(p. 253 ) Index
Notes:
(27.) For example, O. M. Kenangan, directed by Husein Aidit, was an extension of O. M. Sinar Medan. O. M. Kenangan included several gambus players from Orkes Gambus Al-waton.
(18.) Syech Albar's connection to dangdut lives on through his family. His son is Ahmad Albar, a pop star of the 1970s who made forays into dangdut. His wife, after the death of Albar, married Djamuluddin Malik, who is the father of dangdut singer Camelia Malik. His grandson married Elvy Sukaesih's daughter Fitria.
(8.) A famous dangdut composer, who refused to be identified, noted that “on television dangdut can only be promoted via Aneka Ria Safari, and not on other shows. [The program] Selekta Pop, which only plays pop, has been closed off to the possibility of dangdut entering there” (“Lebih jauh dengan Rhoma Irama,” 1988).
(2.) The five programs were: Aneka Ria Safari, Aneka Ria Safari Nusantara, Irama Masa Kini, Kamera Ria, Album Minggu, and Panggung Hiburan Anak-Anak.
(28.) Hussein Bawafie notes that in Orkes Gambus Al Wardah, directed by Mochtar Lutfi, for every two Arab-style pieces, they played one Hindustani piece (“Dangdut, Sebuah ‘Flashback,’” 1983, 13).
(15.) Betawi is the Indonesian name for the Dutch “Batavia,” the former name for Jakarta.
(16.) Melayu dances included “Burung Putih” (White Bird) and “Pulau Angsa Dua” (Angsa Dua Island); Betawi dances included “Lenggang-lenggang” (Swaying-Walking) “Kangkung Kicir-kicir,” and “Jali-jali” (Hendrowinoto et al. 1998:65–66). Orkes harmonium also played a mixed repertoire for theatrical productions of sandiwara (by the troupes Dardanela and Dahlia, for example).
(4.) The Betawi ethnic group constitutes the original inhabitants of Batavia, the Indonesian name for the Dutch “Batavia,” the former name for Jakarta (Loven 2008).
(5.) Simatupang's description of the chalte pattern is excellent; I have adapted the naming of the “du-ut” sound from his description. The following explanation is based on Simatupang as well as my lessons with drummers Husein Khan (Jakarta) and Kang Uja (Bandung).
(9.) I have not been able to trace the origin of the term kuraca; initially, I assumed this was from the Spanish dance guaracha, or the song “La Kukaracha,” but the Indonesian rhythm bears no resemblence to these forms. It could be a Spanish-sounding name that Indonesian musicians applied to a 6/8 rhythm; similarly, perhaps musicians chose the Indian-sounding term chalte for the Indian-sounding rhythm described in chapter 3.
(4.) In the 16th century, Deli was a very small polity. The nearest sultanates on the coast of Sumatra were or had been in Aru and Pasai; the major sultanate in Sumatra was in Aceh. During the 17th to the 19th centuries, Deli was an independent state, but was insignificant (Reid 2005, 13). Beginning in the 1860s, Deli was absorbed by the modern city of Medan, one of the major economic centers in the Indies.
(30.) Said Effendi sang 8 songs in the film: “Bimbang dan Ragu” (Worried and Hesitant); “Asmara Dewi” (Dewi's Love); “Potong Padi” (Harvest the Rice); “Nasib Tak Beruntung” (Unlucky Fate); “Utjapan Kasih” (Words of Love); “Hati Terluka” (Wounded Heart) (all composed by Effendi); “Hanja Untukmu” (Only for You) (comp. R. Tobing); and “Seroja” (composed by Husein Bawafie). (“Serodja,” 1959, 19).
(6.) Scholarship on the circulation and reception of Indian film outside India includes Abadzi n.d. (Greece); Armbrust 2008 (Egypt); Behrend 1998 (Kenya); David 2008 (Indonesia); Dhondy 1985 (England); Gopal and Moorti 2008; Hansen 2005 (South Africa); Larkin 2003 and 1997 (Nigeria); Parciack 2008 (Israel); and Ray 2000 (Fiji).
