Sing for the World Part V: Three Gold Medals for Indonesia

[caption id="attachment_121660" align="aligncenter" width="623" caption="Voca Erudita dedicated three gold medals for Indonesia. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"][/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 I: On Behalf of Indonesia, They Will Sing for the World

For reading the second series of “Sing for the World” about the love of Voca Erudita choir group to Sebelas Maret University and Solo city plus about its fabulous concert, please click here:Sing for the World Part II: The Fire Comes from Here

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.

They had walked far, they had sacrificed a lot for the glory, they had dedicated their life for the pride of Indonesia, and they had given Indonesia the prestigious three gold medals in the 4th Grand Prix Pattaya International Choir Competition in  Thailand organized by Festa Musicale from Czech Republic. They were the in group receiving the highest numbers of gold medals among all participants. Yes, they were from Voca Erudita Student Choir from Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Solo.

For more than a half year, they had spent most of their weekends to do "ngamen" or the activity of singing on the street or mall.  They had done concert for raising fund and so many other ways to collect money for transportation and accommodation in Thailand. Such a hard effort that had to be appreciated. Thank God, their energy that had been spent was totally priceless and it became like a saving in the form of ways to gain three gold medals in International choir competition. They added the gold medal collections, previously they had achieved Grand Champion in Folklore Category and Gold Medal in Chamber Category in A Voyage of Song Choir Competition (AVOS) 2009 in Penang Malaysia and Grand Champion in Mix Chamber Category and Gold Medal in Folklore Category in 6th World Choir Games 2010 in Shaoxing, China.

For being together to feel what they feel, enjoy this article showing every steps before and during they "fought" in Thailand. Here it is, their diary of 35 singers of Voca Erudita UNS...

With the Fire from Solo to the Spirit in Thailand (July 18, 2011)

[caption id="attachment_121664" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Getting ready in the morning from Solo. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

13118305291152922997

[/caption]

Early morning, at 4 am, members of Voca Erudita had been ready in the back part of UNS Solo. They planned to go to Surabaya by bus that they had rent and took flight from Surabaya to Bangkok. After doing morning prayer together for Muslim members, around at 4.30 am, the bus was ready to bring them go to Juanda International Airport Surabaya.

[caption id="attachment_121666" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Having breakfast in Ngawi City, East Java, before arriving in Juanda International Airport Surabaya. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

13118310451270877715

[/caption] Going to the east, they stopped for a moment at 6 pm in a restaurant in Ngawi City, East Java. They ordered the simple menu as they had to be very smart in organizing their minimum budget. But their togetherness made everything got more fun, they enjoyed the food and talked in the warm of friendship. At 7 am, they continued their trip to Surabaya. They bit nervous because they finally faced the threat named traffic jam. The bus totally could not move on. Luckily, after 30 minutes the street came back to normal and they would not be late to arrive in Juanda International Airport. At 12.30, they had been in airport. They still look so enthusiastic though they had to wait their flight to Bangkok at 3.30 pm. Sawasdee!!! Greeting from Bangkok. They finally arrived in Suvarnabhumi International Airport Bangkok at 7.30 pm (no difference of time between Surabaya and Bangkok). As common youths do when they arrived in a new place, they crazily took pictures here and there. The airport itself was very interesting with luxurious appearance with elegant combination of Thai traditional and western modern. Most of them felt happy to take pictures in the spots of the airport that mostly used Aksoonthai, traditional Thai letter. They focused too much on taking photos until they seemed to forget to take their luggages. Yes, it was the young life, full of fun and full of joy. [caption id="attachment_121668" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="The atmosphere in Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

1311831514729448211

[/caption]

They had been waiting by the tour guide name Nick or Vasin Mohcharoen. Of course the first information to ask from Voca Erudita members was about the place for dinner. Nick gave choice by stopping the bus in "Motorway". It is the area of shops and restaurants along the street between Bangkok and Pattaya. First of all they entered KFC and McDonald. Unfortunately those both fast food restaurant did not provide rice.  Absolutely, it would not be suit for the custom of Indonesian people eating rice everyday.

1311831984645509362

They finally decided to go to simple restaurant providing several choices of Thai traditional foods - certainly with rice. With the password "no pork, please", each of them could enjoy the menu of chicken or beef with rice but without water for 40 Bath. The seller looked so happy welcoming the guests from Indonesia with big group of people (37 people) until she willingly gave bonus for extra "kao" or rice and fried eggs. After eating some of them spent a little time to go to 7-Eleven mini market next to the restaurant. They bought some water and snacks to eat in hotel.

[caption id="attachment_121671" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya. The venue of the 4th Grand Prix Pattaya International Choir Competition. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

1311832641272149809

[/caption]

Finally, at 11 pm they arrived at hotel. They stayed in Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya in which it was also the venue of the choir competition. They were amazed by the hotel known as "the world largest resort complex" with over 5,000 rooms occupying 40 acres of prime beach front. They stayed in the part of hotel named Inn Wing precisely in front of souvenir markets area.  Long journey with tiredness did not extinguish the fire that they brought of Solo even they added the spirit from Thailand. Under the moonlight that welcomed them in the first night in Thailand, they finally slept.

