The First in The World, a Dead Singer Sings a New Song and Hold Concert

The concert of Indonesian singer Chrisye , entitled Eternal Song will be held on 5 April 2012 at the Plenary Hall, Senayan, Central Jakarta. Interestingly, in the concert, Chrisye who passed away in 2007 will join to sing in the concert.

People think this is a tribute concert, but organizers say it is not a tribute but the fourth concert of Chrisye. How come?

Chrismansyah Rahadi born in Jakarta, Indonesia, 16 September 1949 – died in Jakarta, 30 March 2007 at the age of 57 years. He was better known by his stage name Chrisye, is a legendary singer, musician and songwriter. He has entertained Indonesia for three decades.

Chrisye said he wanted to hold a concert in 2012, but in 2007 he had died of cancer.In 2009 many Indonesian artists, including Vina Panduwinata, Ahmad Albar, D’Cinnamons, and Sherina Munaf, Tim Christensen brings 20 songs of him in concert “Chrisye: A Night to Remember” at the Ritz Carlton, Jakarta. The concert also included the testimony of children and the wife of Chrisye. Tickets for the tribute concert was sold out.

During his lifetime Chrisye held three concerts: “Alone” (1994), “The Storm will be Away” (2000), and the “Decade” (2003). Now that Chrisye has gone, his two friends who were involved in previous concerts, musician Erwin Gutawa and Jay Subiyakto to present the fourth concert of Chrisye “Eternal Song”.

Erwin Gutawa (49) composed a new song “Eternal Song”, which will be “sung” by Chrisye in the concert. The song was composed of pieces of syllables from the Chrisye previous songs. The lyric was written by Gita Gutawa, Erwin’s daughter, who was a little girl when she saw Chrisye practiced singing. According to reporters who had heard the song, the distinctive voice of Chrisye were heard clearly : “Look at the change of all, I here and there you are …. / Even now I am far from you, I do always keep singing / You hear the strains of my
song, offering it to you …. “

The song has never been sung by Chrisye during his life. ProTools program in the computer  allows the sound engineering. The process is deceptively simple: the voice of Chrisye become a kind of computer database. From this source, Erwin do some sort of reconstruction. Thousands of syllables in songs ever sung by Chrisye arranged to form the composition of the song intact.

This is a creative work, complicated and need accuracy and patience. Erwin’s team, which among others consists of researchers, collecting thousands of tribes belong to Chrisye said. 1056 syllables of “I” required as a material for forming the sentence “I realize” as written in the lyrics of the song “Song of Eternal”. Data of syllable “I” is comprised of various characters. There is a “I” that was sung with a gentle, low, high, and the “I” that cried, softly, or thick. Erwin then filter and search for “I” that appropriate to the needs of the composition of the song. The selected syllable “I” is adjusted to the needs of tone (pitch) and timbre.

Erwin says the concert is Chrisye fourth concert. “We offer something new, which brings an aura of Chrisye on the stage,” said Erwin. Chrisye will be a kind of singing again, while Erwin Gutawa with his orchestra will accompany in live music.

Erwin Gutawa and Jay Subiyakto will bring the aura of Chrisye on the stage. Erwin with his ability will utter the voice of Chrisye. As for Jay, he makes a hologram that is similar to Chrisye. This concert takes a very long preparation.

Creative Director Jay Subiyakto says this kind of concert would be the first in the world. Later the concert stage will be made as the spaces that will become a kind of living image and graphics visualization. Late Chrisye will be present in the form of a hologram. Chrisye will be the host, and sing as if he was on stage.

There are 75 people involved in music, 15 dancers, and choirs. A series of musicians and artists will support the concert, like Sophia Latjuba, Vina Panduwinata, Gita Gutawa, Once Mekel, and the band Gigi.

Chrisye is physically gone. But his spirit and influence to Indonesia music world is still alive. Chrisye’s wife, Yanti Noor, said she is happy with the concert plans. She considers it as a tribute for her late husband.