Independent in Indonesia

Padang Moonrise is a must-have for those interested in the post-colonial music scene

Interest in recorded music, led by DJs and “crate-diggers”, has shone a light on some fascinating popular music genres over the past 20-odd years. Soundway Records, set up by Miles Claret in the UK, released its first compilation in 2002 on Afrobeat, funk and fusion from Ghana in the 1970s, and since then has released compilations on African, Caribbean, Latin and Asian music (mainly focusing on the period from 1950s to 1980s, when popular genres were being created by newly independent countries).

Claret, who used to live in Bali, hit the DJ decks at Studio Lam some years back and told me during a break that he was keen to make a compilation on Indonesian popular music. It has taken some time, but the new release from the record label, Padang Moonrise – The Birth Of The Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-69), will be of great interest to fans of Southeast Asian popular music. The album was released on Nov 25 in vinyl and download formats.

Indonesia is a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and 1,300 distinct ethnic groups. The republic includes the islands of Java, Bali, Sumatra, Sulawesi and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Astonishingly, more than 700 languages are spoken in the country.

Following Japanese occupation and a declaration of independence in 1945, the republic came into existence in 1949. By the early 1950s, the government decided that it needed to foster a pan-Indonesian identity, and music was a good way to do this. During this period new forms of urban entertainment — hiburan — “paralleled historic shifts in national politics, economics and culture”, according to Andrew Weintraub, who wrote the excellent liner notes and is the author of Dangdut Stories – A Social And Musical History Of Indonesia’s Most Popular Music (OUP, 2010).

Weintraub notes that both the state and private record companies worked to cultivate the “sound of unity in diversity” (bhinneka tunggal ika). During the Sukaharno regime (1945-67), Western

music was banned and local genres were encouraged (a similar process was introduced in some African countries in Central and West Africa in the 1960s) and “racy” Western dances were also banned (bands that transgressed sometimes ended up in jail). The result of this deliberate cultural policy was to force musicians to be creative and innovative, to focus on local instruments like the gambus (a lute, originally from Yemen) and kroncong, a ukulele-style small guitar.

And while Western music was banned on the airwaves, expatriate Indonesians brought music back from the Netherlands and Europe, even rock’n’roll, and Latin music waves of the 50s (mambo, rumba, cha cha cha and especially the bolero) sneaked into the new musical hybrids that musicians were creating. That said, the new urban sounds combined local elements like gamelan from Bali and Java, gambus-driven Orkes Melayu, and many kinds of regional folk music with Western rhythms and melodies. Producers made recordings that featured the new national language Bahasa Indonesia, but they were also smart enough to release records in regional languages, too. Jakarta was home to large groups of immigrants from different parts of the archipelago (an example is minang music from West Sumatra, represented here by the wonderful band Zaenal Combo, and these songs, like some molam and luk thung songs, describe the hardships of life in the big city far away from home).

The 27 tracks here are amazing in their diversity and hybridity, as they range from opening dreamy crooner

Bulan Dagoan to experimental

Gumbira (with soaring voice and throat vibrato like a Thai luk thung singer’s

luk khor) and the vibraphone-led

Djaleuleudja that would make a great soundtrack for a 1950s sci-fi TV series. Then there is the dangdut-like Geleang Sapi, which has the same groove as early luk thung songs. Throughout the album, great vocal harmonies and call and response vocals (from dikir and orkes melayu) feature, some no doubt influenced by US doo-wop groups but probably more influenced by the call and response singing of orkes melayu bands (recordings of which were released from the 1930s onwards).

But the biggest Western influence on these songs to me seems to be Latin, although often with the addition of gamelan percussion. My two favourites are Tak Ton Tong and Emplek, Emplek Ketepu by Orkes Teruna Ria, which have a Cuban feel to them. I have long been a fan of Orkes Melayu bands and Ya Mahmud, with its funny English refrain “I love you Mr Mahmud” has that unmistakeable Arabic groove that drives the song.

Folk songs (lagu rakyat) are also represented here but in the form of children’s songs. They are a revelation. Weintraub says that the songs provide instructions on how to behave properly in society, often set to Caribbean or Latin rhythms. The album also features a 1960s beat group dancefloor filler, Ka Huma by Nilakreshna.

This is a must-have compilation for fans of popular music from this region. I’m still working through each track again and making new discoveries each time I listen. An excellent package with extensive notes and plenty of illustrations.

Weintraub notes that the Indonesian recording industry began in the early years of the 20th century when field recordists and producers like Fred Gaisberg of the Gramophone Company who made recordings in Indonesia in 1903. One ethnomusicologist estimated that some 18,500 recordings were issued before 1942, but the modern industry only began after independence and the emergence of independent record labels, like the first company, Irama, which began operations in 1951. Readers who want to connect the modern period with the early days of recording should also check out Indonesian tracks on the 4-CD set, Longing For The Past: The 78rpm Era In Southeast Asia (Dust-to-Digital, 2014).

Padang Moonrise is an essential compilation for fans of Indonesian popular music — highly recommended.