New star in Sony stable

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How popular is dangdut music in Indonesia? Famous dangdut singer Camelia Malik places it in comparison with pop music.

"People are shocked that pop band Sheila On 7 can sell one million copies of one album. In dangdut (popular local music with a strong Arab/Indian influence), that's nothing extraordinary," she claimed recently.

"And pop singers are now making a fuss about holding solo concerts. Dangdut performers have been doing that for a long time. In fact, when it comes to concerts, we have always been solo," Camelia asserted.

And here is more proof of the genre's popularity. Record company Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia -- a subsidiary of Sony Music -- has just established a new label called Sony Dangdut.

The new label was marked last Monday by the launch of singer Ikke Nurjanah's new album Selalu Milikmu (Always Yours), which is her first for Sony.

The new label is Sony Music's third aimed at a general category, after Mega Music for Indian and Malay music and Sony Wonder for children's music.

The establishment of Sony Dangdut is a response to the business slowdown of the past three years, Sony's A&R manager, Sylvia Theorupun Pontoh, said.

Despite having two artists, Sheila on 7 and rock group Padi, who can each sell over a million copies per album, Sylvia said sales for all music genres were sliding.

"People are getting more selective because their financial situation isn't as good as it used to be," she said on the sidelines of the launch of Selalu Milikmu.

Sony managing director Sutanto Hartono said the company had been eying dangdut for a long time.

"But we're a new player in this category. Most of our products are pop. We have so many limitations and so many things to learn," he said.

Sutanto said dangdut album sales had been on the decline since 1997, when the economic crisis first hit the country.

"But we're optimistic. We see that the market has a lot of potential, based on dangdut concerts and shows. We don't expect much in the short term as this is a long-term project for us. We're pretty sure that within three to five years, dangdut will reign supreme again," Sutanto said.

With Ikke Nurjanah being the first artist signed to the new label, it appears that Sony wants to reach middle to upper-class consumers.

The 27-year-old Ikke is one of a number of younger singers who have revived the image of dangdut. Instead of wearing glossy dresses in vivid colors, big hair and being overly sensual, Ikke wears more simple and trendy clothes, giving her the appearance of a pop star.

Married to Aldi, the vocalist for the pop band Bragi, Ikke has also released a duet with her husband titled Memandangmu (Staring at You), a mixture of pop and dangdut.

She said the deal with Sony was the kind of cooperation she had been looking for with a record company, as Sony provided her with greater space and freedom.

"Through this deal, I want to improve the image of dangdut artists. That's why, from the beginning, I insisted that the new label must have Sony's name on it," she said.

Ikke has had some bad experiences with former producers, who placed many restrictions on her because she is a dangdut singer.

"Our creativity was always being limited. Like, for example, pop musicians often collaborate with orchestras, but we were never allowed to do that because we were told that it was too expensive.

Camelia, who has been part of the dangdut scene for much longer than Ikke, agreed, saying that she often fought with producers over the lyrics.

"They think vulgar lyrics will sell, but I think dangdut also has to be classy, especially if we want to reach upper-class consumers. I don't want to fight them, but for me it's not just a matter of earning money. It has to do with building a career," said Camelia.

On Selalu Milikmu, which Ikke produced with Aldi, she collaborated with such well-known dangdut musicians as Marakarma, Imam J. and Eddy Nuansa, as well as pop musician Raidy Noor.

Ikke also incorporated elements from other types of music in the album, like salsa for the title track and Malay music for a number called Gundah (Restless).

And she abandoned her signature melancholic sounds for a series of up-tempo danceable dangdut tracks.

"I really want this album to be great so I put extra effort into it. Besides, I have made many demands of Sony, so I have a responsibility to make it something special," Ikke said.

As for Sony Dangdut, its next projects are a compilation album of old dangdut songs and an album by Camelia.