You know, right, that Lupus is not only a student in Merah Putih High School but also a freelance journalist for Hai Magazine? Well, that’s why he’s feeling so bored right now, listening to this jazz music at the Open Air event for teenagers. And to make it worse, he’s sitting right next to a high-powered loudspeaker. The shrill sounds coming out of it go straight into Lupus’s ears without any filter.
Lupus is stuck among all these high school teenagers and can’t escape from there. And in moments like this, he truly feels overwhelmed by his profession as a journalist. From his seat, he can’t freely move around to take good pictures to complement the news article he’s going to write. It feels a bit awkward for him to ask the teenagers in front of him to let him through so he can position himself near the stage to take photos.
The problem is, earlier he got annoyed when he just arrived and wanted to go up to the stage to take close-up shots of the singer. A staff member scolded him loudly, “Hey, kid! What are you doing up there? Naughty, huh. Come down!” Lupus was really annoyed to be called a kid. Well, that person doesn’t know that I’m a journalist! Lupus grumbled. And he became even more annoyed when a young man wearing an organizer badge told him to stay away from the area where the jazz artists were. Did they think he wanted autographs or something?
That’s why now he prefers to sit quietly in the crowd like the rest of the teenagers. He can’t enjoy the music being played. He feels really stupid. A journalist acting like this? And he’s confused about what to write in his article later. Lupus was initially hesitant when Mas Wendo, the editor-in-chief of Hai Magazine, asked him to cover the Open Air jazz event. The problem is, he doesn’t understand jazz and doesn’t really like it. But instead of refusing, he decided to give it a try.
And now he’s really bored. Not because he regrets coming here, but he didn’t expect it to be this ear-shattering. Suddenly, a girl sitting next to him complains. The music is on a break, so the atmosphere calms down. Many other spectators sitting close to the loudspeaker, just like Lupus, breathe a sigh of relief, reassuring themselves that their ears aren’t deaf yet.
“Ugh, I need to pee. How do I get out of here?” the girl says. Lupus, who was lost in thought, blurts out, “Just pee here. There’s plenty of grass around…”
“Ew, no way! I’m afraid of getting caught!” the girl grins.
“Afraid of getting caught or afraid of being seen by me?” Lupus challenges.
“Do you really want to see? If so, I’ll make an exception!” the girl replies, grinning back.
Meanwhile, the guy next to Lupus joins in and asks, “Hey, by the way, have they been playing different songs or the same one over and over again?”
Lupus is surprised by the question. Luckily, the guy doesn’t know that Lupus is a music journalist.
“I don’t know. Hey, earlier you and your friends were nodding your heads. Thought you knew the song…?” Lupus asks back.
“Know? No way, I just pretended!”
“Huh? Then why were you nodding like that earlier?”
“Well… just following the crowd. Let’s bet that they also have no idea what song was playing just now. They’re just trying to look cool. Funny thing is, there are some who pretend to bring their partners here. They pay the entrance fee just to make their partners think they have a high taste in music. But that’s normal. We’re teenagers after all…”
“Yeah, that’s true. I realized that too. We only came here to follow our friends,” their friend next to them agrees.
Lupus starts to think. So, what are they looking for by watching this? He thought he was the only one who didn’t understand the music being played. Turns out, they all feel the same way! No wonder the audience claps like it’s choreographed. If one person claps, everyone else follows. It’s funny how some people look at their friends first before clapping along.
“If they played some light jazz like Whitney Houston or Michael Frank, that would be fine. I like that. But this, it’s just the musicians having fun on their own. With all their improvisations. Meanwhile, the audience is whispering prayers, hoping the song will end soon. Hoping that the next song will be more enjoyable. If they even recognize it. It seems like the musicians are playing for themselves…” another girl adds her comment.
Meanwhile, the music starts playing again. And the audience starts their little dance again. Nodding their heads and shaking their legs. Lupus becomes interested in the conversation of the teenagers next to him. They seem to represent all the teenagers who have flooded the afternoon stage. Lupus feels like he’s onto something. Something that could be the subject of his writing. Something that other journalists might not have thought of. The result might not be great, but Lupus will give it a try.
