Gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, charming, sophisticated, classy, elegant. Those are the words that people use to describe Andi Meriem Nurul Kusumawardhani Mattalatta. She is Indonesia's REAL diva, long before the presence of the likes of Krisdayanti, Ruth Sahanaya or Titi DJ. Born in 1962, she came from a wealthy, aristocratic, blue-blood family in Makassar. She was adored by two of the most picky art connoisseurs, namely Iskandar, who nicknamed her "Mutiara Dari Selatan" or the "Southern Pearl" and Guruh Soekarno Putra, the son of Indonesia's first president, Soekarno. Her career lasted THREE decades ('70s, '80s and '90s). Mer, the way she used to be called, had produced more than 30 albums in her career, almost of them went platinum!!She had more than 60 hits, almost all of them went to number one.
She began her career singing the songs of the famous composer during the '70s, A. Riyanto, who mostly wrote syrupy, candy sweet love ballads. However, as the year progressed, she began on producing "quality' albums. One of her best early effort was the "BAHTERA ASMARA". In this album, lotsa prominent, serious songwriters wrote for her, namely Fariz RM, Eros Jarot, Chrisye, Idris Sardi, Utje F. Tekol, Anton Issoedibyo (A successful "festival" composer and Yockie Suryoprayogo(The legendary arranger who produces SBY's new album). The album produced hits like : "Bahtera Asmara", "Hasrat dan Cita" and "Cintaku". Harvey Malaiholo also assisted her as backing vocal in "Datanglah terang".
Mer is a well accomplished singer, successful in terms of commercialism as well as quality. She was sent to international pop song festivals in Tokyo and Finland and came out as the winner in several of the contests. She was FREE from gossip, and never used gimmicks or sensational news in order to boost her career.She didn't need it since she had it all: beauty, voice, excellent techniques and tons of hits!!
In 1986, she began an ambitious project under a different label, after quitting MUSICA STUDIOS, issuing her excellent album "NUANSA BIRU", which produced massive hits like "Lenggang Jakarta", "Nuansa Biru" and "Andaikan". The recording took place in America, with Jonathan Merril as the main arranger and Ken Navaro (Jazz musician)and DAVE KOZ as one of the musicians!!The album is VERY different from her previous efforts and it launched a whole new image of Andi Meriem Mattalatta as the new, serious and classy diva.
One of the questions that linger in my mind is why didn't she have a solo concert like the other Indonesian divas?She's produced more albums and hits than any of the divas in Indonesia and certainly more deserving!!
Below is one of the best hits she ever produced "LENGGANG JAKARTA".It's a pop, disco song which people still remember until now and often be the chosen material to be sung in Jakarta's anniversary and "ABNON" contests. ENJOY!!
Lenggang Jakarta - Andi Meriem Mattalatta
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment