The title is an excerpt from an Indonesian song called “Intermezzo” by legendary artist Iwan Fals, translated into English. This is the actual lyric

Bosan kadang singgah di jiwa yang lelah

This kind of lyricism is rare in the Indonesian music scene, most of them exist within a religious context, not spiritually. There is seldom Indonesian music that deals with existentialism that much, so it’s very reassuring to find one. I am not saying that the entirety of the song talks about existentialism or its philosophy, it also includes social observation; which is identical to Iwan Fals’ songwriting.

The entirety of the song is very minimalistic in its instrument, only using an acoustic guitar. At the beginning of the song, Iwan talks about the night and how it differs between him and other people. A very introspective and basic guitar strum carried the rest of his details about the night, about how there is one moon and thousands of stars, about how loud a footstep can be in the middle of the quiet night. Next, he talks about drunkard and how their problem just goes away after a thousand gulp. All of these combined, have transported us into nighttime.

An intermezzo is a short orchestral piece, often heard in between acts of an opera. Intermezzo in this sense is the night; a short period between acts of life. It resonates with me so much, on what’s happening now and then. The song, especially that part of the lyrics, helps to reassure me about life, about how it’s okay to take a rest and zone out. In this era where everything seems to move quickly, bad news seems to rise each second, and humanity seems bleak, use the night to introspect between why these things are happening and whether are they really happening? Sometimes bad news acts like bad thoughts, it is easy to get overpowered and fooled by it, and it even unknowingly creates fear of feeling or having positive thoughts.

Whatever thoughts you have, I believe they need to be communicated in the correct ways. For example, I’ll balance things out by communicating using written and spoken forms. I’ll talk to someone very close to me about my feelings and thoughts if they trust me to; and not to hurt their feelings (which is often, very hard). In case I have that kind of feeling that I know is not necessary — or yapping as they called it — I will write them down in my journal.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you will have a nice day <3

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