(3.) Majelis Mujahidin is based on the older Darul Islam and Laskar Jihad, from the most fundamentalist wing of the Islamic students' movement. Both are affiliated with transnational radical Islamic networks (Bruinessen 2002). Majelis Mujahidin advocates enactment of Sharia law at the regional level: suppression of “vice,” a ban on the sale of alcohol, forced veiling of women, and restrictions on the movement of women unaccompanied by a male protector (ibid.). Their organization is called the Front for the Defence of Islam (Front Pembela Islam, FPI). FPI's targets include “the Miss Indonesia and Miss Transvestite competitions, the rock band Dewa, Mexican soap operas, the Ahmadiyah and Wahidiyah sects, JIL [The Liberal Islam Network, Jaringan Liberal Islam], and the so-called illegal churches (gereja liar)” (Wilson 2008, 203). Wilson notes that the activities of the FPI are motivated by profit more than morality (2008, 205–06).
(16.) FPI leader Habib Muhammad Riziek Syihab was arrested in June 2008 following an FPI attack on an interfaith rally in Jakarta.
(4.) Rhoma Irama quoted in “Berjuang dalam Goyang” 1989, 17. Other derogatory names used to describe the music (and based on the sounds produced on the gendang) include madun, and bangdun (Elvy Sukaesih, pers. comm., 20 July 2005).
(6.) There is not a fixed or consistent practice for tuning drums. For dangdut recordings, drummers often tune the small drum to the tonic pitch of the song. In live performances, they tune the small drum to the tonic most frequently used by that particular group.
(6.) Dangdut had played a role in elections since at least 1977, when artists were involved in government campaigning. I would like to thank Philip Kitley for alerting me to a newspaper photo with the caption “Artists from the Kampung” showing media personalities H. Oma Irama [Rhoma Irama], Harry Roesli, Benyamin S., Iskak, Kris Biantoro, and Ateng (“Artists from the Kampung” 1977). Both Golkar and the PPP (the Muslim-based United Development Party) used dangdut to mobilize the populace in various election campaigns in 1982 (Frederick 1982, 129).
(14.) Song titles include “Goyang Asoy” (Great Dance), “Goyang Dombret” (Dombret Dance), “Goyang Dangdut” (Dangdut Dance), “Goyang Gosip” (Gossip Dance), “Goyang Karawang” (Karawang Dance), “Goyang Inul” (Inul's Dance), and “Goyang Senggol” (Touching Dance).
(12.) Humor can be seen in the names of bands, which included “The Morality Orchestra of the Petromak Lantern Emission Ray” (“Orkes Moral Pancaran Sinar Petromak,” based at the University of Indonesia); “The Rocking Horse” (“Jaran Goyang,” based at the Fakultas Teknik, Gadjah Mada University); and “The Ugly but Stylish Student Band” (“Orkes Mahasiswa Jelek tapi Setil” [or “OM Jetset”], based at the Psychology Department, Gadjah Mada University), “Dangdut, Setelah Halal di TV-RI” 1979, 51; see also Simatupang 1996, 35–36.
(3.) Managing editor Remy Sylado claimed that the word “dangdut” first appeared in print in Aktuil in 1972 (Pioquinto 1998, 77). But, after reviewing all of the issues for that year, I was not able to find the citation. The first published reference that I have found is in Tempo in 1972: “Melayu songs, which often blend Middle Eastern songs with ‘Dang-Ding-Dut’ India, have an important role to play in Indonesian popular music” (“Dunia Ellya Khadam” 1972, 36).
(1.) Titi Kamal won the 2006 MTV Indonesia movie award for best actress. The film won four 2007 Indonesian Movie Awards, including best supporting actress (Kinaryosih), best duo (Titi Kamal and Kinaryoshi), best singing actor/actress (Titi Kamal), and favorite duo (Titi Kamal and Kinaryoshi).
(13.) A kampung is a neighborhood that can be located in a village, town, or city. However, kampungan does not simply describe a person's living space, but it connotes inferiority, backwardness, nonrefinement, lack of formal education, and a low position in a hierarchical ordering of social classes.
