A gem long buried, discovered

And this is the said gem!



Mellyana Manuhutu sealed a record deal with Wave Records in Japan in 1990 to record "modernized" Indonesian folk songs, when she was only 15 years old. The self-titled album was distributed in Japan only (or largely in Japan), but over the next ten years Melly, as she was to be better known later, carved a successful career out of singing, modelling, acting and TV presenting on the home turf.

Several songs from the album "Mellyana" have been uploaded on YouTube, and so far Yamko Rambe Yamko is my favorite. This Papuan folk song sounds to me like a blueprint for Utada Hikaru hits to come many years later. The other songs, simply said, probably shouldn't have been recorded with '90s Japanese youngsters in mind. For one, Melly's "black" vocal doesn't fit Aceh folk song Bungong Jeumpa and Sundanese Tokecang. Despite that, however, one must admit "Mellyana" was far ahead of its time. In the early '90s, Indonesian youth weren't as proud as Batik and other local products as we are now. Teenagers would've been embarrassed if their friends had learned they listened to Sundari Soekotjo or Waljinah instead of Tommy Page and Debbie Gibson. Makoto Kubota took actions by making a few famous Indonesian folk songs world music and signed the talented Ambonese teenager to sing them.

LOL

Happy late September everyone!

Not gonna talk about celebs this time.

This is probably my last entry in September, if I'm still lazy until the month is out.

Just learned something. Some people actually do things just for the hell of it. They execute it to perfection purely for personal satisfaction. They don't want attention of any kind. What little attention they get, they warn anyone who pays any attention to stay the heck away.

And you guys (you know who you are), I don't like how you do things. And get a bit more creative with aliases, will ya?

Reflecting...

Happy September everyone! Can't believe we only have three months left in year 2011. It's been uneventful to me so far, but with the three months left maybe there's still an opportunity to turn this year around.

I'm not gonna blog about celebs this time.

If you've been a long-time follower, you know that one of my strongest suits is my memory. And indeed memory is very important to me. It helps me remember how far I've come and reminds me about my destiny, why I'm here in the first place. It also helps me make people feel special.

If asked how I'd like people to remember me, simply put I hope I'll leave only good memories which make them smile and laugh.