Djuwita on the gramophone

All the aches of long distance travel has been forgotten, hearing the soothing voice of Djuwita on my now-working-again gramophone.

As I have mentioned before, I do have a collection of over 300 vinyls (let me qualify my statement in saying that I am the custodian of this collection) and my most coveted vinyls would be the 78 rpm ones. Many of them are rare. While the records are not dated, unless if bapak had signed and dated it himself, so we we would never know when they were actually rleased, but I do believe that they would be 50s or earlier. Miss Maimoon, Miss Dinah - many of us would not have heard or remembered them.

But tonight, as I was trying to get my gramophone going again, I saw a vinyl that set my heart skipping a beat.

It is Langit Biru by Djuwita. I didn't know that we have her in our collection. See how bad I am with my record keeping, the pun was unintentional!

The trip to Jalan Surabaya has been worth the effort.

Enjoy this song - never mind the dusts on the gramophone. It has been sitting there on the table for too long, neglected until tonight. You won't find it in Youtube and you will hear it like you would, if you were listening this song when it was first release.

For the record, I do have a better CD-like quality and it is sitting in my car. For once, let's hear the song like it was supposed to be listened, so to speak.

I have also earlier blogged about Langit Biru.

Just for the record, this song was written by R Maroeti while Djuwita was accompanied by Orkes Dendang Kelana under the direction of R Maroeti. The vinyl was released by The Indonesian Music Company "Irama" Ltd, and it was recorded and made in Indonesia.

Could this be the same R Maroeti who wrote the song Indahnya Alam sung by Sudirman? A quick check on Youtube confirms my suspicion.

EPILOGUE

I just got this from the net. It can be found here.

Djuwita

Nama asli Djuwita adalah Deetje Moningka, lahir di Jakarta sebagai anak Kemayoran tahun 1933 dari orangtua asal Minahasa. Ia mulai menyanyi pada 1944, sebagai anggota paling muda dari orkes Empat Sekawan pimpinan Jahya. Penyanyi paling laris dan paling mahal pada 1957 sampai 1958, karena lagu Indahnya alam yang dicipta oleh R. Maroeti khusus untuknya, mencapai penjualan terbanyak dalam sejarah musik rekaman Indonesia sampai tahun 1960. Pada tahun 1957 saja tercatat sejurnlah 4.517 buah piringan hitam - suatu jumlah yang fantastis pada waktu itu, mengingat bahwa alat elektronik berupa pick-up hanya dirniliki oleh kalangan masyarakat yang terbatas sekali.

Pada 1955 ia masuk orkes Dendang Kelana pimpinan R. Maroeti, setelah merasa kurang sukses dalam rekaman kroncong iringan orkes yang dipimpin oleh Adikarso. Ketika Usmar Ismail membuat film Tiga dara, suara Djuwita-Iah yang berada di balik mulut Chitra Dewi, menyanyikan lagu-IaguSenandung lagu lama, dan Cita-cita membumbung tinggi. Dalam lagu tema Tiga dara sendiri, Djuwita menyanyi bersama Elly Srikudus dan Siti Nur Rochma. Kedua nama penyanyi yang terakhir men-"dubbing" untuk suara Indriati Iskak dan Mieke Wijaya. Selain Tiga dara yang termasuk film laris itu, Djuwita juga menyanyi pada beberapa film untuk lagu tema, misalnya Kroncong Kemayoran, dan Djakarta di Waktu malam.

And this is Malaysia's answer to Djuwita. I think it is more of a tribute to her and R Maroeti. Never mind that Sanisah Huri is actually Singaporean.