This is a place located somewhere near Johar traditional market. I'm not really sure of what building is now for. One thing for sure that this building has European architecture. It's a pity that Semarang local governement doesn't do anything to this building. It reminded me of a place in Venice. :)
Frankly, I haven’t heard anything about them before I saw
their ticket in my friend’s facebook. However, I decided to watch their
performance. Actually, another reason for me is the place where they were going
to perform is an old building with thousands of creepy stories, Lawang Sewu or
a thousand Door-Building. Its strategic
place in the heart of the town is just within distance to my house. So, what
else could stop me from watching it?
After getting the ticket in Widya Mitra, a place offering
Dutch course, my niece, a friend and I went to Lawang Sewu. The stage was
simple completed with spotlight located in front of some rows of seats for
audience. My first expectation was this concert would be accompanied by a team
of orchestra players, but, what I got was just a stage with 3 microphones and 2
seats. So, where would the instruments be placed? Ika, a friend of mine takes
violin course recently, so she expected to see some violinists playing on the
stage. She would take the energy from them as her motivation. But?
Sunday, April 15, 2012. at 7.30 PM, the MC opened the concert. I thought, since the
performers are from Netherland, and Widya Mitra as a Dutch course, the concert
would be held in Dutch. Moreover, I heard some audience speaking Dutch that
really made me lost. Thanks God, that the MC spoke in Bahasa and de Drie
Baritons singers greeted us in English. Yay, I was not lost anymore. My
curiosity about the instrument finally got its answer: they used playback for
the concert. Owh, I see.
In the entrance, we got the list of songs they were going to
perform. From the list, I tried to recognize some of them that I might be
familiar with. I found only few, Perhaps Love, Sway, To All The Girls I love
Before while some others I might have known but the text seemed incorrectly
typed. The titles I mentioned before were songs I listened once in a while. I
was quite not sure since the songs I knew are not opera songs. That made me
even more curious.
As soon as de Drie Baritons were on stage, they greeted in
Bahasa, Selamat Malam (Good evening). They expressed how happy they were being
invited in Indonesia, particularly in Semarang. The first song was Italiaans
medley. Listening to their voice made me out of breath. Fyi, I’ve never been in
such concert before. Their voice, song, and the place that has European
architecture really did a great spell on me. I almost forgot to take a breath.
Lol.
The following songs they performed still made the audience
out their breath. Some distractions happened, though. The microphone sometimes
went on and off. One of the singers made a joke that the building has a lot of
creepy stories. And the ‘dwellers’ were distracting them. Lol. Thanks God, the
distraction only happened when they talked to each other and to audience. Oya,
they expressed among others admiration before they met and set up a group.
Some pop songs like Perhaps Love, To All The Girls I love
Before were performed in half pop and half opera. How about Sway, the swing
jazzy song? They even danced along the song. Wow… the last two songs were written You’ll Never
and Amigos in the text. I did expect that the two songs were songs I’m familiar
with. Before they were about to say goodbye, they performed the songs I was
curious about. And……….. wow…. They performed You’ll Never Walk Alone, a song
with a lot of versions. And another last..last song….. my heart fell when they
sang Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life). No one could sit still but gave
them a standing ovation…
.
I went home, feeling satisfied and looked for another free
classical concert.