With the Sound of Wave of Jomtien Pattay Beach, They Played Their Melodies (July 19 and 20, 2011)

[caption id="attachment_121676" align="aligncenter" width="666" caption="Keep on Practising. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

13118332051403714794

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_121685" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Tria, official of Voca Erudita. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

1311837827716113100

[/caption]

Early in the morning, at 6 am, Tria, official of Voca Erudita actively knocked the doors of Voca Erudita members to wake them up. With various kinds of expressions of waking up-faces, they started to do morning exercise in front of beach. The sound of the beach wave gave them both refreshing and contemplative feeling. It was such a good place to recharge energy after yesterday log journey. After that they took breakfast together. They did not need to worry about the menu because the hotel had guaranteed that the menus were halal (edible for Muslim) as Voca Erudita had requested before.

They did not want to spend much time without doing anything. They directly continued their activities by practising. In the souvenir markets inside the hotel near the beach, they started to practise. Wonderfully, their voices seems blended with the sound of wave of Jomtien Pattaya beach into beautiful melodies. They were so excited to practise to prepare the best for their performance and competition. Even after a little break, they continued practising in the afternoon. While at night, they really used it as "young life time" to refresh themselves by swimming.

They did it similarly in the following day, in July 20. Of course, they did not forget to complete their efforts by having daily prayers together. Those two days run very fast without they realized but they knew that they had been more confident and ready to face tomorrow challenging activities.

Thailand Grand Palace and the First Opening Concert in the Church of Assumption University (July 21, 2011)

[caption id="attachment_121679" align="aligncenter" width="618" caption="Voca Erudita in Thailand Grand Palace. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

1311834060357554531

[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_121677" align="alignleft" width="325" caption="Thailand Grand Palace. Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

13118338771823426543

[/caption] At 9 am, after taking breakfast, Voca Erudita members were picked up by a nice and warm senior tour guide named Yai. She spoke English very well and had great knowledge about Thailand which were very good sources for Voca Erudita. She would bring all of them to firstly visit Thailand Grand Palace. With the double decker bus, the fun trip started. Along the street, Yai gave a lot of information about Thailand. She looked so patient to face the cheerful expression of the young people and behaved like a mother for them. Finally, at 11.30 am they had arrived in amazing Thailand Grand Palace. They did not need to pay there since it had been included in the package. As predicted before, they seemed like birds that were full of energy to fly here and there as they crazily took pictures in any parts of the palace. Though some of them were bit worried about the rain that potentially bothered their stamina, they finally kept moving on to not miss every detail of that place by focus observing and absolutely taking photos.

Actually, according to the package, they could continue the field trip to take the ship along the river to see Thai temple, but they preferred more to do shopping. Finally Yai brought them to Central City Bangkok Mall. Funnily, since the prices there were commonly expensive for students' pocket, they walked by themselves behind the mall to get into street markets to buy some stuffs there. Unfortunately, they could not find something that was actually typical about Thailand. They could just buy like shirt, shoes, and bag without Thailand ornament or writing. They finally came back to the mall for having their launch then continued to go to Assumption University in Bangna.

During the journey from the mall to Assumption University, they did preparation by making up and changing clothes inside the bus. At 5 pm, they arrived in Assumption University. They came there to perform in the Opening Concert. There was no adjudication at the moment. Soon after they arrived in the university, they finished their make up and tidied up the outfit plus they did a little warming up. Certainly, they were ready to impress the audiences in the church inside Assumption University. With elegant green gown for the ladies and grey coat for the men, confidently they entered majestic architecture of church with the graceful combination between European style and the shine of Thai ornaments.

[caption id="attachment_121683" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="Opening Concert in Church of Assumption University. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

13118372741083969620

[/caption]

Yxd yeī̀ym!!! Wonderful they totally could perform attractively.  Firstly, they sang "Gloria 3" with was very matched with the atmosphere of the church. Their voices resonated perfectly in that spacious and high building. After the contemplative song, they "stomped" the atmosphere by the cheerful Indonesian song "Aku Melangkah Lagi" (I Keep Moving on). They successfully entertained the audiences with their quality as they received big applause there.

Before going back to the hotel, they did not forget to take the dinner. Since they knew that they would pass Motorway again between their trip from Bangkok to Pattaya, they decided to came back to the first restaurant where they ate in the first night in Thailand. Cheap and delicious, those were the words mentioned by Voca Erudita members to give impressions about the menus in that simple restaurant.

Second Opening Concert in Sunset Hall of Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya (July 22, 2011)

After having their breakfast, with full of motivation, they were ready to practise again. Yes, practise and practise seemed to be the sacred daily agenda for them. After practising they directly continued by making up and changing the outfits. After they had been ready with their performing costumes, they continued to practise again. Then at 4 pm, they walked to get into Sunset Hall of Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel, the nice circle building with the background of the beach.

