Traders play music for all

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Do you have a favorite old band and badly want their tapes? Or, are you a collector of old recordings wanting to add to your precious collection?

Then go to the southwest corner of Beringharjo traditional market on Jl. Malioboro, where dozens of street vendors are offering secondhand cassettes.

But, don't be mistaken. Unlike other vendors in the market who start business early, these cassette sellers start at 5:30 p.m. daily.

"I have plenty of heavy metal, classic rock, or old Western music cassettes," said Yanto, one of the secondhand cassette sellers.

The man proudly showed some of his collection, which included several albums of heavy-metal bands like Metallica, Sepultura and Aerosmith.

"You will love these," Yanto said, pointing at cassettes of famous rock guitarists Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Marty Friedman and Yngwie Malmsteen which were displayed on his simple wooden shelf. He then picked up Joe Satriani's album and played it on his outdated tape player which was equipped with modest speakers and an amplifier.

The sweet sound of Joe Satriani's rock anthems blasted out of Yanto's loudspeakers, adding to the already-noisy setting of secondhand cassette sellers. The music was good, indicating the cassette was still in good condition.

"Give me Rp 12,000 if you like this one," he said after turning off the tape.

Some cassettes belonging to legendary rock groups that are rarely found in record stores are also available among the collections.

Popular rock bands famous in the 1970s or earlier, like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Rainbow, are among their collections.

Some of the records not distributed in the Indonesian market, are also on offer.

Ridwan, another secondhand cassette seller, displays cassettes of Metallica rock music group titled Metallica: The Very Best of Metallica as well as Metallica: World Tour Live both of which never entered the country's market.

One of the other rare albums available is of German rock band Helloween titled Back to 14th Year.

These rare albums, however, are not originals.

According to Ridwan, the vendors obtained them from several suppliers in Semarang, Central Java, who make copies of original music albums not distributed in Indonesia.

Moreover, not all cassettes offered are old and rare albums. Recent albums of young singers or new bands are always available there, and even the most-purchased cassettes.

On any given day, dozens of university and high school students can be seen hunting down cassettes of new singers or groups like Westlife, Red Hot Chili Pepper, Limp Bizkit, Linkin' Park and Creed.

Indonesian albums -- both old and new -- also have their own customers.

Tukimin, is one of many sellers specializing in cassettes of local singers and bands.

"People aged 40 or older usually love to buy oldies by Broery Marantika, Bimbo, Koes Hendratmo, Koes Plus and others," Tukimin said.

The secondhand cassette market is packed with visitors, mostly young people, until stalls close at around 10 p.m. Some just go there to look around, wishing to "discover music albums of their favorite singers or bands they can no longer find in cassette stores".

The lower prices of used cassettes are the main thing that attracts people to visit the market, considering the prices of between Rp 21,000 and Rp 22,000 for cassettes in record stores.

Cassettes which are 10 years old or older are offered at Rp 10,000 each, while new ones, for instance those released in 1998, cost around Rp 12,500 each. Cassettes released in 1999 onward are sold at Rp 13,500 to Rp 15,000 each.

Not all visitors in the market come to buy cassettes. Some are students with empty pockets, wanting to sell their own cassettes to the traders. The students are in fact regular suppliers of used cassettes, selling their own collections in return for cash.

"I have to sell my collection to buy food. I just don't know why my parents did not send my monthly pocket-money in the last three months," said Ponomban, a Gadjah Mada University student from Manado, who brought some cassettes from his collection he wanted to sell, including the albums of jazz guitarists Aldi Meola, John Mclaughlin and Larry Coryell.