Indonesian pop music goes pop

Indonesian pop music goes pop

By Dini S. Djalal

The Indonesian music industry is booming, with a bunch of
young artists trying their luck in the business. But they can not
always play merry tunes as climbing the stairway of success is
not easy. The Jakarta Post's contributors, Dini S. Djalal, Achmad
Nurhoeri, Franki Raden and Helly Minarti, write a series of
articles on the industry on this page, page 2 and page 11.

JAKARTA (JP): In a pair of jeans and cut-off singlet, 18-year-
old Denada looks like your average teenager. But as she fields
questions during a press conference, it becomes apparent that
Denada is no ordinary high school student. With a best-selling
debut album and an MTV Asia Best Video award for her hit
Sambutlah, Denada is one of Indonesia's biggest pop stars.

But there are many aspiring singers and musicians waiting to
take Denada's place. Indonesia's music industry is going through
a sales boom, and the roster of young hopefuls seeking a piece of
the pie multiplies by the day. And young they are: AB Three and
Base Jam are in high school or college, while Nugie and Iwa K.
have just completed university. Other young ones include Humania,
Kahitna and Oppie Andaresta.

But in pop music's fickle universe, image is all, and at times
a youthful glossy facade funded by deep pockets can eclipse a
lack of talent. In Indonesia especially, pretty boys and girls
can gain fame and fortune simply by posing with hired musicians.

Yet as international heavyweights move into Indonesia's fast-
growing market, bringing with them advanced technology and
management as well as competition from foreign bands, local acts
will have to show that they're not just flash in the pans quickly
heading toward obscurity. The shortage of professional artists,
and management, is only one of the problems facing the music
industry. Other problems include censorship, funding, and the
tendency to clone western acts.

There is also the sensitive matter of royalties and
copyrights. Ever since Bob Geldof scolded Indonesia in the 1980s
for not respecting copyright laws following the Ethiopian Band
Aid project, the issue of royalties has plagued the music
industry.

Influence

Then there is the issue of ethnic influence in contemporary
popular music. The efforts of local artists in bridging the
divide between eastern and western traditions are often awkward
and shallow, using exoticism as a trend only after western acts
ventured down the "ethnic" path.

Yet, some bands persist on traveling down this difficult path,
such as Kantata, one of the biggest proponents of ethnic rock in
the country.

For the younger pop music generation, what concerns them is
not nationalist esthetics but growing, unhealthy competition from
rich kids who want to be pop stars. "Now there are lots of kids
who can play only three chords but have lots of money, so they
hire a producer and put out an album. Before you had to struggle
to make a demo tape and then beg to record companies to listen to
you!" said Armand Maulana, lead singer of pop group Gigi. Armand
is confident though, that ultimately, talent counts. "Sooner or
later, the customers will know the difference between good
musicians and these people with money," he said.

Teges Prita Soraya, public relations manager for Jakarta's
Hard Rock Cafe, describes this phenomena as karbitan: "For a lot
of people, give them an opportunity to sing, and suddenly they
think they're singers."

Running a program every Monday night at the cafe to showcase
Indonesian bands, Teges has a personal interest in seeing
Indonesian bands improve. In a highly censored industry where
government regulations hinder regular concerts and shows, Teges'
efforts are a welcome rarity. As Sudesh Nayer, marketing director
at BMG Entertainment International, explains: "Bands need
exposure in order to sell more records. Indonesia definitely
needs to have more concerts".

Ironically, the concerts at the Hard Rock Cafe have not been
packed. Teges doesn't mind. "A lot of the bands' fans live
outside of Jakarta and can't afford the prices at the cafe," said
Teges. "If we lose money, we lose money. But I wanted to show the
bands our appreciation," she said.

Echoing Armand's concerns, more worrying is that Teges can't
think of any more bands to put onstage. "There aren't that many
artists left to showcase. I don't want to showcase bands with
only one album and then disappear, because then the older bands
get insulted," said Teges.

Halfhearted

Teges is confident of local acts -- "I think they're talented,
that's why I'm giving them a stage" -- but she's concerned that
it may be a case of too much, too soon. "Our musicians have great
potential, but are they diligent enough to make the most of their
opportunities? It would be a shame if MTV gives them all these
breaks and the bands only give back a halfhearted effort," she
said.

MTV is now playing a bigger role in the Indonesian music
industry, giving heavy rotation for Indonesian videos. Daniel
Tumiwa, marketing manager of MTV Asia, says for each three
international songs, they put on an Indonesian song. But the MTV
influence is not completely welcomed by Indonesian bands. Armand
says: "The positive side is that our music can now sell all over
Asia. The negative side is that other Asian artists can now enter
the Indonesian market. This is good in providing competition and
pushing us to do better but if you look at it from the strictly
business sense, it can kill us too."

So now it's up to Indonesian bands to prove that they are
worth all the attention from MTV and record companies.