1. Indonesian great composer Amir Pasaribu (1915-2010)
2.. Ananda Sukarlan in magazines and internet this month
3.. Website of foundations on classical music (Spain & Indonesia)

1. The composer Amir Pasaribu died yesterday, February 10th at his home in Medan. Ananda Sukarlan has been, and will always be a staunch supporter of his music, playing it in many concerts around the world and recorded them on CD. As the only Indonesian pianist who has learned profoundly all his music, he wrote in his blog about his first (and unfortunately last) meeting with Amir Pasaribu (only in Indonesian) : http://andystarblogger.blogspot.com/2009/02/bersua-dengan-amir-pasaribu.html .

Rest in peace, Maestro Amir Pasaribu. Your music will live forever.

2. This month of February Ananda Sukarlan is featured in several publications. He is interviewed by the online magazine QB Headlines. There are many interesting and new things which would be useful for his fans and those who follow his music and activities closely. It can be read at (only in Indonesian) : http://qbheadlines.com/lifestyle_bwh.php?aid=332&flag=1&tid=332&cat=7

Apart from it, Ananda is featured as the profile of the month in 2 Indonesian magazines : Esquire Indonesia (the Indonesian franchise of the world famous ESQUIRE Magazine) and Majalah Noor. Both articles are in Indonesian, where Ananda talks about his activities, both musical and related to humanity projects. They are available in the bookstores and kiosks near you throughout Indonesia.

3.. The website for the Indonesian Classical Music Foundation (Yayasan Musik Sastra Indonesia) has been launched ! You're welcome to visit us at www.musik-sastra.com .

Our foundation endeavors to facilitate the access of classical music to underpriviliged people : giving scholarships and alocating a number of seats in classical music concerts in Jakarta (for now; we hope we can extend this project to other cities) for children who usually couldn't afford to buy the tickets.

We are planning a sisterhood project with another foundation in Spain, Fundacion Musica Abierta (www.fundacionmusicabierta.com) which deals with music for disabled people. Its founder is Mme. Rosa Iglesias, and patrons for this foundation include the Nobel prizewinner for literature Jose Saramago and the great Spanish tenor Jose Carreras.

Happy Chinese New Year ! Let's welcome the Tiger with great strength and optimism !