Sungguh Anggun sekali! (So beautiful!)
Sungguh Anggun is how I would describe the petite Indonesian singer with the big voice.
Born to an artiste father and a mother with blue blood, Anggun is no princess.
Blessed with flawless skin and nice features, the only thing that struck me was Anggun's humble nature.
Different from the other artistes that I have interviewed, Anggun has absolutely
no airs around her. I think it's me but it's probably the fact that we are Asian that made it easier to identify with each other.
Leaving Indonesia when she was a teen was the craziest thing that she has ever
done. Mentally prepared to adapt to the culture shock, she went to London to
seek a new life. Unfortunately, London became the place that she hates most.
Having lived in Paris for a number of years already, it is no doubt that the
beautiful singer had adapted to the French lifestyle easily. "I was expecting the
changes. Expecting things to be so different. It wasn't hard in my head knowing
that they don't eat rice so what? I was there to learn to adapt myself. That's your
ability as a woman or a human being. Animals don't adapt. We are civilized animals, we evolve. People are scared of changes."
In Singapore to promote her latest album, «Chrysalis», she took almost two
years to come out with the new album. "I was busy. The first album was released
in 33 countries but not at the same time. The promotions of the album was only
finished in October last year," remarked Anggun.
All the songs in «Chrysalis» was written by her. "Although if I don't physically write
the lyrics in my previous albums, I contributed a lot to the birth of the songs."
The difference between the two albums is obvious. "Both are different. People
don't actually listen to it properly. The first album, I wrote all the songs and there
were Indonesian ethnic sounds. «Chrysalis» is the first album in so many years
that I included guitars and distortion. It even sounds like the B52's. These are the so
many different elements in the albums. People have the perception that my
albums sound alike because they only listen to the first three seconds of each
song. I'm so used to hearing that," added Anggun.
She decided to do away with her Indonesian elements because she want get rid
with the stereotype that just because she's an Indonesian, she has to do
Indonesian sounds, wear batik or write her songs in Indonesian.
"I don't want my identity to become a limit, a boundary. I'm so proud of it. I
want to show it (my identity) in a more intelligent way. The album is still very
Indonesian in the feel, in the lyrical point of view. When you read the lyrics, even
though the language is English, the point of view, the theme or the sounds still
sound Indonesian. It comes from an Indonesian point of view. I like to show the
Indonesian part in a very subtle way. It's like putting on perfume. You can smell it but you can't see.”
The way Anggun writes her songs was much or less influenced by the French
culture. She got her inspiration by referring to the way the French write their
metaphors, which isn't as straightforward as the English language. "I hate singing
Westlife or Britney Spears type of lyrics. It's so unpersonal. Indonesian speak in
metaphors naturally because we don't have much vocabulary. We put a lot of
images so that people can understand what we talk about. The French language
is also the same but I think that they are even worse. They have words for
everything but yet they put images to it," Anggun said in a matter of factly.
No one can imagine that this beauty cites Freddie Mercury as the one who taught
her to sing. She used to listen to him everyday and tried to imitate the way he
sings when she was growing up. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Indonesian ethnic
sounds are her strongest musical influence. Weirdly enough, Anggun's music
does not remotely sound like her influences.
This lady spent more than 20 minutes with us reporters in an intimate round
table interview at Four Seasons Hotel. Here's one juicy fact that all you Anggun
fans should know. Anggun will always travel with her «guling» or in English its
called bolster. Without it she can't sleep. "It's very embarrassing because I will
have this enormous bag that I have to carry around even if I only stayed for a
day. I would fold my outfits into tiny pieces and the «guling» will take up the
whole place," Anggun said with a tint of shyness.
(Fildza / 7th Dec. 2000)
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