Lokananta sounds out the nation's musical, video compilations

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Something easy on the ear.

This is how some people would probably define music.

The nation's 27 provinces and its cultural heritage of, among others, gamelan, suling (flutes), genjring (tambourines), lutes, reeds, fiddles and rebab (two-stringed musical instrument), makes defining music a bit more difficult.

The same goes for a recording company which, if nothing else, releases compiled tunes of the heritage despite changing times that have seen an upsurge in the popularity of pop music and Arabic-influenced dangdut music and rampant piracy.

This is a heavy weight on the shoulders of Lokananta, the national recording company. Located in Surakarta, Central Java, Lokananta is under the auspices of the Ministry of Information's Directorate General of Radio, Television and Film.

Why in Surakarta (Solo)?

"Solo is the epitome of Indonesian culture ... it is from what is defined as national culture that diffuses into regional cultures," said former public relations manager Iman Muhadi, who recently retired after having served for 40 years.

Lokananta, which got its name from a mythical gamelan created by the god Bathara Guru, was born as a transcription service for Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) on Oct. 29, 1956.

Its function comprised manufacturing phonograph records for broadcast by RRI stations nationwide. Master recordings produced by various RRI stations were sent to the facility in Surakarta for manufacture.

Lokananta currently has three branches of activity.

First, it produces and duplicates music and drama audio cassettes for sale to the public. Second, it duplicates audio cassettes and distributes them free to information offices nationwide. This is to disseminate government messages on a variety of topics, including agriculture, health, agrarian matters, cooperatives, the environment and tourism.

The third branch of production is the duplication and distribution of video cassettes.

Music sold by Lokananta ranges from background instrumental music to recordings of theater plays and instrumental music.

In an earlier interview with The Jakarta Post, Iman said the future prospects of the company were bright.

"Cassettes of the Javanese gendhing (music) for the gambyong dance are continuously sold out," he said.

The Ministry of Education and Culture made it compulsory for elementary schools to use Lokananta songs for their government- backed sports and arts week, he said.

In the past few years, private television stations have started broadcasting traditional performances on a regular basis, something which has been long done by TVRI state television.

"This significantly helps boost our sales and makes the local and foreign communities in Indonesia aware of the music we record," Iman said.

For example, keroncong (western-influenced Javanese music) which has long penetrated the Japanese market, entered France in 1995, he said.

With the company's recent experiment of issuing CDs, Lokananta has yet to officially produce music and recordings of plays in CD form.

On matters of history, Iman explained that Lokananta was made a state company in 1961 and had assumed three responsibilities.

"To encourage, establish and disseminate national arts, produce income for the state and, of course, to cooperate with government agencies in programs involving sound recording," Iman said.

From then on, Lokananta, despite the frequent use of RRI musicians and studios, produced its own recordings and did not rely on RRI masters aside from those submitted.

Between the middle and the late 1960s, Indonesian private recording companies began to record and sell cassettes.

With a 1969 study proving the emergence of cassettes a serious threat to Lokananta's survival, it officially began producing cassettes in 1972.

In 1975, it sold 898,459 cassettes, or an average of 75,000 a month. A decade later, Lokananta estimated the company's output of commercial cassettes at 60,000 per month.

There are two reasons why Lokananta sales of audio and video cassette recordings has weakened gradually and considerably.

First, piracy.

"Of the Lokananta video cassette recordings being distributed to 2,000 points nationwide, for instance, 95 percent of them are pirated copies," Iman said.

This inflicts Rp 750 million in losses on the company monthly, excluding tax that should be paid by the pirates, according to Iman.

On matters of copyright, Iman added that with the help of the Central and the East Java law enforcers, 1972 through 1978 saw the handling of 129 cases of piracy of Lokananta recordings.

The following years until 1996 saw the handling of 629 piracy cases nationwide, with the help of the Indonesian Recording Industry Association.

Despite all of the company's efforts, piracy is still rampant.

Another factor affecting the sales of Lokananta's products is the Indonesian pop and dangdut revolutions. Private companies immediately joined the competition to gain large profits from the music industry.

Lokananta surrendered both the successful genres to private recording companies.

Lokananta, which used to produce Indonesian pop music as well as traditional music and lagu perjuangan (patriotic songs), said its decision to do so was practical.

To introduce pop music cassettes, Lokananta would have had to enter an extremely expensive and competitive field.