Remembering

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Remembering

Former BBJ sousaphone player Faigiduho Zagota went to be with the Lord early on Easter Sunday morning, April 24, 2011.

"Duho went home to meet our heavenly Father this morning".

The SMS, from a member of Jakarta II corps (church) band, came as I prepared to lead Singapore's William Booth corps band in the Sunday service. But that Easter Morning, as the congregation celebrated Christ's resurrection, I could only think of the death of a young man I had not met for years.

Faigiduho Zagoto (Duho to his friends) joined BBJ in Medan at the age of 17. He was born on July 4 1974 and promoted to glory at his sister's home in Jakarta at 5am (local time) on April 24, 2011. He was suffering from liver cancer.

BBJ bandmaster Danias Karosekali, who spoke to Duho on the telephone just a few days before his death, reported that the former BBJ member was barely able to speak. He even had trouble recognising the voices of his friends.

Duho, in all that pain and suffering, did you remember the time you spent in BBJ? And were they good memories?

If was for underprivileged teenagers like you that I started the band in Medan back in 1987. You and your friends at the Salvation Army Boys Home in Medan at the time had virtually nothing. There was no football field (there still isn't), the Home's black and white television worked only occasionally, and - although healthy - you were all dressed in little more than rags.

The band became an outlet, something all the boys could participate in. And it was popular right from the beginning.

You played BBJ's only sousaphone. And while the instrument has long since been damaged beyond repair, pictures of you holding it can still be seen on this website.

I was not as close to you as I was to some of the other band members. But you came with us on the band's tour to Jakarta in 1994 when we met the members of the Salvation Army's Adelaide Congress Hall band.

We didn't see much of each other after you moved to Jakarta to look for work in 1998. But I remember that when I visited Jakarta on occasional business trips in later years you played the E-flat bass in the Jakarta II corps band . The fact that you continued playing tells me that you enjoyed your time in BBJ. I certainly hope you did, and that happy memories of the band's adventures stayed with you throughout your short life.

During the Sunday morning service in Medan on May 1, BBJ played a special tune in your memory. I think you would have liked it. The band plays very well now, and the lyrics have real meaning. The melody, written by Salvation Army composer Ray Steadman-Allen, is number 588 in the Salvation Army's band tune book.

Here are the words.

"God be in my head, and in my understanding.
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking.
God be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God be in my heart, and in my thinking.
God be at mine end, and at my departing."

Rest in peace, my brother. We will meet again some day.

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Many people believe that musicians are more moody and prone to suicide than other professionals, and that - as a result - a greater percentage of them end their lives in mental institutions or are fated to live emotionally tempestuous lives. Musicians are also commonly suspected of being over sensitive to criticism, having delusions of grandeur and other neurotic traits.

The statistics fail to bear this out, although it is possible to find enough examples to make the case in front of those unfamiliar with Western musical history. Like actors, politicians and others obliged to face the public on a regular basis, musicians probably have their fair share of emotional problems. However, such problems do not constitute evidence of neuroticism.

Musicians probably have their fair share of emotional problems.

Beethoven was known for his moodiness, but this was probably closely related to his growing frustration as he began to go deaf. Among the famous composers, only Schumann and MacDowell ended up in mental institutions. Musicians probably have no more suicidal impulses than the rest of the population. But should a prominent musician decide to take his life, it is likely to get a good deal of publicity.

Perhaps the most morbid suicide was planned by the pianist Alexander Kelberine, who arranged his last concert programme to consist only of works dealing with death. He then went home and took an overdose of sleeping pills. Schumann jumped into the Rhine, only to be rescued by a fisherman. Rezso Seress composed Gloomy Sunday, a work that was once banned in Europe because it triggered a wave of suicides by young people on Sundays. Seress himself committed suicide by jumping out of a window. The vast majority of musicians, however, die of causes that reflect the state of medical knowledge in the particular historical period in which they live.

Some musicians certainly had sad lives. Mozart, perhaps the greatest of the composers in the Classical Period of music, died a pauper. The pianist Chopin, a Polish nationalist and tormented lover, was terrified of large audiences. He died of tuberculosis when he was 39. Bizet, a French composer who died when he was 36, was beset by crises of self-confidence and emotional upheaval. Unlike Chopin, his works only achieved widespread recognition after his death.

Wagner had the emotional maturity of a spoilt child.

George Gershwin only had a short life, but it was a good one. He died of a brain tumor when he was 39 after a rags to riches story that made him one of the most well known composers of popular music in the United States.

Others lived long and had much success, despite treating others abominably, including many of their friends. Wagner considered himself a genius as a playwright, poet, stage director, and philosopher as well as a composer, and was not shy about letting others know it! Although not particularly handsome, his personal magnetism was such that he had numerous affairs, usually with married women, despite the fact that he was married himself. His biographers describe him as having the emotional maturity of a spoilt child, complete with tantrums if he could not get his way. He died at the age of 70, widely acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of his time.

The pianist Franz Liszt's dashing good looks enabled him to have numerous affairs with many woman. He died of pneumonia at the age of 75. Contrast this with the fate of Schubert, who was short, fat, bespectacled and naturally shy. He died of syphilis at the age of 31 after his friends encouraged him to visit a brothel. Those who knew him well described him as having a warm and friendly nature. Somehow, it doesn't sound fair.

The life of J.S. Bach must have been very boring.

The majority of musicians now and in the past lead fairly quiet lives. Edward Elgar, a largely self-taught musician, rose from humble origins to become the first English composer in 200 years to gain international acclaim. He had a stable marriage, and was regarded by many as a typical English gentleman. He died at the age of 77. Sergei Rachmaninov, the Russian composer, also had a good life despite being out of step with his country's politics and music. He died at the age of 70.

The life of J.S. Bach must have been the most boring of all. He spent almost his entire life in the same small region of Germany where he was born. And nobody took much notice of him either. It was not until about 80 years after his death that his works attracted the attention they deserved.

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