Take Me to the Mardi Gras

C’mon take me to the Mardi Gras
Where the people sing and play
Where the dancing is elite
And there’s music in the street
Both night and day

Hurry take me to the Mardi Gras
In the city of my dreams
You can legalize your lows
You can wear your summer clothes
In the New Orleans

And I will lay my burden down
Rest my head upon that shore
And when I wear that starry crown
I won’t be wanting anymore

Take your burdens to the Mardi Gras
Let the music wash your soul
You can mingle in the street
You can jingle to the beat of Jelly Roll
Tumba, tumba, tumba, Mardi Gras
Tumba, tumba, tumba, day

Today I read a posting  about Mardi Gras. Because of curious and I like that event so I search about it in internet. Then  I know that the event that happened in New Orleans was over yesterday. If I am not wrong.

I’ve never been there. I wish I could. New Orleans. City where jazz was born. And jazz is one of my favourite music. I only can see the pictures of that parade.  I hope someday I could  be there.

Talk about that song, it’s my favourite song. But do you know that there’s one Indonesian song has almost the same tone as “Take Me To The Mardi Gras”. The title is “Begadang”, composed by Rhoma Irama. The same tone was in the first row of the lyrics.  That is “C’mon take me to the Mardi Gras” and “Begadang jangan begadang”.

Funny ? One was composed by Paul Simon, an American singer  and the other was composed by Rhoma Irama, an Indonesian singer. Or did they ever meet each other before ? Maybe someone has an idea to gather them on a stage ?

But apparently, this situation, the similarity has not been used by comedians. Especially, Indonesian comedians. Maybe the song “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” is not so popular among them. Maybe someone, a comedian wants to take this idea as a joke material ? 🙂

Wig

I write this article in 2 languages : English and Indonesian. Saya menulis artikel ini dalam 2 bahasa : Inggris dan Indonesia.

Bahasa Indonesia.

Wig adalah rambut palsu yang dipasang di kepala. Biasanya dipakai untuk menutupi kekurangan rambut kita. Seperti tipis atau botak. Ini terutama ditujukan untuk para wanita. Atau seeorang yang ingin terlihat seperti seorang wanita. Ini biasanya berhubungan dengan crossdresser, ladyboy, shemale, sissy dan  transvestise. Termasuk saya.

Di Jawa, ada wig khusus yang dipakai oleh wanita Jawa waktu mereka memakai busana tradisional. Namanya sanggul atau konde. Karena sejak pertama kali saya melakukan crossdressing, saya selalu memakai busana tradisional Jawa, maka saya membeli sebuah sanggul. Waktu itu saya membelinya tanpa mempertimbangkan bentuk muka saya.

Sanggul dipasang dibelakang kepala kita. Pertama, kita harus punya rambut yang cukup panjang untuk dapat diikat, setelah itu kita tempatkan sanggul kita dan tempelkan  ke rambut dengan jepit rambut. Kita harus meletakkan jepit rambut sedekat mungkin pada ekor rambut kita dari empat arah. Dari atas, bawah, kiri dan kanan. Kita juga menempatkan jepit rambut lain setinggi kira-kira telinga kita. Gunakan jepit rambut cukup banyak supaya sanggul dapat kokoh menempel di belakang kepala kita.

Apa yang saya terangkan diatas adalah apa yang saya pelajari secara otodidak dan berhasil. Saya tidak tahu apakah prosedurnya salah atau kurang tepat.

Tahun kemarin saya mulai memakai pakaian wanita modern, jadi saya tidak memakai sanggul.

Dibawah ini ada beberapa link yang berhubungan dengan cara memilih wig yang cocok dengan bentuk wajah kita.

English.

A wig is a fake hair that placed on head. It usually used to cover our hair shortfall. Such as thin or bald. This is primarily intended for women. Or someone who wants to look alike a woman. This usually related to crossdresser, ladyboy, shemale, sissy and  transvestise. Including me.

In Java, there is a special wig that used by Javanese women when they wear traditional costome. It is called “sanggul” or “konde”. It’s almost like a bun. Because since the first time I did crossdressing I always use Javanese traditional costume, so I bought a bun. That time I bought it without considering the form of my face.

It mounted on the back of our head. First, we should have long hair enough for tied up, after that we place our bun and stick it to the hair with hairpins. We should put the hairpins  as close as possible to the tail of our hair in four directions.  From above, below, left and from right. We also put other hairpins as  high about our ears. Use many hairpins so the bun can stays firm in the back of our head.

