Modern Creative Musician from Indonesia
Creative Music Production by Eka Gustiwana
Eka with His Music Production Equipment
INTERNATIONAL | INDONESIAN CREATIVE MUSICIAN - Eka Gustiwana's name skyrocketed after uploading a parody of Arya Wiguna's video on the video sharing site YouTube. Armed with a videotape of Arya voicing her passion for Eyang Subur, in early 2013, at that time, Eka assembled the cutscenes and added her own background music. The result is a hilarious 2-minute music video, in which Arya is made as if singing to the accompaniment of Eka's song. "When I was being fun wanted to make a parody. Incidentally, I am usually in the music, so that's what I did," said Eka When met by Contributor Team at his residence which doubles as a music studio in Jakarta.
The Arya Wiguna parody video was made using a technique known as " speech composing ". The dialogue in the video clip is cut into pieces, then rearranged according to the accompaniment of the song made. This skill is indeed owned by Eka, who likes to arrange songs digitally. Although now working as a song composer, Eka previously did not expect to enter the world of music. In fact, the eldest of the siblings had aspired to become an ordinary office worker. Starting from singing Long before making Arya Wiguna parody videos, Eka was already skilled in music and earned income from his passion. Eka's interest in the world of music began to grow when he was in junior high school. "I got to know music from my father who also likes music. At that time, there was no serious desire. I then started to try and make songs. This then had a big impact on my life," said Eka.
Eka's interest in music grew when he continued to study at high school. After high school, he was faced with a difficult choice because circumstances forced him not to continue his education to college. Eka then decided to try his luck through songs. Initially, Eka's decision was met with opposition from parents who wanted their children to follow the conventional path of becoming a worker, but she understood that. "The name is parents, they definitely want the best for their children. In their eyes the art world may still be uncertain in terms of income… But I managed to convince them to give me 4 years, starting from that time, in 2007." Armed with the expertise to play the piano, Eka began to "single", carrying a keyboard from cafe to cafe, serving requests to play songs to entertain visitors. Once playing, he can get an honorarium of up to Rp. 200 thousand. In a week Eka can get orders for singing up to eight times. "Because I was stuck after high school, I was able to find a way to make money. The income was pretty good for a new player at that time."
Project "thank you"
Gradually, from her job singing at the cafe, Eka was able to save, until later she bought studio equipment and a personal computer for digital music production. Eka is not satisfied with just walking around singing , she wants to be a songwriter. It was from the studio that was built in one of the rooms in his house that Eka's career as a music composer began. Because he didn't have a name, at first he offered his friends making music for free. "My term is 'thank you' project. It's okay not to get paid, the important thing is to get a portfolio, get experience," said Eka. Eka's first big opportunity came in 2010, when she wrote and arranged a song sung by actress Nikita Willy. In the same year, he participated in a jingle making competition at the Dunia Fantasi theme park and won first place. Requests for paid projects began to flow as Eka's music became more and more known.
Now, Eka is used to working on music projects, whether making jingles or writing songs. His client list includes hospital managers, banking, telecommunications, to all national television stations in Indonesia. Music is actually Eka's main career, while Speech Composing is just a distraction. "To make people laugh, ha-ha-ha," he joked. In handling these music projects, Eka, who sometimes works with her friends, admitted that she was helped by advances in digital technology, especially the internet network. "In the past the process took days because they had to send CD packages to clients, now with services like Dropbox and Google Drive it can be done in minutes," he explained.
To the front of the screen Thanks to the Arya Wiguna parody video he made, Eka's name is now attached to speech composing . Incidentally, Eka is one of the pioneers of this technique in Indonesia, if not the first. Arya Wiguna's video was quickly followed by the speech composing of news anchor Jeremy Teti, also composed by Eka. He then released a number of other speech composing videos involving various figures, from comedian Dodit Mulyanto, singer Syahrini, to presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo. Eka's popularity on YouTube skyrocketed. He is now one of the most "selling" Indonesian YouTubers with more than 240,000 subscribers . However, Eka admitted that he had only recently begun to explore the video sharing site as a means of publication.
"Before the Arya Wiguna video, I was not a YouTuber. After the speech composing, I opened my eyes more to YouTube," said Eka. In the past, Eka saw YouTube solely as a means of entertainment. But now he has realized the potential the site presents, including the possibility of earning revenue from YouTube in the future.
Apart from being active behind the scenes, Eka has recently also tried to appear in front of the camera through the release of a single entitled I'm OK, the result of a duet with singer Nadya Rafika, which is also broadcast on YouTube. He is now preparing to release his second single.
To fellow musicians who want to promote through internet media such as YouTube, Eka suggested that they should be confident and not shy about channeling their works through selected channels. "If it's good, it will definitely go viral on its own. If it's not enough, we can learn from mistakes. Now there are many media such as Soundcloud and others. So, why be ashamed?"
One of Eka's works on YouTube can be viewed via this video clip.
Editor : Andi Saputra
Sumber : SigapNews Contributors Group
