Berita Kepada Kawan - News To My Friends - Ebiet G Ade's song, Performed by Stanley Power

This is a masterpiece from Ebiet G Ade, the best Indonesian contemporary singer song writer from Jogya.

It was written in 1979, his most famous song: "Berita Kepada Kawan" (News For My Friends) which depicted the impending Aceh Tsunami disaster December 2004. Also shone a light on the environmental destruction that has been happening in Indonesia.

Ebiet G. Ade - Berita kepada kawan

Perjalanan ini terasa sangat menyedihkan
Sayang, engkau tak duduk di sampingku kawan
Banyak cerita yang mestinya kau saksikan
Di tanah kering berbatuan

Tubuh ku terguncang di hempas batu jalanan
Hati tergetar menampak kering rerumputan
Perjalan ini pun seperti jadi saksi
Gembala kecil menangis sedih

Kawan coba dengar apa jawabnya
Ketika ia ku tanya "Mengapa?"
Bapak ibunya telah lama mati
Ditelan bencana tanah ini

Sesampainya di laut ku khabarkan semuanya
Kepada karang, kepada ombak, kepada matahari
Tetapi semua diam, tetapi semua bisu
Tinggal aku sendiri terpaku menatap langit

Barangkali di sana ada jawabnya
Mengapa di tanahku terjadi bencana

Mungkin Tuhan mulai bosan melihat tingkah kita
Yang selalu salah dan bangga dengan dosa-dosa
Atau alam mulai enggan bersahabat dengan kita
Coba kita bertanya pada rumput yang bergoyang

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ebiet G. Ade -- News To My Friends

This is a very sad journey,
Friends, it's a pity you are not by my side,
There are many stories you have to witness,
In this parched and stoney land.

My body is shaken by the hard road,
My heart is trembling looking at the dried grass,
The road is also my witness
As the little sheperd boy crying sadly.

Hey friend, listen to his reply,
When I asked him "why"
His parents have died long ago,
Swallowed by the natural disaster of this land.

When I reached the sea, I told all of them
To the coral, to the waves, and to the sun,
But all them was silent, all of them was tongue tied,
Leaving me alone to stare at the sky.

Maybe I can find the asnwer there,
Why my country always suffered from calamity.

Maybe God is bored with our behaviour,
Of our wrongs and how we are proud of our sins,
Maybe Mother Nature is reluctant to be our friend again
Let us ask the swaying grass.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Performed by Stanley Power

[dandelionjp]

I've never heard this song before, PGG.. but gosh, what a sad, sad song!

The Tsunami pictures.. the faces of pain and eyes filled with hoplessness.. THIS, s a very powerful song, PGG!! Thank you for introducing it to me.. terima kasih, 'bang!

[stanleypower]

@dandelionjp Hiya Pardner, yes. This is such a great song. This is the second of my Trilogy Tribute to the great Ebiet. Next one is a beautiful love song. it will come soon. - Stanley

[iwasteourtime]

I'm starting to really like Ebiet G Ade. He has such wonderful songs and an awesome person to do covers of them. ^_^

[stanleypower]

@iwasteourtime Hiya Wobbit, you are turning into a "Nan Yang De Hua Qiao" for liking Indonesian songs. There is another one in the knapsack - PG

[flashd1sk]

terrible