Miners make their own music in the Kalimantan jungle

By Mikael Onny Setiawan

SANGATTA, East Kalimantan (JP): Dressed in casual clothes, a trio of young women sang a song by Irish group The Corrs, accompanied by a man playing the violin. As they came to the end of the song, the audience broke into thankful applause.

The scene was not at a concert venue, or a downtown cafe, but at a mining company mess hall deep in the East Kalimantan jungle.

Although the members of Wisma Rayah Band are themselves company employees and may lack the musical talent of many big city groups, they brought some welcome enjoyment to the workers.

Entertainment is still thin on the ground in Sangatta, the capital of East Kutai regency situated some 300 km to the north of Balikpapan, with diversions limited mostly to TV, radio and VCDs. Live entertainment is rarer still; or young, single employees, visits by bands are eagerly awaited.

"In the early 1990s, we had to utilize wooden canoes along the river and coastal areas for one to two hours to buy goods or to see live entertainment in the nearest town, Bontang," an employee recollected.

"Now with much better transportation facilities, people need only spend 50 minutes to see live entertainment in Bontang. But in Sangatta there have yet to be significant changes."

Music for miners

Most of the musicians are young and still single. Some of them live in a dormitory at Wisma Rayah Camp, a camp for senior staff, and others in Prima Camp. Married staff live in a housing complex.

"I joined the group because I like to sing. It's fun to rehearse after a full day's work with patients and later to perform songs before an audience," said Lina, a nurse of the company clinic.

"We play music for fun and to entertain our workmates," said Lucky Esa, the group's drummer. "Even so, we rehearse for a long time before the performance."

The bespectacled man works as a superintendent for the company.

There are about four similar bands at the mining company. The personnel of each group include mining engineers, mine planners, dump truck operators, administrative officers, accounts payable officers, IT specialists, teachers, nurses and paramedics.

As there are few musicians in the area, sometimes the workers hire out their services for special events.

"I play the keyboard for people who have a limited budget but want to hold a party or ceremony in order to enliven the atmosphere," said Ferry, who also plays bass, melody and drums.

The bands also occasionally perform for expatriate workers at their parties. They say they tailor their performances to their audience.

"Each audience has its own specific musical tastes," said Conrad H. Pandjaitan, who is a guitarist and singer in addition to his day job as a mining engineer. "Some expatriates like country and pop or rock music, while some Indonesians like dangdut. Expatriates are spontaneous, such as getting up to dance to the beat of the music, but Indonesians are not."

The after-hours activity is also a release for the workers.

"The opportunity to play music before an audience is a refreshing time for an operator like me," said heavy equipment operator and keyboard player Takari.

For major events, the groups expect high payment, part of which they said they use to buy better instruments and equipment from Surabaya and Jakarta. For smaller events, the payment is sometimes used to buy better stage attire.

"All of us are just workers who receive a monthly salary. I think I can live with that, so we play music purely to develop our talent in our spare time and for entertainment," said Jamik Yulianto, one of the trio of women singers.

The group's song selection is eclectic, including numbers from Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Corrs, and local groups such as Sheila on 7, Padi, Dewa, Gigi and KLA.

Still, the number of performances has slumped recently, with the loss of expatriate workers during the economic crisis.

"Three years ago we played almost every week," said Lucky. "Now the chances have dropped to as low as once every two months."

There is frequent turnover in the bands' personnel, with people moving to new companies or relocating. Work is another distraction. "It is not easy to make a solid group. We have to deal with things like our work schedules," said Banu, a senior mining engineer.

"We normally rehearse in the afternoon after office hours in the studio. In some cases, we rehearse in the dormitory in the evening," said Hendra, a bassist, who works as a paramedic in the clinic located at the site.

"Sometimes, there are emergency calls during rehearsals. We have to respond immediately, and the band must go on without one or two personnel.

Still, the bands continue to perform, bringing some music and fun into the lives of their fellow workers.

"I feel refreshed even though I've had a full day's work in the pits," one worker said as he watched one of the bands perform.

"For a little while, I don't feel that I am living in the middle of the jungle, but in a big town with the opportunity to enjoy music."