Lokananta sounds out the nation's musical, video compilations
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.