Celtic Room, the Happiness Room

Hari ini Forteboy Music bikin kolaborasi yang bener2 bikin hepi banget bareng Celtic Room. Mereka itu suatu grup musik yang sangat unik, gak cuma jenis musiknya dan alat2 musiknya yang dimainin, tapi anggotanya bisa siapa aja karena mereka ini berbasis komunitas. Sangat inklusif dan siapapun yang tertarik ikut main tinggal dateng aja bawa instrumennya.

Celtic Room ini dimotori oleh Rio Herwindo. Dia ini pemain biola yang gue kenal uda hampir 1 dekade, dan selama sekitar 5-6 tahun belakangan ini dia mendalami musik India dan Irlandia dengan biolanya. Cengkok2 dan nafas musik rakyat di dua budaya ini uda dia selami dengan serius dan dia sendiri uda bikin lumayan banyak komposisi baru dengan gaya musik yang eklektik, terinspirasi warna-warna budaya yang beragam!

Nah, spirit seperti itu yang nular ke komunitas temen2nya, terutama di Celtic Room. Hampir semua anggota inti Celtic Room ini bisa main lebih dari 2 alat musik! Semuanya alat akustik dan mereka bisa main di mana pun, termasuk kalo gak ada sound system, namun tetap selalu meninggalkan senyuman di pendengarnya!

Kebahagiaan dan ketulusan mereka bener2 tersalurkan tanpa filter ke penonton maupun ke semua pemain yang ikut ngejam sama mereka. Ini yang bikin mereka ini sangat spesial. Dan akibatnya, mereka memiliki gravitasi yang sangat kuat untuk menarik semakin banyak lagi teman2 baru dan musisi2 yang sama-sama punya ketertarikan akan percampuran budaya seperti yang mereka lakukan dalam musiknya.

Pada akhirnya, apa yang mereka lakukan dan bagikan adalah hal utama yang membuat kita suka musik: kebahagiaan. Kita pengen dengerin dan nonton pertunjukan musik karena kita pengen merasakan kebahagiaan itu. Kita seneng liat orang yang main musik, ya karena itu bikin kita seneng. Kita jadi penasaran dan pengen nyoba main alat musik karena kita pengen rasain kesenangannya. Kita enjoy sesuatu karena sesuatu itu bikin kita joyful. Sesederhana itu 😊

Gue selalu nambah temen baru setiap kali gue dateng ke pertunjukan musik mereka, baik yang profesinya memang musisi maupun musisi hobi, semuanya passionate banget akan musik! Lewat Rio, gue jadi kenal Stella, pemain piano, concertina (semacam akordeon kecil dari Inggris), bodhran (perkusi Irlandia), yang sekaligus ahli angklung(!). Lalu ada lagi Dedi yang main biola, viola, cello, juga tin whistle (suling Irlandia yg dimainin Andrea Corr itu loh). Ada Kahfi yang jago buanget main tabla (perkusi India) di jenis musik apapun. Ada Rivelino, penggila Radiohead yang asik banget main akordeon dan Uillean Pipes (semacam bagpipe dari Irlandia), dia juga seorang komposer yang juga entah mainin berapa banyak instrumen lainnya lagi. Ada Patrick, Billy, Cesar, Mas Arief yang sering main gitar dan banjo bareng mereka. Ada Bang Markus seorang etnomusikolog yang bisa mainin puluhan sampai ratusan alat tiup dari penjuru2 Nusantara juga Cina dan Indian Amerika, pada saat bersamaan dia juga ngulik banget alat petik Batak dan Kalimantan.

Kembali ke kolaborasi sore tadi dengan mereka. Gue selalu memendam keinginan untuk ajak mereka main salah satu lagu yang gue tulis, judulnya "Home is Where the Heart is". Dan impian ini terwujud tadi sore. Lagu ini terinspirasi banget oleh musik Irlandia, terutama gue tulis sepulang dari nonton The Hobbits episode 1, di mana para Dwarves nyanyi lagu "Far Over the Misty Mountains" di adegan penutupnya. Lagu ini udah pernah gue rekam dgn versi instrumental (ada di http://bit.ly/2vNU6X9), juga versi dengan vokal, yang liriknya gue tulis bareng Boy Marpaung dan Clarasia Kiky (belum gue publikasi di mana2 hehe). Asik banget gabungin string section dengan akordeon, suling Batak, Bodhran dan Tabla yang mereka mainin, lalu amat sangat dipercantik oleh merdunya nyanyian Marini Nainggolan yang sangat jernih!

Beberapa tahun lalu Rio sempat merekam lagu instrumentalnya yang berjudul "Song for V" di studio lama gue di Kelapa Gading. Saat itulah gue ketemu dengan Kahfi dan tablanya, dan saat itu Rio main biola dan mandolin di lagunya yang kental dengan warna musik India itu. Gue pikir, asik banget kalau gue bisa garap aransemen untuk lagu ini. Ternyata Rio punya lagu lain yang lebih cocok berdampingan dengan lagu Home tadi, yaitu "All You Need is Love" yang sangat syahdu. Dia tunjukin lagunya dan gue seketika langsung jatuh cinta! Semua temen yang gue tunjukin lagu ini pun juga sekali denger langsung suka banget sama lagu ini!