A few weeks later, various magazines report about the music performance. Even Hai magazine features it. Lupus is the one who wrote the article. But now, he’s busy joking around with Mas Aries, who is busy drawing. The atmosphere in the Hai office is relaxed and enjoyable. That’s why Lupus feels comfortable there. Almost every day after school, while his friends are playing games near the supermarket, Lupus goes to the Hai office. The people who gather here are a mix of unique characters. There are those who love doodling, those who love sleeping under the table, the quiet ones, the ones who love teasing girls, the ones who love singing, laughing, making jokes, and the ones who love drawing all the time. Like Aries here. He claims he came from home to work. He even got permission from his parents. But turns out, when he arrived at the office, he just kept drawing. There’s also Jipi, who loves sticking and cutting paper. This talent was evident when he was in kindergarten. He got a score of eight for his paper folding art. But the downside is that his skin is a bit darker compared to his colleagues. There was even a riddle that became the most popular in this office, and almost everyone there could answer it: ‘Why are Jipi’s socks brown?’ The answer is simple: ‘Because they got stained from his skin…’
“But Jipi wasn’t hurt, he was actually proud.
“Hey, why is everyone laughing? Include me too…” Suddenly, Mas Wendo appeared out of nowhere. He just came from a seminar. It’s unclear what kind of seminar it was. Maybe it was a seminar about ghosts.
“Well, we were actually laughing at you, Mas,” replied Mas Aries with a smirk.
Wendo, who wasn’t prepared to be kicked out immediately, quickly started talking to Lupus. Talking to Lupus was safe. He rarely kicks people out, unless he has to.
“Hey, Lupus. Your article about jazz yesterday was awesome! It was so different from what other magazines have shown. You didn’t talk about the rules of jazz music, you didn’t talk about their playing techniques, about the harmony and rhythm structures, or what they play like fusion, ragtime, blues, or funky. You left all that behind. But what you highlighted was truly from a teenager’s perspective. And that’s great. It made your writing more easily understood. It didn’t come off as preachy. And teenagers your age really enjoy reading the articles you write, without getting confused by the weird terms that most media focus on. You can feel the emotions so deeply because you’re diving into it as a teenager. A teenager observing jazz music. Keep it up, Lupus…”
Lupus was also surprised. He didn’t expect to be praised so much. Because he knew that Mas Wendo rarely compliments people, so if he compliments, it means he really likes it.
You might be wondering what Lupus wrote in his article. It was brief. He just summarized his opinion and the opinions of other teenagers who watched the event. He didn’t criticize the music that was performed, but instead criticized the committee for forcing teenagers to like music that didn’t resonate with their souls. And strangely enough, those teenagers who were fed with it actually liked it. That’s what Lupus wrote. But honestly, he himself wasn’t initially sure if his writing was good. If someone who knows nothing about jazz music is asked to write about jazz, what can they write?
But Lupus is smart enough to extract something valuable from his experience. That something seemingly trivial, sometimes invisible to others, can be very interesting. It’s just a matter of our sensitivity to capture that ‘something’. And this is what motivates Lupus to keep writing. His writing may not influence anything, but it can contribute to expanding the horizons of his teenage readers’ thinking.
The phone rings. Lupus is called. Someone wants to talk to him. Lupus answers.
“Hello, we’re from the jazz Open Air committee yesterday. Thank you for the article you wrote. It means more to us than what most people highlight in other magazines, as a self-correction. You’re right, we can’t force teenagers’ taste. Next time, we’ll organize a similar event, but more tailored to the preferences of teenagers. Can you give us your input? Oh, by the way, there’s another jazz event next month at TIM. Would you like to come? If you do, we’ll send you the invitation….”
Lupus fell silent. Watch jazz again? Oh God, what else can I write this time?
