Sing for the World Part II: The Fire Comes from Here

[caption id="attachment_115726" align="aligncenter" width="672" caption="The fire comes from here: UNS and Solo city and they are ready to bring it to the world for the sake of Indonesia. Photo by Adityo Faturrochman"][/caption] For reading the first series of "Sing for the World" about the introduction and achievement of Voca Erudita choir group, please click here: Sing for the World Part 1: On Behalf of Indonesia, They Will Sing for the World

Voca Erudita has very high level of motivation to give the best for Indonesia as represented in their hard effort in their regular practises. They do not pay attention much of their tiredness and what they remember is only the way to gain achievement in the world by singing to promote and make proud of Indonesia. Their enthusiasm is endless, their spirit is boundless, and their energy is limitless. There is fire on their soul and the fire comes from here: Sebelas Maret University and Solo City.

Sebelas Maret University Solo which is commonly called as UNS is the memorable place for the member of Voca Erudita. From this place, they start to study for the plan of their future and they get precious opportunity to find many new friends who have same talent and interest in singing. Luckily, they also find student organization in UNS which seriously concerns in developing the singing talent and enhancing their quality in techniques and performance arts. They are very thankful to be the member of Voca Erudita that in fact can also help them to be more mature and responsible in life.

Solo of course also becomes the unforgettable city for them. In the city which has strong cultural taste, they get space for promoting Voca Erudita from Solo government and several institutions in Solo. In their plan to get the fund to join 1st Bandung International Choral Competition July 1- 4, 2011 and 4th Grand Prix Pattaya in Thailand in July 20 - 24, 2011, they get many supports of Solo people and institutions that provide them the opportunity in obtaining money. For example, the previous head of Solo Night Market (Ngarsopuro), Mayor Haristanto gave the chance to perform in Ngarsopuro every Saturday night to attract the direct donation from the people who came to that night market. The management of Solo Grand Mall also supported them a lot by letting them perform in its food court. Simply saying, they get bunch of love from Solo people in the form of continuous support and prayer.

As the gratitude to UNS and Solo City, Voca Erudita presented the big concert entitled "Notes - A Journey of Symphony" in Friday, June 17, 2011 in UNS auditorium. They invited people supporting a lot for succeeding the journey to Bandung and Pattaya. That concert was also called as their pre competition concert as the medium to strengthen their mental, to proof what they had practised, and to fortify all the concepts of performance in the next competitions. With conductor Redi Sabtono and pianist Jenira, they were ready to entertain and impress the audiences.

[caption id="attachment_115730" align="aligncenter" width="583" caption="The opening with Mandarin song from a nice acapella group. Photo by Adityo Faturrochman"][/caption]

At 7 pm, UNS auditorium had been crowded with the audiences. Before entering auditorium, audiences were entertained by mini stage outside with simple nice acoustic performance. They were welcomed by other Voca Erudita members (who did not perform that night) who wore elegant yellow outfit. The atmosphere was classy and graceful that night. While audiences waited for the choir performing, they were surprised by the sudden attendance of a group of acapella. They consisted of five singers with oriental outfit. One of them was member of Voca Erudita from Hong Kong (also student in UNS), Chung Wing Yeung. Of course, he was very precise to lead that acapella group in the main stage with Mandarin song entitled "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin". People was very impressed with the performance as they could start the night with charming performance and delightful aura.

[caption id="attachment_115731" align="aligncenter" width="583" caption="Elegant black outfit for the delightful songs. Photo by Adityo Faturrochman"][/caption]

After that performance ended, suddenly the main stage was fulfilled by many singers with black outfit. They ladies singers looked elegant and classy with their black long dress and they men singers looked mature in their black coat. They thrilled the audiences with two songs with simple choreography. Those songs were The Land of Music and Marilah Kemari.

The following activity for audiences was watching the main performances. The performances were divided into four sessions. The first was called as Pattaya session and the second was called as Bandung session. Of course the intention to make those names was for the reminder for audiences that the concert was also as the preparation before going to Bandung and Pattaya. The third was the time for the choir guest. Choir group of Faculty of Technic s from Diponegoro University, Semarang also came to festive that concert. The fourth or the end was named Folklore session since they would perform various traditional songs of Indonesia.

[caption id="attachment_115732" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Pattaya Session in Voca Erudita Concert. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"][/caption] With the combination of black and white costume, Pattaya session was really entertaining and glamorous, They sang three songs entitled:

(1) Gloria

(2) Ilir-Ilir

(3) Elijah Rock

[caption id="attachment_115733" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Bandung Session in Voca Erudita Concert. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"][/caption]

The Bandung session was uniquely started by them. They did not start singing from the stage, but they were divided into several lines in the middle of audiences. They looked more cheerful in that session in which they wore outfit with combination of blue colour and traditional Batik. They successfully delivered four songs entitled:

(1) Sifoni Mungu

(2) Ain't Got Time to Die

(3) Aku Melangkah Lagi

(4) Tea for Two

[caption id="attachment_115735" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="The honourable choir guest from Faculty of Technic of Diponegoro University. Photo by Chung wing Yeung"][/caption]

The third session was the time for Voca Erudita took a break and it was the performing time for the gust choir. It was an honour for Voca Erudita since choir group of Faculty of Technic from Diponegoro University, Semarang gladly supported them by willingly came to Solo and performed with three nice songs. They looked attractive with their black and grey outfits. Their songs were:

(1) For the Beauty of the Earth

(2) Logika

(3) Manuk Dadali

[caption id="attachment_115736" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Folklore session in Voca Erudita concert. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"][/caption]

The fourth part in Folklore was the representation of Voca Erudita's craziness (in fact it always becomes typical character and strong point of Voca Erudita). With their yellow outfit, they used energetic choreography with some additional materials. All of them wore white gloves and they also brought Indonesian traditional fan commonly used for the tool of making satay. The men were also funny because they brought sarong that was usually for daily use at home which eventually made so contrast with their elegant clothes - however, it made their performance became more unique and interesting. They sang for folklore songs:

(1) Marencong Rencong from Makassar, South Sulawesi

(2) Gundul Pacul, from Central Java

(3) Ondel - Ondel from Jakarta

(4) Ojo Dipleroki from Central Java

[caption id="attachment_115737" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The craziness of Voca Erudita. Photo by Adityo Faturrochman"][/caption]

The four sessions were outstanding and did not make the audiences be bored. At the end, all singers still added one more song entitled Balon Udara. Balon udara or blimp had symbolic meaning for them because it represented their struggle and voyage to fight from one country to other countries to bring the name of Indonesia. The blimp was also the icon for that concert.

Voca Erudita successfully delivered their best performance to UNS and Solo city as their source of fire: endless enthusiasm , boundless spirit, and limitless energy.

The fire comes from here and they are ready to sing to the world to bring the name of Indonesia. Viva Voca Erudita !!!

[caption id="attachment_115740" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The use of sarong made the performance more unique and impressive. Photo by Adityo Faturrochman"][/caption]

to be continued

For reading the third series of "Sing for the World" about the Hong Kong student who gets involved in Voca Erudita, please click here: Sing for the World Part III: Originally from Hong Kong, Bunch of Love for Indonesia.

For reading the fourth series of “Sing for the World” about Voca Erudita’s achievements in the 1st Bandung International Choir Competition, please click here: Sing for the World Part IV: Beautiful Melodies in Bandung.

Note : This is the part 2 of “Sing for the World” Series written by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra to capture every struggle and beautiful moment of Voca Erudita in their way to face  1st Bandung International Choral Competition July 1- 4, 2011 and 4th Grand Prix Pattaya in Thailand in July 20 - 24, 2011