The Swara Wadhana Student Choir of UNY won as the Grand Prix Winner at the 2022 Bandung Choral Festival competition at Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung. This competition is a collaboration between the Bandung Choral Society and the Indonesian National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of BNN.The 2022 Bandung Choral Festival juries are experts and experienced figures in the choir world, including Catharina Leimena, Avip Priatna, Arvin Zeinullah, Hwang Hwa Sook and Daud Kosasih.
PSM Swara Wadhana sent 39 active UNY students and participated in the mixed choir category with 17 other teams. At the category competition stage, the choir team with conductor Lukas Gunawan Arga Rakasiwi performed the song Mars BNN as a mandatory song and Atsalums as a free song. Arga revealed that “ Atsalum” has a high level of musicality, so it also received a high score from the judges. Atsalums arranged by Jékabs Janćevskis with a background in Latvian folk music.
PSM Swara Wadhana confirmed itself as the Winner of the Category with a final score of 88.33 and was entitled to the Grand Prix competition. “The challenge is the limited training time, so you have to work hard. Moreover, we are also preparing the team for other competitions, so we must organize our time well. Another challenge is taking care everyone health during the current pandemic," said Arga.
The Grand Prix Round is a competition between the “Winner of Category” participants or the choir recommended by the judges. PSM Swara Wadhana competed with 4 other teams in this round, namely BNN Kota Jakarta Utara (Jiep Simfoni), Sam Ratulangi Universiy Choir, Flobamora BNN NTT, and Medan Community Mixed Choir BNNP Sumut.
In the PSM Grand Prix, Swar Wadhana sang Mate Saule, composed by Pēteris Vasks and Jékabs Janćevskis. These two songs led PSM Swara Wadhana as the winner of the 2022 Bandung Choral Festival Grand Prix. In addition, PSM Swara Wadhana also received special jury awards, namely the Conductor Award and Excellent Interpretation for Contemporary Piece. Arga said that entering the Grand Prix was a bonus for the team's efforts and hard work. Arga also hopes that the Swara Wadhana choir will achieve more and support BNN in drug abuse prevention programs.
The coach of PSM Swara Wadhana UNY Driyastuti Yogyaningrum was happy with this achievement. “I am very grateful and happy with the results that I got because it can make UNY and BNNP Yogyakarta proud at the national level. Our target is to get a gold medal, but we also try our best through song selection and stage performances. This result also exceeded our target due to getting a special award. Hopefully, this result can increase the enthusiasm of Swara Wadhana members in the next competitions," said Driyastuti.
