Jakarta salutes late Maestro “Pavaròt”

The Jakarta Post, 28 October 2007
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071028.M18

Jakarta salutes late Maestro “Pavaròt”

As opera lovers worldwide gave the last applause to the Maestro, those in Jakarta finally got the chance to follow suit. Despite the capital’s end-of-Idul-Fitri air, fans of the Maestro came on 22 and 23 October 2007 to the two tribute nights entitled “Pavarotti Forever” organized by the Italian Institute of Culture in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

The Institute’s hall appeared to teem with melancholy for the loss of the Italy’s arguably most loved voice though the event remained unceremonious as Professor Remi, the Institute’s director, greeted and had a brief friendly chat with each of the guests, among which were diplomatic representatives.

But what’s left to be talked about Luciano Pavarotti? Probably not his humble childhood being raised by a baker-amateur choral singer father in Modena, a small town northwest of Bologna where the grand maestro was better known by his affectionate moniker of “Pavaròt”, nor his close call to end up as a small town teacher with a passion for sports, soccer in particular.
His hard work on charity might incite more interest. With some of the biz biggest names in tow, Elton John, Italian Zucchero and Liza Minnelli to name a few, the king of opera music founded “Pavarotti and Friends” to help victims and refugees of wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in Afghanistan.

As though to pay homage to the popular tenor, and to complete the Italian soirée, red wine was offered then it’s all the maestro’s unmistakable voice to overwhelm the Institute’s auditorium with a series of his best bel canto performances. As U2’s Bono once commented, “he is louder than a rock band”, the late Luciano Pavarotti managed to enchant the crowd even after he’s gone.

But not just Bono, Pavarotti worked with the greatest musicians, from Sting (who sang with him La donna è mobile) to his two rival-friend tenors, José Carreras and Domingo Placido. The two Spanish artists expressed their lost, “I have always admired his divine voice of unmistakable timbre… but most of all, his sense of humor,” uttered Domingo whereas Carreras wished to “remember him as the great artist that he was, a incredibly charismatic personality.”
But being the “biggest” of the “Tre Tenore”, Pavarotti surpassed his two teammates, selling more disks and concert videos, catapulting his fame into a spectacular international level. His keen attempt to popularize opera music abounded with critiques from musicologist who called it a contamination between classical and light repertoires.

Back to the Indonesian capital, eight weeks later after Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus at Pavarotti’s funeral, Jakarta’s own tribute to Pavarotti’s might have been less raucous than the strong half a million people crowds who packed London’s Hyde and New York’s Central Park, but this did not render less emotional the commemorational evening — especially not after listening to beautiful arias such as the fervid Neapolitan Torna a Surriento (De Curtis) or the all time hit Nessun Dorma (Turandot) impeccably executed by the world’s most loved tenor.

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