hello, hopefully i don't miss a lot of things
oui...le francaise est terrible (excuse my french
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btw, here is Anggun's newest interview in The Jakarta Post:
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Anggun misses the smiles of Indonesian people
T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta
A plate of hot rice with a piece of fried chicken. That is one of the things that makes international singer Anggun Cipta Sasmi happy.
What else?
" ... I like it very much when it is hot and I sleep under my blanket and then my feet come out of the blanket....," she said.
It is the small, simple things she misses about Indonesia, her the home she left 12 years ago when she was 20.
Born in Jakarta on April 26, 1974, Anggun, whose name means "grace born out of a dream", now lives in France with her second husband, Oliver Maury, whom she married after her first marriage to Michel Georgea ended.
She has been the best-selling Asian artist outside Asia since 1997. In 1998 her single Snow On The Sahara became the most played single of the year on French radio and was a number one hit in Spain, Italy and Eastern Asia, while being reaching the top 5 in the UK Club Charts. In the United States, her debut album made it into the top 20 on Billboard's Heat Seekers chart.
Anggun has won various awards, including the Chevalier des Arts et Letters from the France Culture Minister and the Cosmopolitan Asia Women Award. She has also recently accepted the role of spokesperson for the UN Year of Microcredit.
She has released 12 albums, the first launched when she was only nine years old. Anggun was in Jakarta in April to promote her latest album, Luminescence, which was launched in August last year, and she will come to the city again for a concert at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center on May 25. During the show, her fans will get the chance to watch her sensual video clip for Saviour, the theme song of Transporter II, which has not been shown publicly here for fear of protests in the wake of the pornography bill controversy.
"The situation in Indonesia is now really weird ... That pornography issue... gee. I am really sorry they have become that narrow minded ... I used to say that Indonesia, as the country with the biggest Muslim population, respects tolerance, which is proven by the fact that we once had a woman president," she said.
Anggun also shared her concerns about the poor image of Indonesia after the recent attack on the office of Playboy in Jakarta by the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI). The Jakarta Post spoke to her by phone last week. Happy belated birthday. What's your most memorable birthday? In my family my father did not want to celebrate the children's birthdays each year, but once every seven years. I still remember the first time I had a birthday cake, it was in the shape of a guitar with a candle in the form of a figure of seven.
How about your last birthday? I celebrated it on the stage, so it was the spectators who celebrated it. They sang for me. I was performing in northern France. It was fun. There were many people and they sang happy birthday. They kept on singing ... three times!
You will perform in Jakarta on May 25. How will it be different from your other performances? The difference is, the hair is all black ... From the stage I see the spectators ... it is blond, red ... but in Indonesia it is black ... All of the hair is black, of course with some exceptions, as some people now dye their hair blond. And in Indonesia I can be nostalgic, singing my old songs. When I perform in France I sing French songs and in other countries I sing English songs.
And how will it be different from your concert before the UN Secretary General in France last year and when you sang for Pope John Paul II in Vatican in 2000? The difference is the crowd (at those events) was more formal. When I sang for the Pope, the bishops who were in the front row did not dance passionately.
How often do you perform? It depends ... When I am on a tour, it is very intense. For example, in a three-week tour, I only have two days off in a week. Now I am touring because I am promoting my last album in many countries. From now until November, I have 40 shows all over Europe and some other countries like Lebanon.
You left Indonesia when you were very young to pursue your dream as a singer. Yes, I left when I was 20 years old, it was in 1994. At first I went to London, and then I moved to France.
Did your dream come true? Did my dream came true ... well, I think so. So far so good... I don't want to complain because even though there are many people who are more successful than I am, there are also others who are not successful. So, if I look back, well, it's ok, yes, I succeeded.
What is the key to your success? I am a Javanese, but a 'fake' one.
Can you elaborate? The Javanese seem too nrimo (passive, uncomplaining, fatalistic). I want to be ditrimo (accepted). I have to be more aggressive. My father always told me that you must have a dream in your life. But if you have a dream, you must make it come true. To realize your dream, you have to work hard. So I work hard like ... I did everything, I learned good things from my experiences.
Did you have problems in realizing your dream? A lot of problems. But they are a part of the process of realizing a dream, aren't they?
What were the problems and how did you cope with them? Adaptation, you have to learn this and that, the way people play the game. There are many ambitious people, and many of them are bad. I am ambitious but I don't want to be an opportunist, I don't want to make people suffer for the sake of my career. So I learned things like that. I learned how to read a contract because this is a business and it involves a lot of money, investment, you have to learn, find out, to know you rights as an artist, a singer. And also learn to cope with stress, because a life like mine is awfully stressful, with pressure from your left and your right. So you learn to walk on a string like in a circus, to maintain balance.
It is not easy, but this is the profession I have wanted to be in for a long time, it suits me and in every profession there must be problems.
When did you start wanting to be a part of this profession? A long time ago. I released my first album when I was nine years old. It seems that I did not want to free myself from my dreams. It seems that I am the architect and the decorator of my own prison.
Why do you call it a prison? Because I feel that I do not have any other choice. My father said that we, artists, do not have any choice. We are born as artists.
