Slamet Abdul Sjukur


Slamet A. Sjukur was the founding father of contemporary Indonesian music. He studied and worked in Paris under Olivier Messiaen and Henri Dutilleux. He was a lecturer at IKJ but because of his unconventional ideas, he finally had to leave. He has been living in Jakarta and Surabaya as a freelance composer, teacher and music critic. Developing the idea of minimax in music, his compositions are "notable for their minimal constellation of sounds and for their numerological basis which indicate the composer’s interest in a new ‘ecology of music’".
This idea views limitation not as obstructions but as a challenge to work with a simple material, maximally.
His honors include the Bronze Medal from the Festival de Jeux d’Automne in Dijon, the Golden Record from the Académie Charles Cros in France and the Zoltán Kodály Commemorative Medal in Hungary. More recently, Gatra named him a Pioneer of Alternative Music and he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a life member of the Akademi Jakarta. Some of his prominent students include Gilang Ramadhan and Soe Tjen Marching.

Complete list of works

STAGE: Sangkuriang, mixed chorus, 1958; Latigrak, gamelan orchestra, tape, 1963; Parentheses VI, low-voiced comedian, 2 dancers, flute, 2 guitars, whistling tupies, some gamelan instruments, 1983; Migrasi, 1993; Spiral, female dancer, flute, piano, 1993; Awang-Uwung, 2 genders, 1994; Marsinah, ensemble, 1994
GAMELAN: GAME-Land for full sundanese gamelan orchestra slendro-pelog and female voice ; GAME-Land 2 for javanese gamelan orchestra slendro.
ORCHESTRAL: Õm, 14 strings, 1995; Concerto, arpegina, string orchestra, 2002
CHAMBER MUSIC: Bulan Hijau, clarinet, piano, 1960; Point contre, trumpet, harp, percussion, 1969; Ronda Malam, angklung ensemble, 1975 ; Kangen, 3 shakuhachi, kokyu, Japanese percussion, 1986; Suwung, flute, 1988; Ji-Lala-Ji, 2 players, 1989; Cucuku-Cu, guitar, 1990 ; Lesung, synthesizer, 1992; Uwek-Uwek, 2 mouth explorers, 1-2 djembés, 1992; Minimax, variable spatial ensemble, 1993; Jawara, percussion, 1993; ‘The Source, Where the Sound Returns’, clarinet, cello, piano, 1999; Dedicace-1, arpegina/viola, 2000; PAHA for brass quintet ; KUTANG for cl, bsn, tpt, tbn, percussions, violin and db
CHORAL: Angklung, mixed chorus, angklung ensemble, 1975 ; Muni, mixed chorus, 1998
VOCAL: Bunga, Weekend and Kabut, voice, piano, 1960; Mais, ces oiseaux, mezzo-soprano, baritone, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, 1967; Parentheses V, mezzo-soprano, 4 celli, 1981; Gelandangan, female voice, karunding, 1999 ; Sunyi, soprano, 2 cellular phones, small orchestra, 2002
PIANO: Tobor, 1961; Svara, 1979; NZ, prepared piano, 1992; Cucuku-Cu, 5 pianos 20 hands, 1992 ; Yu-Taha, 1997
ELECTROACOUSTIC: Astral, tape, 1984; Gelandangan, karunding, tape, 1998
MULTIMEDIA: Parentheses I-II, female dancer, suspended chair, piano, lights, 1972; Parentheses IV, 2 dancers, flute, 2 electric guitars, violin, cello, prepared piano, synthesizer, percussion, live painting, 1973; Parentheses III, coloratura soprano, male speaker, 2 dancers, choreographed conductor, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, string quartet, large sculpture, 1975; Jakarta 450 Tahun, unlimited sounds of Jakarta, 1977; Wangi, female dancer, gamelan orchestra, lights, 1999
FILM SCORE : Aku Perempuan Dan Laki-Laki Itu, 1996
He is currently working on GAME-Land 3 for brass sextet, and MIRA konserto for piano, saluang and orchestra.