Indonesian music has been blasting from the World Beat sound system during the past few weeks, mainly from two excellent compilations: Early Popular Music Of Indonesia (Office Sambinha, 2013, Japan) and Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk: 1970-1978 (Now Again Records, USA, 2010).
Those Shocking, Shaking Days.
I found the Early Popular Music Of Indonesia double CD compilation in Japan on my trip there late last year. Some of the larger music chain stores often have Southeast Asian music displays and sub-sections in their World Music sections, where I found not only this compilation but others of Thai, Burmese and Vietnamese music.
Compiled by Katsunori Tanaka, this is a fascinating collection of 50 songs that range from early takes on Western styles such as tango, mambo and cha cha cha, to localised popular styles like kroncong, Orkes Melayu (my favourite and the forerunner of Indonesia’s most popular style, dangdut) as well as local acoustic styles (a bit like Cambodian chappay music). Most of these early styles are on CD1. There are more surprises from the 50s and 60s on CD2, with some rock ‘n’ roll. A splendid example is Aku Rindu by Koes Bersaudara. There’s even a catchy “girl group” song, Mari Mari by Dara Puspita. The late great P. Ramlee, a huge, influential star in Indonesia and his home country Malaysia, is represented with one song, Ba’idah. There is also a Malay bangsawan track, which echoes back to the itinerant music shows that travelled from Malaysia to perform in Thailand in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Aspects of their shows and singing styles later influenced, as I understand, popular Thai musical shows like likay.
Listen through the 50 songs offered here and you’ll begin to appreciate just how many different styles of popular music there are in the multi-ethnic archipelago that is Indonesia. But I have to admit my main interest in the compilation was the presence of some rare and wonderful Orkes Melayu tracks. Ya Mahmud by Munif and Orkes Kelana Ria and Disuatu Masa by Hasnah Tahar and Orkes Melayu Bukit Siguntang are two that jumped out from the track list. Both have that inimitable Orkes Melayu sound, flush with hard percussion, blasts of Cairo strings and haunting vocals. But the killer son for me — and one that I keep playing — is Muzalifah by A. Kadir (a big star in his day) and his Orkes Sinar Kemala, which features trance-like vocals, whirring Cairo strings and a chorus. A wonderful compilation that is quite hard to find but well worth the trouble. My only complaint is that the copious liner notes, accompanied by black and white photos from early recording artists, are only available in Japanese.
While I’m not a great fan of rock music, as long-time readers know, Those Shocking, Shaking Days features hard rock songs and a style I believe is now called psych-funk (hard rock-meets-funk) from the bustling music scene in Jakarta and other major cities in the 70s, that are pretty good.
Some of the bands featured on the compilation began as underground, often radical, acts in the 60s, when imported Western music and local rock bands were banned. They played clandestine gigs and recorded when they could. The Koes Brothers (later known as Koes Plus) were “hassled” by authorities when they played live shows in the 60s, but emerged in the 70s as one of the biggest rock acts in the country. The band is featured on the track Mobil Tua. The hard rock on the album was inspired by Western rock acts like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, which is heard in full flight on two tracks by AKA, Shake Me and Do What You Like.
The tracks I liked, though, were those that incorporated local or unusual elements and, of course, funk. Panthum Lama by Murray, for instance, begins with a catchy ska-like beat before guitars join in and rock it up, while Rollies on Bad News does his best impersonation of James Brown, to great effect. The latter is definitely one for the dance floor.
A fascinating compilation with extended liner notes, track details and a potted history of the era’s music, plus lots of photos of geezers with long hair — worth it for the liner notes alone.
The writer of this column can be contacted at: clewley.john@gmail.com
Early Popular Music Of Indonesia.