Akibatnya, gak sulit sama sekali buat gue nyari ide aransemennya. Lagu ini bener2 langsung memancing inspirasi ketika gue nulis not demi not dalam aransemennya. Gue tambahin bagian2 yang bisa makin mengentalkan warna Indianya, tapi sekaligus gue bisa kepikir harmoni, counter-melody dan ritme2 yang bisa makin ngeluarin sisi syahdunya lagu ini.

Gue hepi banget karena Dika Chasmala dan Billy Aryo pun juga mau ikut main di string section rekaman hari ini, karena gue jadi tau bahwa gue bisa kasi mereka aransemen yang lumayan menantang tanpa ada kekuatiran apapun 😁

Lalu sebagai penutup, gue ngajak temen2 Celtic Room untuk ngejam bareng lagu folk Irlandia. Rio pilih lagu "Party on Third Class", yang muncul di film Titanic (Leo diCaprio masih semuda Justin Bieber!). Nah, di sesi yang terakhir inilah semua musisi main dengan sangat lepas, termasuk temen2 Celtic Room yang sering ngejam bareng mereka (yang belum ikutan main di 2 lagu sebelumnya tadi). Bener2 kerasa enjoyment dalam bermusik bareng mereka ini, gak ada judgement, gak ada asumsi, gak ada eksklusivitas, semua emosi yang terbentuk hanyalah JOY!

Akhirnya semua pulang dengan membawa senyum bahagia dan kerut sisa tawa lepas, sambil kami menyampaikan sampai jumpa kembali kepada Rio dan Stella, dengan segala harap akan kebahagiaan bagi mereka di Bali nanti.

Tenkyu berats juga buat Aria Prayogi yang uda jadi juru rekam audio dan sekaligus ikut main sitar elektrik di lagu "All You Need is Love", juga Abrian yang mengabadikan momen spesial bersama Celtic Room tadi sore di kantor Anatman Pictures!

Video akan dirilis di Youtube channel Forteboy Music segera! (Nunggu giliran video2 lain yang uda kami rekam bulan lalu dulu yaa 😁)

Telling Stories, Telling Memories

  

Just uploaded an online memorial of my mom who passed away 6 months ago on http://www.steller.co/andreasarianto. Memories stay with us and the meaning they hold for us defines who we are today. #memories #family #love #stellerid

 //steller.co/site/static/js/steller.js

The Luckiest Person on Earth

The last tear we cry for someone is never the easiest one. There may be regret but there also may be hope because the new day always brings more possibilities to improve our previous ones. 
A wise man once said, that it is better to have more life in our years than to merely have more years in our lives. Holding onto this wisdom, I am grateful to know that years are not wasted and tears have relieved every drop of sorrow and pain from the past. 
Love and kindness are being shown, shared, and given to us in various ways, as many as the number of souls we can possibly remember to have met and recognize during our lifetime. Acknowledgement of one’s good intention to us enables us to separate the action from the person. Therefore it will make it easier to consider oneself lucky. 
The luckiest persons on earth are those who feel inspired to give more than they receive. Count our blessings. It still holds true as a simple recipe for a life full of happiness and positivity, free from fear and hatred, free from dismay and distress. 
May we all have fun enjoying all our struggles and succeeding in creating little happiness day on, day off, in our every step of the way.
Salaam, Shalom, Namaskar, let there be peace in us, let there be peace unto us. 

Dive In

Every now and then you would adore someone so much, only to shrug it off when some packages are missing from the image you’ve build inside your mind about him/her. Turns out nobody was born only with the things you admire, so you turn the page over unhesitantly to save yourself from unmet expectations.

Maybe one moment too quickly.

You know how to love but now you think that maybe you don’t want to be ready to be loved so perfectly by someone so imperfect. Nobody’s perfect and you feel that maybe you’re just unable to accept your own imperfections. 

So here comes your worst fear of all, the grand question of your journey in life: Are you ready to be loved perfectly by someone so perfect?

Nobody’s ready anyway, so why not plunge in right away then?

I am you.

June 13, 2015

Finding Home – 1

We are all finding our home, only to find that home is where the heart is. So whatever your heart loves, that is where you belong. Whatever your heart wish, make it come true. None of us is a good liar to our own hearts. 

May your heart be a peaceful place where you belong. Only then we can make it a peaceful place for our loved ones too 🙂

#FindingHome

A Box of Chocolate

There’s a price to pay for virtually everything. I hope I don’t have to feel alone in this case. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I never wanted to be packed in any certain boxes in life. 