[caption id="attachment_121688" align="aligncenter" width="582" caption="Voca Erudita in Second Opening Concert. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

1311838791443024289

[/caption]

As commonly known, Voca Erudita is "very strong" in performing folklore songs.  It was proven in their concert by singing famous Javanese traditional song entitled "Gundul-Gundul Pacul". They sang with attractive Javanese dance choreography. Their costumes also supported their performances to be "more folklore" in atmosphere. For the ladies, they wore orange kebaya, the Javanese traditional blouse and jarik batik, the Javanese traditional skirt. For the men, they wore lurik, the Javanese traditional striped woven material. It was very relieving moment for them. They became more confident and relax to face their tomorrow competition.

The Moment of Truth: 3 Gold Medals for Indonesia (July 23, 2011)

Voca Erudita joined the 4th Grand Prix Pattaya International Choir Competition in three categories: chamber, spiritual & gospel, and folklore. They had to compete with other choir groups from other countries like Thailand, Philippine, and USA. Even they had to compete with other strong Indonesian choir groups such as Tarumanegara University Choir Group, Vox Angelorum Jakarta, Trisakti Indonesia Chor, and Sola Fide Voice Palangkaraya.

Those are the list of adjudicators:

1. Bruce Gaston

Pianist and pioneer in Thailand's choral tradition; from United States of America

2. Jacopo Gianninoto

Guitarist, lutenist, composer with concern on historical performance studies; from Italy

3. Jiri Klimes

Conductor of the Morovian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir of Olomouc Theatre Opera and Operetta; Teacher at Department of Music Education at Palacky University; from Czech Republic

4. Marek Klimes

Conductor od Campanella Olomouc Choir and Coro Grande of Palacky University in Olomouc; from Czech Republic

5. Somtow Sucharitkul

Novelist, conductor, and composer; from Thailand

6. Luca Chiavinato

lutenist; from Italy

In chamber category, the group consisted of 24 singers only. They wore costume with blue atmosphere. They sang the two songs which were the same with what they sang in Opening Concert in Church of Assumption University: "Gloria 3" and "Aku Melangkah Lagi". They added with another Javanese traditional song entitled "Lir-Ilir" with Javanese dance choreography. In fact, the beginning part of "Lir Ilir" could bring the sacred atmosphere to audiences due to its meditative essence on its melodies.

[caption id="attachment_121689" align="aligncenter" width="590" caption="Voca Erudita in Gospel and Spiritual category. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

13118388051891637876

[/caption]

With the black and white costume, they continued in gospel and spiritual category. They successfully sang three songs. First of all, they sang classical gospel song entitled "Elijah Rock". They continued with the song which was famous in 1930s and was popularized by Doris Day. The third song was "Sifuni Mungu", the song with the combination of African langauge and English.

[caption id="attachment_121691" align="aligncenter" width="582" caption="Voca Erudita in Folklore category. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

13118388631302542625

[/caption]

The third category they joined was folklore which was their favourite. They were shiny yellow costumes without any footwear with various kinds of accessories. First of all they sang funny song from Central Java entitled "Ojo Dipleroki" (Don't Stare at Me), The men used accessories of sarongs with various colours. They effectively made used sarong in hilarious movement. It was very funny for audiences especially for Asian audiences because they knew that type of sarong were commonly used for daily use at home only. Secondly, they sang Traditional Jakartanese song entitled "Ondel-Ondel". Ondel-Ondel itself is traditional giant doll from Jakarta. Their hand movement looked very attractive with white gloves. The third song was "Marencong-Rencong", Makassar South Sulawesi traditional song. They used another accessory which was the traditional fan that commonly used during baking satay.

[caption id="attachment_121692" align="aligncenter" width="569" caption="Ardhy Widodo - Pattaya Team leader of Voca Erudita after winning announcement. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

1311838937964142372

[/caption]

After waiting in several minutes, "the moment of truth" finally came, the winner announcement. All participants were very nervous to know who would be the winner. Amazingly, Voca Erudita Student Choir of Sebelas Maret University Solo could gain three gold medals in all categories they joined. They also became the group getting the highest numbers of gold medals among all participants, Thus, they got appreciation to sing two songs in the closing concert.

Congratulation for Voca Erudita, you really SING FOR THE WORLD, you are really the pride of Indonesia and the world.

May great opportunity always come to you, who knows someday you will sing in other continents.

VIVA VOCA ERUDITA

[caption id="attachment_121694" align="aligncenter" width="588" caption="Viva Voca Erudita. Photo by Chung Wing Yeung"]

1311838998140112707

[/caption] The End Note : This is the part V 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

Korp Kun, Thank you

[caption id="attachment_121695" align="alignleft" width="259" caption="Photo by Sonny Hendrawan Saputra"]

1311839390194887081

[/caption]

Thank you very much for DR. Sutanto, S.Si., DEA for giving me opportunity to make direct report of Voca Erudita activities in Thailand, for Voca Erudita for such a great inspiration, and all the people who have supported the article writing series of SING FOR THE WORLD PART I - V