(p. 56 ) (21.) A. K. Gani, a member of the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (Partai Syarikat Islam Indonesia, PSII) used the word “Melayu” to describe music at a kroncong festival in 1938 as a music that had the potential to raise nationalist sentiment (“Satria Berdakwah” 1984, 28).
(13.) Endang Kurnia was trained in the traditional Sundanese art of wayang golek as a young boy. Many of his songs can be described as “ethnic dangdut” because he incorporates ethnic Sundanese elements. For example, he has composed songs with Sundanese themes entitled “Antara Karawang-Jakarta” (Between Karawang and Jakarta), “Neng Odah” (Miss Odah), “Sinden Jaipong” (Jaipongan Singer/Dancer) and “Embah Dukun” (The Old Healer), among others.
(p. 172 ) (3.) Programming at the local level followed the national trends; for example, on TVRI Medan (North Sumatra), a show called Arena Ria, modeled on Aneka Ria Safari, featured dangdut in half of its music programming (ibid.).
(9.) Melayu (or Malay) people inhabit different social, spatial, and temporal realms, which contribute to “varying degrees of Malayness” in the Melayu region (Wee 1985, 13). Notions of these different degrees of identity tend to be diferent in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. For example, Wee notes that definitions of Melayu identity in Malaysia and Singapore tend to be more fixed than in Indonesia (ibid.).
(12.) The Malay language is spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as in East Timor, southern Thailand, Brunei, parts of the Philippines, and Singapore. Malay is one of the official languages of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia. In Indonesia and East Timor, the language is called Bahasa Indonesia, which translates literally as “Indonesian language.”
(9.) Both polls excluded Global TV, which broadcasts numerous music programs (including MTV Asia) that are not specific to genre, as well as the dangdut program Salam Dangdut. I conducted the first informal poll based on the weekly schedule, 5–11 June 2006. The second poll was reported in Irkham 2005.
(18.) According to Bruinessen 1990, all major currents of mainstream Islam were represented in MUI in 1990. But this appears not to be the case twenty years later.
(1.) Dangdut's popularity among the underclass made it particularly ripe for constructing a discourse about music and Indonesian national identity because the underclass constitutes the majority of society. This was noted in the early 1980s (Frederick 1982; Aribowo 1983, 16; “Satria berdakwah” 1984, 28). From an aesthetic point of view, it was ironic that dangdut could be deemed Indonesia's national music, because it was considered “light and not serious” (tak berbodot) (Aribowo 1983, 16).
(12.) The fall of Suharto pointed toward a new era of media freedom characterized by a new press law (1999), granting of four new television licenses (2001–2002), and expansion of radio and the Internet. However, media expansion does not necessarily translate into a democractic society. For example, ownership of television stations was largely in the hands of the state, the Suharto family, and their associates (Sen 2002).
(11.) The March 11, 1966 Order (Supersemar), in which Sukarno gave Suharto full authority to restore order after the Indonesian killings of 1965–66, marks the end of Sukarno's Old Order (Orde Lama) and the beginning of Suharto's New Order (Orde (p. 31 ) Baru). Suharto was named acting president by the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat MPR) on March 12, 1967. He was forced from power and officially resigned on May 21, 1998.
(22.) The name Bukit Siguntang refers to a small hill in the modern city of Palembang that is presumed to be the sacred site of the ancient kingdom of Srivijaya (Reid 2001, 298).
(7.) After several successful albums together, Rhoma Irama and Elvy Sukaesih decided to pursue solo careers in 1976. They have been competitive from time to time. For example, they led competing musicians' unions in the 1990s (Elvy Sukaesih/IKARDI and Rhoma Irama/PAMMI).
(6.) One example, cited in an article about Inul, reports on vice president Hamzah Haz's extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca in 2003. Haz, the leader of the Muslim-based United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Perkembangan, PPP), had already made the pilgrimage several times. Further, he brought along an entourage of over 100 people.
