Digging a little deeper to find Jakarta's 'underground' music<\/p>\n
By Allen Thayer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It's comforting to know that in any given corner
\nof the world, including Jakarta, the gospel of rock n' roll is
\nbeing preached to eager and devout masses.<\/p>\n
These junior high school students, high school students and
\nuniversity-aged followers show their reverence by practicing
\nreligiously, sporting the requisite T-shirt, jeans and sneakers,
\nand then playing the songs of their own personal deities of the
\nmodern rock world.<\/p>\n
Yes, indeed, Indonesian rock and roll is alive and well in the
\ncapital, struggling to be heard amid the onslaught of bleach-
\nblond boy bands, Britneys and Christinas.<\/p>\n
The only problem is finding the music.<\/p>\n
Searching for a recent \"underground\" event at a Blok M cafe,
\nGM 2000, conjured up images of trying to find an invite-only,
\npassword-protected speakeasy -- only that there was no back alley
\nand it was the middle of the day.<\/p>\n
The event was an unofficial \"Brit-Pop\" gathering, meaning that
\nall (or most) of the featured bands played cover-versions of
\nBritish bands, of the sophisticated pop variety, from the Beatles
\nto The Cure to Radiohead, or they played their own songs in a
\nBrit-Pop style.<\/p>\n
Cosponsored by UKM Band Veteran Jakarta (a student
\norganization affiliated with the University of National
\nDevelopment) and Insound, the event required all but the
\nspecially invited bands, like Rumah Sakit, Laluna and a few
\nothers, to pay Rp 70,000 to play two songs, while spectators paid
\nRp 13,000 admission for the event lasting more than eight hours.<\/p>\n
Ichan, 20, the organizer from UKM, said \"this is one of two
\nevents we plan to hold this year. This event can be considered
\nsmaller, while the larger ones we hold on campus\".<\/p>\n
By 2 p.m. there were more than 100 young and enthusiastic
\nsupporters, scenesters, band members and organizers -- and this
\nwas only one subset of a larger \"underground\" music movement.
\nLike the term \"indie\" (short for \"Independent\") or \"alternative\"
\n(before it became the convention), \"underground\" is the \"us\" to
\ncommercial Indonesian music's \"them.\"<\/p>\n
These are the bands and the fans that don't have or want
\nrecord contracts. This is where bands like Naif, The Fly and Padi
\nfirst got their start. This is where musicians play for
\nthemselves and their fans, not for indifferent cafe and bar
\npatrons.<\/p>\n
Originality<\/p>\n
The \"underground\", as it is referred to by its members, sets
\nitself apart from cafe-bands, pop artists and dangdut singers in
\nthat its focus is on originality.<\/p>\n
Sure, all of these junior high and high school bands start off
\ncovering their favorite U.S. and UK bands, but their graduation
\nto the real \"underground\" requires the development of their own
\noriginal, self-composed songs. Their influences might be
\nabundantly clear, and in some cases even approach mimicry, but
\neven in their choice of idols, their tastes are hardly common
\nlistening in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The underground is divided into a number of subgenres, yet
\nthese lines are often blurred, meaning all bands don't easily fit
\ninto one category. The four main groups are: punk, hardcore (a
\n1990s offshoot of punk), metal and indie, which is a less-
\nabrasive, more pop-oriented type of rock music.<\/p>\n
\"We still lack unity in the underground,\" said Beamy, 25, the
\nbass player for the self-described \"heavy\" band Brain the
\nMachine.<\/p>\n
\"So we (Brain the Machine) tend to take our own path, record
\non our own and avoid being defined by just one community, so that
\nwe don't find ourselves caught between two different rival
\nscenes.\"<\/p>\n
The cross-genre fixing is strong but so also are the
\nrivalries, meaning that a concert can end in a chaotic brawl
\nleaving several youths injured, and no soldiers within sight to
\ntake the blame.<\/p>\n
The underground attracts youths form all classes and education
\nlevels. The punk scene tends to draw its bands and fan-base from
\nthe lower-strata, while the metal crowd spans the rich and poor
\ngap, and the hardcore and indie scenes tend to come from middle-
\nto-upper class backgrounds. The socioeconomic divisions also have
\nties to the intergenre solidarity, where indie and hardcore are
\nmuch closer to each other than they are to punk or metal.<\/p>\n
Another roadblock to the movement's path to solidarity is the
\ngeographic limitations of the five subdivisions of Jakarta
\nitself, meaning that a North Jakarta band might never play for a
\nWest Jakarta audience, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
The underground came into existence only a few years ago in
\nthe wake of the success of American fringe bands like Nirvana,
\nPearl Jam and Green Day. What was once thought to be
\nnoncommercial in the U.S., not to mention Indonesia, was turned
\non its head by a youth market that was unsatisfied by the pop
\nmusic offerings of the day.<\/p>\n
Only a few years ago there were a number of \"clubs\" that
\ncatered to this kind of music, like Black Hole, Pit Pup, M Club
\nand the latest -- Poster Kafe in South Jakarta, which have all
\nclosed down due to poor management or the inability to make a
\nprofit. The intergenre rifts, not to mention the occasional
\nbrawls, also limit the underground's ability to promote its music
\nto a wider audience. Just one intergenre underground club and
\nbetter and more regular promotion of the events within the
\nJakarta media might mean success for many a struggling
\n\"underground\" band.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's record industry has picked up on the Western style
\nof recruiting bands from the amateur ranks and introducing them
\ninto the mainstream, but as Adde, 24, the drummer for the band
\nRoom-V, reflected: \"The industry has adopted the American process
\n(of recruiting bands) but the idea of valuing original local
\nmusic is still foreign.\"<\/p>\n
Adde makes the point that the industry only recognizes
\noriginality if they think there is a possibility the band will
\nskyrocket in popularity, like Sheila on 7 did only a couple years
\nago. The pop market in Indonesia is dominated by Western artists,
\nmeaning the few local bands and artists to make it fill the
\nindustry's quota for Indonesian bands, leaving the others
\nstranded on the amateur circuit.<\/p>\n
But pop music is defined by compromise. Jakarta's
\n\"underground\" has the potential to revitalize the domestic music
\nmarket, infusing it with its raw sounds and emotions. While not
\nconsidered \"underground\", alumni bands Dewa, Sheila on 7 and Gigi
\nall show the influence of the \"underground\" in their chart-
\ntopping hits. Independent, fringe music will always be around,
\npushing the mainstream in a new direction, but it always takes a
\nlittle more effort to appreciate the precious nuggets and gems
\nthat are buried \"underground\".<\/p>",
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