So you inherited the blood of the artist from your father? My father (Darto Singo, who died in 2004) was an author, he was also involved in the theater, he was a journalist and was involved in arts activities. I must get the blood of the artist from him, that's for sure. As for my mom, she was my natural manager, she took me to many places and dealt with the promoters.
So I learned to be persistent and tenacious from father and learned to be patient from mom.
Who taught you to sing? I didn't have any vocal teachers. My father taught me but he could not sing. He had a book on singing and he read it, from the first chapter on, and I had to follow it as he read out the sentences. I learned about breathing. I also learned from cassettes. And I think my real vocal teacher was Freddy Mercury because I used to listen to his songs. I should sing like him, with a similar technique.
My father liked to listen to Leo Kristy, Gombloh, Ebiet, while mom liked Elvis Presley and the Beatles ... I love the Beatles and I was into rock music.
Talking about your albums, many say you used to sing rock songs but now your music tends to be more sensual and romantic. I used to sing rock songs because I was an adolescent, I was not mature, even my face was still not right, there were pimples ... and I often had arguments with my parents ... like that ... so I listened to rock music and I was said to have the vocal capacity to sing rock songs, so I used to concentrate on that kind of music. When I was 18 years old or so, I started to listen to calmer music, Tracy Chapman, Sting ... I explored those areas ... more on an emotional level than on a technical one. Now I just want to be honest. If we look at the industry, wherever it is, it changes, there are many trends, but what's the use of following the trend? I can't suddenly become an American soul singer, because for me soul singers are black people. I don't want to be trapped in just one kind of music.
So, is there any possibility that you will explore other music genres? Hopefully. Now it is like es campur (a cocktail of mixed fruits), I take what I like, what I want, and I want different things at different times. Every time I make an album, I try to be honest to what I want at that time.
Do you write your own songs? Yes, I write all of my songs and compose them with different people.
What about the creative process? That's the difficult part. I don't know when it comes from. Father once said: don't wait for inspiration, but find it. So everyday it seems that I record information, so much, whether it is conversation, food, painting, or anything that can stir up emotion, for me that can become a good way to write songs, and when it is ready, I release it one by one...
In my album Luminescence, one of the songs is titled Cover. It's my first time I have written a song about Indonesia, about my country. If I wrote the song for my first album, that would not have made sense, because I had just left the country. Now, after many years, I understand why I miss (Indonesia), what I don't like and what I am afraid of and what I want.
Could you elaborate on that? Cover is ... about how I feel that I have been genetically modified, I'm not Indonesia anymore, but not Western, so I am between the two -- or even three. In France the expression is, it is as if I am "rooted". I don't like the expression because I don't want to be rooted. I grow my roots in another place, so my tree will have lots of leaves. If it doesn't, I will pull it up and plant it in another place.
What is your nationality? I am French.
But you still love Indonesia, don't you? Of course, I do.
What do you miss about Indonesia? It's not the place, but the atmosphere, the people ... and of course my family. The atmosphere which makes me feel like in Indonesia, the smiles of the people -- here people do not like to smile -- and the smells, like kretek (cigarette cloves), the smell of the rain, the smell of the soil after it rains, the smell when the satay vendor passes ... the smell of the burning charcoal when a bit of the chicken skin that drops onto it... Those are the things that I miss. Things like that. Not things like Jakarta with its horrible pollution, and the endless traffic jams, which is now more windy -- I don't miss those things at all.
How about the food? Of course I miss it too. Otak-otak (fish cakes), nasi Padang, gule otak, ayam pop, teh botol. I love them very much.
What are your hobbies? What do you do in your spare time? I spend my spare time to rest, to sleep.
Do you watch movies? Watching movies is not my hobby, it is one the ways I get inspiration. Sometimes I watch movies, there are good scenes with good lighting, which remind me of something, and I get inspired, or there is a sentence which is really interesting. Watching movies is not a hobby anymore, but an obligation, a need that has something to do with my job, with music.
Your husband is a foreigner. Do you have any problem with the different culture? I have no problem, maybe he has ... There is a theory that it is better to marry someone who has the same culture, who comes from the same place, so that there won't be any problems. But I prefer someone who is different so that I can enrich myself, so that there are more things to talk about, and for me, I am more interested in things which are mixed, like culture, music ...
Do you want to have any children? I really want to, but God has not given me one.
What makes you cry? The last time I cried was when father died in November 2004.
What time do you usually go to bed and get up? Usually it is between midnight and 3 a.m. This morning I got up at 7:30.
You are the spokesperson for the UN Year of Microcredit. What are your duties? I have to talk about the function of microcredit and all of the things that make it work. My duties include visiting micro entrepreneurs and keeping up their spirits and discussing things the best as I can.
link:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatur...id=20060514.C01**merci bien pour Mr Niko au forum de Anggunworld.com
It’s not about who win or lose, but who deserves to be the first one featured. Anggun should be in top of the list. Keep writing your favorite, jangan cuman komentar pendek atau gambar aja, so the chance for your favorite stars in next AF Feature become bigger, and most important is: lots of Indonesian artists features on AF!!! 
okay Ben! I'm sorry 