What I explain above is what I learn by myself. I just try it and it works. I don’t know if this procedure is wrong or not exactly right.

Last year I started to wear modern dress, so I don’t use the bun when I am wearing modern dress.

Below is some links that related with how to choose a wig that fits with our face shape.

http://thewigcompany.com/find-the-perfect-wig-for-your-face-shape/a/81/

http://ceko.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Pick-The-Right-Wig

http://sanggul.pasarberingharjo.com/

http://hardiyamegantara.blog.com/page/2/?page=3

Flight of the Bumblebee

“Flight of the Bumblebee” is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar’s son) into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is alive). ( Wikipedia )

The first time I heard this song is when I bought an album from Yo Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin titled “Hush”. This song was in that album. My first impression about it was funny, the tempo was too fast. I thought that Bobby whose a jazz singer was improvising.

I suspected that this song was about a bee that was flying, because it sounds almost like a horde of bees were flying. Then I knew that this song was often used in some cartoon films as the background music when a bee or other animal was doing a rapid movement. Yes, it was very perfect and match to the scene. I also suspected that bumblebee was a name of a bee species. Because by that time I still didn’t familiar with internet and also computer was a luxurious thing in my country. So I couldn’t browse internet to find out more about this song. Now that I can access internet, I know that my guess was right and I can find out more about it.

In fact, this song is a song with very fast tempo and often used as standard when someone wants to show that he or she can play a musical instrument very quickly. This song was even played until 600 BPM ( Beats Per Minute ). In contrary, a slow song may has tempo with 70 BPM. I read a partiture of it and it’s written Vivace 144.

Below are some videos that show some musicians playing that song with different musical instrument and different arrangement.

Hair

Hair is the crown, especially for women. Unfortunately since I was a kid, my hair was not so thick and wavy, but thin and straight. I feel so unlucky about this and that time I was so jealous  with the other who have thick and wavy hair. But like a woman I pay attention to my hair since I was a kid. This is my story.

I remember when I was in elementary school, I was a fan of The Beatles. Because they had their hair with bangs in the front, so was I. And I often keep my hair  long enough to reach my shoulder. After that my late mother often told me to cut my hair. And I reluctantly obeyed her will. After I cut my hair, I became a little sad about my hair.

When I was in junior high school, my hair tend to reddish. People say maize hair . Until one of my friend said that I looked alike a Caucasian. But over time, my hair became black again.

When I was in college, because I grew my hair too long,  my late mother insisted and escorted me  to the salon  for hair frizz. It was once in my lifetime until now. My feeling about my new hair look was a  little glad.

Beside my tendency to lengthen  my hair,  sometimes I also cut my hair short like a crew cut.  I like to let my hair long, after that I cut my hair short like a crew cut.  I have no idea that this way I can save my money for a haircut. It happens coincidentally.

I  have  funny story about this. When I have long hair, some of my friends said that I look alike a famous Indonesian singer. ( I don’t want to mention whose they mean ). And when I have  a short hair, they also said that I look alike a different  famous Indonesian singer. ( I don’t want to mention whose they mean either ).

Even when I have a crew cut hair, they said that I look alike some stars. I don’t mind to mention it. One said that I look alike Billy Idol, the other said that I look alike Sting and Mac Gyver. My late aunt had her own opinion abut my crew cut hair, she said that my hair looks alike a deciduous forest. Forests where a majority of the trees lose their foliage at the end of the typical growing season ( Wikipedia ) But that happened many years ago.

Now I think  my hair is beginning to go bald and thin. So I am  trying to take care of my hair with diligent.

Tribute to Bubi Chen

Dated  February 17, 2012 , I read an article that Bubi Chen has died at the age of 74 years because of  diabetes melitus  in Telogorejo hospital   in Semarang, Central Java.

He was wellknown as a jazz maestro, even regarded as one of  jazz ancestors in Indonesia. Beside  a pianist, he was also an arranger. As far as I know, he usually play mainstream like swing. During his lifetime he received several awards as a musician.

He began his career in music with learning classic piano. He rearranged some classic compositions from Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart into jazz. After that, he began to study jazz by himself beside took a course. His teacher was Teddy Wilson.

