Fariz to launch book on his life

Wed, 01/14/2009 8:43 AM | Lifestyle

JAKARTA: Singer-songwriter Fariz RM is stepping back into the spotlight but not with a new song. This time, he has turned out a book.

The musician has written a book about all the events in his life which, he said, inspired his songs.

He said the book, to be published by Kompas-Gramedia in March, is not a typical autobiography but a compilation of his thoughts on some 60 different life events, which he drew on for his compositions. "It's not a biography. For me a biography is boring. Most people remember only the very sparkling moments in their life no matter whether these moments were good or bad," he said.

"It's a long work that I have been preparing since early in my career. But I chose only those *events* that really shook me up. I believe there is something behind every song that people deserve to know."

Fariz, whose full name is Fariz Rustam Munaf, was born on Jan. 5, 1961. During his musical career he gathered an adoring fan base with eclectic, old-school hit songs such as "Sakura" and "Barcelona".

Fariz wrote the whole book himself. Budianto Shambazy and Salomo Simanungkalit, two senior journalists with Kompas newspaper, helped with the editing. we wanted publish the book on my birthday but because we want it to be perfect, we delayed the launch until March," he said. - JP/Matheos V. Messakh