'Dangdut' singers make a killing

YOGYAKARTA: Dangdut (traditional music) performers and their managers in Yogyakarta are being swamped with bookings during the election campaign, which has doubled or tripled their incomes.

Sutomo, the manager of Star Galaxy Dangdut Group, said on Saturday that bookings started to flood in after the election campaign began on March 11.

"We often receive two or three bookings per day, but we can only perform one show a day because of the difficulty in moving from one area to another due to severe traffic jams caused by campaigns," he said.

The group's fee per performance is usually Rp 4 million to Rp 5 million, but the campaign period has seen the fee increase to as much as Rp 7 million per performance.

Laila Chandra, a Star Galaxy singer, said she usually earned Rp 40,000 per show, but during the campaign period could earn Rp 150,000. Dangdut singers Nining and Reina from Jakarta said they had been contracted by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for campaigns across the archipelago. They refused to name the amount of money PDI-P is paying them.

Dangdut shows are popular among political parties to entertain those present at party rallies. Ironically, many rally participants ignore campaign programs and only care about the dangdut show. -- JP