Bubi Chen founded a group named  “The Circle” with Maryono (saxophone), F.X. Boy (bongo), Zainal (bass), Tri Wijayanto (gitar) and Koes Syamsudin (drum). With  Jack Lesmana, Maryono, Kiboud Maulana, Benny Mustapha and his brother Jopie Chen, he also  joined  “Indonesian All Stars”. ” Indonesian All Stars” ever performed in  Berlin Jazz Festival in  1967. After that, they made a record , “Djanger Bali” with  Tony Scott.

In 1959, with Jack Lesmana, he made a record in  Lokananta titled “Bubi Chen with Strings”. The reocrd ever broadcasted by “Voice of America” and discussed by a famous US jazz critic in 1960. He called him as “The Best Pianist of Asia”.  He ever founded  “Chen Trio” with his brother  Jopie and Teddy Chen in  1950’s. In the same year he also joined “Jack Lesmana Quartet” which changed name into “Jack Lesmana Quintet”.

In the middle of  1976, Bubi released a record titled  “Kau dan Aku”, with  Jack Lesmana, Benny Likumahuwa, Hasan, and Embong Rahardjo.  In 1984, with jazz musicians like  John Heard, Albert Heath, and Paul Langosh, he made a record  titled “Bubi di Amerika” in America and was circulated in Indonesia. He still released many more records after that.

In 2004, Bubi Chen received  “Satya Lencana” award for his dedication in art from the former president  Megawati. One year later, in   2005, in  Java Jazz Festival, Peter F. Gontha  gave him  an award as  “Jazz Living Legend” musician for the first time. Bubi Chen also  received Life Achievement Award from the governor of  East Java,  regarded of introducing  Surabaya to internasional world through  jazz during  “Wismilak The Legend of Jazz” in the early of  2010.

He was not just an Indonesian jazz artist, but he was an international jazz artist. We as jazz lovers surely miss him. This brief biography was adapted from Wikipedia.  If you want to know more details about him, here is the link http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubi_Chen

Telephone mama

When I evaluate how many visitors have visited my blog one day, I read that some of my blog visitors looking for the meaning of CIA abbreviation. In my thought, of course they’re looking for funny meaning of CIA abbreviation. What about Crossdresser International  Agency ?

Talk about CIA, it can not be separated from espionage and  this song tells about espionage too. It mentions about CIA and KGB.  It tells about a male CIA agent who assigned to kill a female KGB agent, but instead of  killing  her, he even fell in love with her. Such a sterotype story.

For you know,  one of  my old hobbies is  watching action films including espionage. When I was a kid, I like to watch television series like “Mannix”, “Mission Impossible”, “The Six Million Dollar Man”,  “The Avenger”. Then when I was a teenager I like to watch “Charlie’s Angels”, “Mac Gyver”. Some of these television series were made into cinema films several years later.

Not only that I also like to watch cinema films like the series of James Bond. The series of Jason Bourne “The Bourne Identity”, “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum”. I also like “Enemy Of The State” ,  “The Sentinel”  and  “The Interpreter” .

But of all these, I was  still impressed with the story of the film “Enemy Of The State” about a lawyer who was  trapped between mafia and rogue NSA agents. The mafia demanded him to give them his original tape of an evidence about violence. And so with a group of rogue NSA agents demanded him to give them an original tape about a murder. But with  clever  he overcame this problem by pitting the two sides that threatened him. He was just helped by a former agent only.

I lived my life on a razor blade. Never found escape in my empty shade.
Till came one day when the CIA said we need you bad down in leningrad.
I took my life of a legal alien. A “bolivian dancer” that’s what i was.
And I knew I found my aim.
Just telephone mama. Just living on a poison pill.Just telephone mama.
A robot dressed to kill. Telephone mama. That’s all I kept in mind.
Just telephone mama. The rest is left behind.
I met freulein in a french cafe. Just a cigarette and “les jeux sont faits”.
Till came one night when she was in sight.
Through the bathroom door saw her seek for more.
I took my colt and I pointed at her eyes. A sentimental cancer that’s what it was.
And I knew I lost my prize.
Just telephone mama. Just living on a poison pill. Just telephone mama.
A robot dressed to kill. Telephone mama. That’s all I kept in mind.
Just telephone mama. The rest is left behind.
She looked at me god she was so sweet. She knelt to my feet said she had to cheat.
Cause she lived her life on the sharpest knife. And the KGB never let her breathe.
I took her hand we decided to go far. The naivest “dancer” that’s what I was.
And two men approached the car.
Just telephone mama. Just living on a poison pill. Just telephone mama.
A robot dressed to kill. Telephone mama. That’s all I kept in mind.
Just telephone mama. The rest is left behind