Syukur, Slamet Abdul

Syukur, Slamet Abdul important Indonesian composer, performer, and teacher; b. Surabaya, East Java, June 30, 1935. He studied piano (1944-52), then attended the Sekolah Musik Indonesia (S.M.I.) Yogy-akarta (1952-56). He was a founding member (1957-61) and president (1961-62) of Pertemuan Musik Surabaya, the first music society formed by the Indonesians after the liquidation of the former Dutch Muziek-Kunstkring; then went to Paris and studied organology with Cham-bure and analysis with Messiaen at the Cons. (1962-63); also earned degrees in piano (1965) and composition (1967) at the École Normale de Musique; in 1967-68, took part in Schaffer’s Group de Recherches Musicales de TORTE Syukur is among the many Indonesian composers who, after training in Europe, returned to play an important role in the development of contemporary music in Indonesia while remaining internationally active. From 1976 to 1987 he was a lecturer at the Institut Kesenian Jakarta (I.K.J., Jakarta Arts Inst), where he also served as head of its music dept. (1981-83); from 1977 to 1981 he was head of the music committee of the Jakarta Arts Council, for which he organized a Festival of Contemporary French Music, the first such series given in Southeast Asia. In 1987 he joined the faculty at the Institut Seni Indonesia (I.S.I., National Arts Inst.); also lectured throughout Java, and from 1975 participated in workshops organized by the Eduard van Beinum Stichting and the Gaudeamus Foundation on the problems of geographic and historical musical acculturation. In 1989 he received a grant from the French government to conduct research on the influence of the Javanese gamelan on the aesthetic of Debussy. Syukur lives in Jakarta, where he founded in 1990 the Forum Musik Jakarta, an Indonesian Soc. for Contemporary Music that also serves as an information and educational center.

Works

Point-Contre for Vocalizing Trumpet, Percussion, and Harp (1969); Parenthesis I-II for Dancer, Prepared Piano, Suspended Chair, and Lighting, IV for 2 Electric Guitars, Percussion, Organ, Prepared Piano, 2 Dancers, Painter, Flute, Violin, and Cello (1973), and VI for 2 Guitars, Percussion, Children’s Toys, Flute, Comedian (with a deep voice), Choreography, and Dancer’s Voice; Laticrak, electroacoustic music for Dancers (1974); Angklung for Voices and Angklung (1975); Kangen for 3 Shakuhachi, Kokyu, and Traditional Japanese Percussion (1986); Cucuku-Cu for Guitar (1989); Ji-Lala-Ji for Flute and Percussion (1989); Suara for Piano (1990).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire