Sore WisJer! : Nyanyian Sebuah Perjalanan

In the afternoon of June 30^th 2020, Sore, WisJer! premiered on Instagram Live. This format is designed as a live discussion revolving around culture, art and the people behind it. Memes Prameswari, who her friends also call Memes, was our special guest for the first edition of Sore WisJer! with the topic “Nyanyian Sebuah Perjalanan”, which invited the participants to follow Memes journey on the way to become a professional singer.

It all started as a hobby for Memes until her mother encouraged her to participate in a singing audition as part of the talent show X-Factor. Memes who was only 18 years old by the time felt she was not ready to participate in a singing competition because for her it was very different from just singing at events. However, due to the persistent support of her mother eventually Memes decided to register for X-Factor in 2015 and made it into the final round as a member of the vocal group Classy, which was formed by the X-Factor jury after the audition rounds. Under the mentorship of famous Indonesian singer Rossa, Memes had the opportunity to learn a lot about among others the music industry, choreography, vocal technique and attitude as a professional singer.

After X-Factor Memes found another opportunity as a solo singer (sinden) at the Opera Van Java, a highly popular Indonesian TV show. Once again she had to step out of her comfort zone when she had to perform Javanese songs which to a large extent belong to the traditional genre keroncong. Luckily she once again had a very experienced mentor in renowned singer Dewi Gita who helped her to learn how to sing keroncong and to gain a better understanding about the cultural norms for this art form.

Memes also shared with the audience that in 2019 she experienced the lowest point in her developing career as an aspiring singer. After she finished her studies and published her first single as a solo singer, some things didn’t turn out as expected. From this experience Memes learned that even though we are able to realize our dreams, we still have be remain realistic in our expectations.

As the closing act of the first Sore, WisJer! Memes performed “Wenn sie tanzt” by her favorite German singer, Max Kissinger, playing the piano and singing the song about the struggles of a mother.