I want to be able to make friends with any kinds of person I meet. Not necessarily only wanting to make everyone happy because it’s impossible, but I always try to understand the reasons why people do what they do, the reasons why we have so many nuances in life.

The more I know about people, the closer I get to the conclusion that everybody (including myself) only wants to feel accepted. At times when I have discussions with people of different values in life, I tend to hide myself behind a mask that is comfortable for them to face with. That is pretty much how we survive up until now, and I’m sure this is what we call social norms. People (again, including myself) only want to hear what we want to hear. That’s why we can be more comfortable around our close friends, they are willing to accept our insanity in a higher tolerance level than anyone else (or at least according to us). 

Belief is a sensitive thing that is so powerful in making one’s life so valuable and meaningful. Social status is of the same importance as well, hence we know of so many different kinds of lifestyles. To break these walls (read: able to communicate well enough with any different kinds of people) can be quite beneficial for us: we can find ourselves in a certain unique position on how to contribute ourselves optimally in our society; we can build more sustainable ecosystem with our surroundings by finding common grounds, mutual destinations, or even common enemies, so that we can function well enough with them.

This anxiety to learn is what moves me personally in doing what I can do best, making music with collaborators. I collect as many information needed by having conversations with them – as deep as they let me to – before I can put the right ingredients, design the suitable arrangement for their needs and make the right decisions in the process. 

The funny thing is that exactly the same anxiety makes me feel so alive yet so much paralyzed. What a paradox! The more I learn about the others is the more I learn about myself and also the more I feel so small among the universe. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I paid the price that at the same time I feel I’m lost. 

So, none of this knowledge can make me feel contented. But if I can find peace in listening to the music of the nature, then I can find peace within me. As my experiences taught me, the more I try to impress is the more I put burden on my shoulders only. Step by step I learn that no matter the amount of years I am given, as long as I touch one person’s heart with sincerity, I will live eternally there. 

One great teacher said that no matter what we achieve in life, without love we gain nothing. It’s the most powerful force in the universe where human life is involved, whether the lack or the abundance thereof. 

Not only life, love is like a box of chocolate as well. It may come in many different shapes and colors. 

But it can still make us feel good 🙂

Walls

Everyday we build ourselves walls to protect us from the outside world, from the unknowns, from uncomfortableness. And as time goes by, we are making ourselves more suspicious with the ones who are able to make us turn our guards down only to let us down as well.

We tried hard not to expect and not to suspect. But once we reflect that we’re here only to reconnect, maybe the less we suffer and also the more people we empower. 

To be able to give is an act of love to one’s self. It remains the hardest lesson nobody could ever teach, even without mentioning the very price needed to be paid for. But when everything is due at least we know we did enough goodness to the universe, as much as what we receive.

Games

The ones we thought we’d never get ourselves bored of,

The ones we at times hate ourselves for,

But are also the reasons we get excited waking up each morning for, stay up late for, the reasons we eagerly hold our heads up high for.

Some would lie and some would be true to stay in the game,

Some would try harder but some would give in.

Yet nothing is as powerful to change someone’s destiny as the game itself.

For no matter what games you play in life, they know you better than you do.

Because what every game can give you,

is only a possibility between

winning or learning

02/15/2015

Love in Here

We just did another soul cleansing session last night, working on a new theme song for a product. We suggested that we would not do hard selling with the song. Instead we use references from childhood memories to touch people’s hearts. Hopefully this one works 🙂

Here’s the lyric:

Love in Here

There is a story that I used to hear
There is a fragment in my memory
That we could reach all the stars within our dreams

There was a child that I used to be
Unafraid, he was born to believe
That there’s enough love in the world to give

Chorus:
Love is a special thing, it’s a wonderful place to be.
It is for you and me, it’s even more than just a feeling.
Love is a simple thing, it’s a magical power of will.
It is in you and me, let there be love in here.

If I could just listen to my own heart beat,
All the answer that I want to hear
Is all in here, ’cause there’s only love within.

(Chorus)

In time we’ll find just the place where we long to be,
It’s when I find you there

(Chorus)

It is for you and me, ’cause there is love in here.

2015/01/img_5506.jpg

On Love and Happiness

Not being able to do something for someone we care about does not limit our ability to love. Just to be happy when seeing somebody else happy, or otherwise to symphatize when someone is sad, is already making ourselves more human. That’s why to me, to be human is to love, and to live is to care.

When we can not be with someone, we don’t necessarily cease to love. Quite often our acknowledgement that we can better love someone by not continuing to stand side by side – maybe because of personality issues, or huge difference of preferences in life, etc – can in time enable us to expand the love within our souls. It only become possible once we accept our very own existence, free from all guilt, despair and disappointment. And in what other ways can we really enjoy our coexistence with our fellow Earthlings than to share the positivity? 

Nothing in this world is eternal, not even eternity. But love – as a verb, not only as a feeling – can make a huge difference in each of our journey to the end of our lives, collectively and individually. 

Jan 6, 2015