supaya pesannya nyampe k masyarakat luas :)

nocturnal-Mona said...

Ah, Alia .. heheheee ... Jason Mraz kan, bukan ka*****is, hahahaha ....

Tapi selera musik gw emang ga se-"independen" selera elu, Al. Gw masih nganggap Linkin Park itu aliran idealis. Lah, elu .. gw yakin nganggap itu ka*****is, hahahahaa ....

sonny said...

hhh..
ternyata pita suara kamu bekas jg. Sama dong dg si no. 3 Emang cocok temanan ya :p

Aku kurang ngerti musik jg. Aku suka lagu lebih banyak karena liriknya bukan karena notasi nya yg keren.

Tapi klasik, instrument, classic pop (dan sdkt jazz) asik jg tuh. Setidaknya aku menganggapnya sbg sesuatu yg imajinatif. Kenapa ya bisa ada irama seunik itu. Seberapa konyol sih yg bikin aliran musik itu.

Dangdut? Bener tuh, not music of my country kalau hanya jd medium ekstase ragawi seperti inul cs.

Ikke nurjanah boleh juga..

nocturnal-Mona said...

@ Sonny: Thanx for coming here. :)

Ah ya, dangdut dan ekstase ragawi. Konsep kebebasan berekspresi sudah kehilangan batas normatif. :D

Jadi, dangdut itu sebaiknya utk didengar aja, ya. Bukan untuk ditonton. :P

Oh, ya .. ga merasa temanan tuh, ama no. 3. Dia aja yg butuh saya dalam hidupnya. Hahahhahahaa ....

alwaysalia said...

butuh banget mon.
tunggu aja pesanan download berikutnya ya hahahah