(2.) In the larger sphere of Indonesian popular music in the 1990s, etnik designated a style of pop Indonesia that used “instruments, scales, or styles of traditional musics, primarily but not exclusively Indonesian” (Sutton 2003, 5).
(8.) In an ironic twist, this example could not have been “less” authentically Indonesian. Produced by Japanese producer Makoto Kubota, “Kopi Dangdut” is a translated version of the widely recorded song “Moliendo Café” composed by Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco in 1958. The song has been translated into many languages, including Japanese (“Coffee Rumba”). The style of singing in “Kopi Dangdut” is closer to pop Indonesia than dangdut.
(5.) Genre is a key term in popular music studies (Negus 1996; Brackett 2000). A genre refers to a particular kind of music within a distinctive cultural web of production, circulation, and signification (Holt 2007).
(12.) Songs described as “porno” include “Judul-Judulan” (Fake Titles) and “Minta Ajimat” (Asking for a Magic Spell) (Kusumah 1991, 64).
(2.) Film music could be heard on radio as well. From Jakarta, musicians could pick up the signal of radio stations based in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the mid-1950s (Rhoma Irama, pers. comm., 14 July 2005).
(13.) These performances were broadcast as part of the Archipel Programma, the programming sent out over the transmitters of the government-run radio network NIROM (Nederlandsch-Indische Radio Omroep Maatschappij) to its “eastern” (ketimuran) audience. (Different programming was sent out to the European audience in the colony.) NIROM published a program guide, Soeara Nirom, that listed the Archipel Programma and also the specific local programming for certain major cities (e.g., Surabaya). I am grateful to Philip Yampolsky for sharing his collection of 78rpm recordings, as well as the Archipel Programma radio logs. For the history of the recording industry during this era, see Yampolsky's forthcoming work.
(1.) The main recording studios in the 1970s were Remaco, Metropolitan (also called Musica), Yukawi, and Dimita (all located in Jakarta) and Lokananta (Surakarta).
(3.) Sociologists prefer the plural form “middle classes” in order to reflect the different and contradictory elements that constitute members of this socio-economic grouping in Indonesia. Heryanto (2003, 27) writes that “what all variants of the middle classes share in common (without which they cannot be designated as middle classes at all) are their orientation towards any combination of these: urban residence; modern occupations and education; and cultural tastes, which manifest most vividly but not exclusively, in consumer lifestyles.” For further information about Indonesia's middle classes, see Dick 1985; Lev 1990; Robison 1996; Heryanto 1999 and 2003; and Gerke 2000.
(1.) A similar mode of alignment/non-alignment characterized the sphere of politics. Sukarno hosted the 1955 Asia-Africa conference, where the leaders of newly independent Asian and African countries joined together in a non-aligned movement that aimed to solidify political and economic links among participating nations.
(2.) In 2006, there were two “American Idol” dangdut shows and both were broadcast on TPI; the Indonesian Dangdut Contest (Kontes Dangdut Indonesia, KDI) was the other.
(4.) TPI broadcast Nuansa Musik and Musik Musik in 1992; In Dangdut in 1993; Kuis Dangdut in 1994, and Aneka Musik Dangdut and Semarak Dangdut in 1995.
(9.) One exception was the1995 TPI program Dangdut Siang Bolong (Dangdut in the Daytime), shot on location in “dirty housing developments bordering the marketplace and motorcycle stands and crowded living conditions” of Jakarta (“Dangdut Siang Bolong” 1995).
(7.) Ariel Heryanto, interviewed in Barraud 2003. News magazine Tempo reported that Rhoma Irama was banned from TVRI in 1977 because of a contractual dispute with recording company Remaco, which had strong ties to TVRI's dangdut program “Mana Suka” (“Hak Asasi Dilarang” 1977, 17). Rhoma Irama was told that the reason for the banning was due to the use of the gendang, but he was not told why (“Dua Orang Raja” 1978, 42).
(1.) In a classic formulation, Raymond Williams writes that there are no masses, only ways of seeing people as masses (1961, 289).