. W.R. Soepratman's father was Sergeant Djoemeno Senen Sastrosoehardjo, a
KNIL soldier, and his mother was Siti Senen. Soepratman was born Wage on 9 March 1903 in
Jatinegara,
Jakarta. Several months later, his father added Soepratman to his name and explained that he was born in
Meester Cornelis,
Batavia. Soepratman was the seventh of nine children. His eldest sibling was Rukiyem Supratiyah van Eldik. At the age of 6, he entered Budi Utomo elementary school in Cimahi. After his father retired, Wage followed his sister Rukiyem to
Makassar, where he began attending a
Europeesche Lagere School (ELS) in 1914. It was then when Rudolf was added to his name, so that his rights would be equal to the Dutch. However, he was asked to leave the school after it was revealed that he was not of European descent. He continued his studies in a Malay language school. After returning home, he learned to play guitar and violin. His brother-in-law,
Willem Mauritius van Eldik, gave him a violin as a seventeenth birthday present in 1920. After graduating from Malay language school in 1917, Wage attended Dutch language courses and graduated in 1919. In 1920, he and van Eldik founded a jazz-styled band, called Black & White. He played the violin. They performed at weddings and birthday parties in Makassar. Beginning in July 1933, Wage started to feel ill. In November 1933, he resigned as a journalist at
Sin Po and settled first in Cimahi, then
Palembang, and finally in
Surabaya. On 17 August 1938, he died at 01.00 a.m. and was buried in Kenjeran, Surabaya. On 13 March 1956, his remains were moved to Tambak Segaran Wetan cemetery. ==Indonesia Raya==