If you haven't read part one yet...😊 Here's the link to help you catch up on the story quicker:
Special Project for Commemoration Javanese Immigration Day
This project has a special place in my heart. Especially knowing the history of my ancestors. On August 9, 1890, Javanese contract workers arrived from Indonesia to Suriname and received a five-year contract to work on Surinamese plantations as field and factory workers. Originally, these contractors were smallholder farmers in the then Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Plantation work was therefore foreign to them. People came from Central and East Java but here they were all called Javanese. This first group of Javanese will go down in history as those who laid the foundation for the formation of the Surinamese Javanese community in Suriname. We are truly grateful to them for leaving us with an amazing culture, delicious food and beverage, beautiful clothing and a quite complex language that we can carry on from generation to generation.
Let's talk a little about the Javanese language. Although Suriname's Javanese population has grown up to 70,000 people, not all of them can speak or even understand the language. Why is that you may ask? Well in our country, our main language to communicate with is Dutch. We live in a society with people from different ethnicities and different languages. But one main cause is that the newer generation Javanese people either refused to learn the language or refused to teach their kids. Another issue is that they didn't think it was necessary to know anything about their roots but back then the elderly used to gossip about others in Javanese, especially about the kids, so they won't allow them to know what they were talking about.
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Our gospel project allowed us to bring the youths together, some who may have some knowledge about the language and some who completely don't. People that have Javanese blood inside and is willing to learn more about it through music. This was also a great way to spread the word of God.
I'm finally allowed to show you the members of our band since a few songs have been release on YouTube already. 😍
Starting from the back we have our musicians, from left to right, they are:
Dave Kartadja - Bass guitar
Alleyanto Arga - Piano
Cheryl Kartomenggolo - Keyboard
Nathan Kertodikromo - Electric guitar
Micha-el Martodrono - Drums
We have our vocalists in the front, from left to right, namely:
Ghillermi Mac Donald
Sharon Witasetra
Grace Karijodiwirijo
Graciëlla Hardjopawiro
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Here we have two very special people with us who were so kind to assist us with lighting and camera operations.
In the front on the right we have Brendan Amatali and I guess you can say in the middle we have Shellen Arga from Shellen Arga Productions.
As promised I will tell you how many songs we've covered but only three are currently online from the six. Alleyanto is planning on posting the remaining three this weekend on his YouTube Channel Alleyanto Music.
I'll share one video on hive so if you're interested in our covers, make sure to check out his YouTube channel.
This gospel cover is called Gusti Aku Teka. The english version of this song is called The Power of Your Love by Hillsong Worship. ❤️
The song starts off really slow with the chorus and then a nice switch into a more Javanese style of music, we call it the "two step".
I hope you'll enjoy the video 😊and feel free to sing along with us. I wrote the English lyrics for you down below in the order of our cover.
The Power of Your Love by Hillsong
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love
Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I've found in You
Lord I've come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love
Truly grateful to be #alive. 🙏Matur nuwun sanget, thank you so much for reading my blog. Let me know in the comments if you've tried to sing the song in Javanese. 😂
I'm ending this blog with a wonderful quote to all my Javanese and non-Javanese people out there:
"The role of culture is that it’s the form through which we as a society reflect on who we are, where we’ve been, where we hope to be." - Wendell Pierce