Musical life at an early stage
About Mary
My father taught me to play guitar when I was little and this started my love for music. As a singer I have performed many years in Jakarta and Bali at the popular music bar “The Jaya Pub”. I wrote and recorded my own music and I’m very excited to share my first video clips.
Bill Dalton about Mary in the Bali Advertiser
Mary was born, of a Javanese mother and Moluccan father, in the small country village of Hardenberg in the east of Holland in 1962. Her father had been a member of the Dutch Colonial Army (KNIL) and after Indonesia’s independence former KNIL soldiers and their families were forced out of Java when it fell under the control of Indonesia. In 1951, a total of 12,500 were transferred to the Netherlands where they were housed in provisional camps socially and physically isolated from Dutch society.
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Both the Indonesians and the Dutch government believed that the exiles would return in a couple of months, but it wasn’t until the end of the 1960s, while Mary was still a little girl, that the family emigrated to Java, moving eventually to the Kei Islands. Life was tough; at times Mary wore torn clothes and the family didn’t have enough to eat. One of her new songs is about a young girl in Saparua who keeps herself alive by singing for a living. This experience was torn from the pages of Mary’s own life.
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Mary’s musical life began at an early age
The family finally settled in Sorong in Papua in 1972. Mary’s musical life began at an early age when her father taught her to sing and play guitar in the church and in school choirs, winning several singing competitions. When her father passed away in 1983, Mary supported herself by making mosquito nets and giving guitar lessons to young children while she studied economics at university.
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Mary arrived in Jakarta in 1989 where she performed with The Crown band in the nightclubs of Jakarta and Bandung. In 1991, the internationally acclaimed Jakarta live music venue Jaya Pub invited her to sing. When the Jaya Pub opened a branch in Kuta in 1992, Mary moved to Bali and on her own and in duet with other singers became the voice of Jaya Pub Bali during the Golden Years from 1992 to 1996 when south Bali enjoyed a vibrant nightlife. On saturday nights you could hardly walk through the crowds of tourists, expats and locals.
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A tropical mix of Moluccan and Papua elements
At the end of 1995 Mary returned to Amsterdam where she continued to sing professionally at private parties and pasar malams. It was at this point that Mary started to compose her own Indonesian and English material, a tropical mix of Moluccan and Papua elements with a little dash of Dutch.
My songs
From the east to the west Indonesia inspires my songs.
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Singing in Bali
This is me singing at the Jaya Pub Bali during the golden nineties.
Video Recording
At the beach in Bali for the video recording of my clip "Nona Jacoba".
Friends for life
Life is so much more fun sharing precious moments and inspiration with friends.
