Why in the world a person from Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia, -not so artistic one, would eager to watch Aida in her lifetime? I mean, spending dozens of dollar to purchase the ticket was something considered a waste for a poor student like me at that time. But, why I was so keen to do so, spending some of the money I collected with sweat (well, working as a cleaning service could cause someone to perspire), to watch an opera that I bet, not so many people would have the interest to watch?
Easy, I tell you why. I used to fill too many crosswords in Kompas Sundays long long time ago back home. Many times I found (by learning week by week), that "the name of the opera written by Verdi", is AIDA. Who's Verdi? Who's Aida? What is opera? I totally had no idea back then. I was just happy that finally I would not have to leave the space for the four letter boxes empty anymore. I knew the word: AIDA.
I wasn't that obsessed with Aida, but indeed I was very hungry about any kind of information: I didn't have many books, I read my father's books; I read newspapers; I read magazines, anything I could get in my sight. So when the internet era came, I was soooo.... relieved, imagine, the world of information, all unfolded in front of me, on the screen of a computer! That's where I started to learn about Aida further. That it's about the story of people in Egypt. Below is the short synopsis from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aida):
"Overview: Aida, an Ethiopian princess, is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, Radamès is loved by the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris, although he does not return her feelings".
Well, to short the story, I watched Aida that cold winter night in Melbourne Arts Centre. I loved it. It's like, one of my childhood dreams came true. The dream was revealed to me that cold winter night.
