Success in Indonesia’s entertainment industry isn’t as easy as it looks. Everyone who has dreamt of it has gone through many struggles and sacrifices. It can be much more difficult, especially for people from certain provinces like Papua Province, considered a lagging province.
Not many people that are initially from Papua or have Papua blood managed to get success in Jakarta due to some circumstances. But, Albert Fakdawer is an exception. He is Papua’s blood actor and singer who started his career by starring in the movie “Denias, Senandung Di Atas Awan.” This movie became a box office hit in Indonesia, raising his popularity.
These are profiles of Albert Fakdawer to get to know about him.
He spent His Childhood in Jakarta
Albert Thom Joshua Fakdawer, popular as Albert Fakdawer was born in Jakarta on June 29, 1993. He is the fourth child of six siblings. Even Though he was born in Jakarta, he and his siblings originally have Papua blood they inherited from their parents.
Albert spent his childhood in Jakarta. Not much information about his education during his childhood. He only knew doing his study went at SMP Negeri 2 Ciputat for his middle school education. Then, he continued his study at SMA Negeri 1 Ciputat.
Started His Career As Singer
Since he was a little boy, he liked to sing and dreamt of being a successful singer. He also wanted to contribute to Indonesia’s music industry. To achieve this dream, he participated in the AFI Junior competition first season in 2004 and won second place.
After this competition, Albert started to make his path in Indonesia’s music industry by releasing some singles and albums. In 2020, he released a song with the title “Embun Pagi.” This song was originally his father’s song, Musa Fakdawer, already on the Trio Penabur Album (1997). He released this song in the hope of continuing the work journey of the Fakdawer family.
“Embun Pagi ” is a song that expresses the beauty of nature that God has given. Albert hoped that after listening to this song, people could do some reflection and show more appreciation for nature’s beauty that God already created for us.
His Popularity Rise After Played in the Movie “Denias, Senandung di Atas Awan”
After exploring many experiences in the music world, Albert still didn’t feel satisfied. He still wanted to explore another career in the entertainment industry, especially acting, which he had dreamt of for a long time. Albert started his acting career by playing in the movie “Denias, Senandung di Atas Awan, ” released in 2006. In this movie, he played the main character named Denias.
This movie itself tells a story about a boy from Papua who struggles to get a decent education. Even though this movie was his first experience in his acting career, Albert already gave impressive acting that impressed the audience. As a result, this movie got a huge success and even won some awards at the Indonesia Film Festival 2006.
Not only that, but Albert’s impressive acting also led him to get an award as “Best Male Lead” at Indonesia Film Festival 2006 and an award as “Best Newcomer Actor” at Indonesia Movie Awards 2007. This huge success raised his popularity which attracted many producers to ask him to join their movies. But, after starring in this movie, he decided to focus on being a musician. The last movie he starred in was Doea Tanda Cinta, released in 2015.
Still Active as a Singer
After his huge success in the movie “Senandung di Atas Awan ”, Albert chose to live a career as a musician as he did previously. He still sings recently but mostly for off-air shows. The last time he was seen doing live performances was when he participated in the opening of PON or Pekan Olahraga Nasional Papua in 2021 with other Papua musicians.
Albert also still actively released some new songs and albums. His last album was the album “Hymn with Gratitude” which he released on May 28, 2021. It is a spiritual album that Albert produced and arranged by himself. He also asked other musicians to collaborate by making it into the new format “Albert and Friends” in this album.
The album “Hymn with Gratitude” contains songs that express gratitude towards God. Albert also wanted to deliver music that had an “Eastern Indonesia” feel through this album. Moreover, this music could bring the listener to imagine the beauty of beaches, mountains, and valleys on the eastern island of Indonesia.
Being successful is right for everyone. It applies to everyone from Papua or has Papua blood; they usually get bad stigmas from others. Through Albert’s works, He already proves that Papua has so many talented people who need to get more appreciation and be given a chance to succeed. Albert should be a good example that others Papuans also can be as successful as him.
