The Dynamics of Contemporary Music in the Post-Suharto Era: A Report from the Field

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1 The Dynamics of Contemporary Music in the Post-Suharto Era: A Report from the Field Franki Raden Returning home after being away for eight years made me feel a bit strange. First, my body couldn t stand the heat and humidity as it used to. This was my first impression, or more precisely, my complaint after I got out of the Sukarno-Hatta airport in Indonesia. Perhaps, it was also a part of getting older. While still at the airport, I went to Wartel, a telephone store, to make a call only to discover that my 50,000 old rupiah bill (CAD $6) with a picture of Suharto s smiling face was no longer valid. I was shocked for a while, and the guy who ran the Wartel laughed at me: Ini sudah nggak laku Pak! (It isn t valid any longer Sir!). I looked again at the bill, and this time I felt like Suharto himself spoke to me with his smiling face: Ha ha I tricked you I am no longer around, dude! I left Jakarta for my dissertation write-up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in November 1998, a few months after Suharto stepped down. The Indonesian economic had been in a deep crisis for a year. I was doing my field research for my Ph.D. dissertation in Indonesia from My topic was about experimental music and politics in Indonesia. The original plan to stay in Indonesia was for only a year or two. However, the years of turned out to be a very exciting time period for my research. Therefore, I ended up spending six years for my fieldwork. During this period, experimental music in Indonesia was very active. There were many composers with new ideas emerging on the scene, along with new ensembles, venues, festivals, audiences, and sponsors in cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya, Denpasar, Padang Panjang (West Sumatra), and Medan (North Sumatra). The media also gave their full support on experimental music activities. I also had opportunities to organize festivals of experimental music in Jakarta. However, my excitement did not last long. In 1997, Indonesia was hit by the big economic crisis. A year later came the political crisis that caused Suharto s regime to come to an end.

2 162 Dynamics of Contemporary Music At one point, the rupiah weakened from 2,500 to 20,000 per US$1. I figured that I could no longer organize music festivals that needed sponsorships from the government and business world. Okay, I said to myself, I am through with the New Order! From that time on, I understand that the economic situation has never recovered. In the past eight years of my absence, living expenses in Jakarta have increased approximately ten times. However, let me tell you what I have discovered in my recent fieldwork. Jakarta has developed enormously amidst the deep economic crisis. Governor Sutiyoso even wanted to propose that Jakarta become a megalopolitan city. Kebayoran Baru, the southern part of the town, has turned into one of the most modern, yet horribly populated downtowns in the world. Gigantic malls, high-rise buildings, luxury condominiums, and expensive restaurants and cafes are everywhere. Amidst this absurd phenomenon, contemporary musical activities and the music and media industries have developed significantly. The following is my endeavor to grasp this absurdity. One of the most striking phenomena that I have witnessed is that there seems to be a strong alliance between experimental and pop musicians, something that did not happen in the New Order period. Due to his intriguing musical concept of combining jazz and indigenous musical elements, Dwiki Dharmawan, the leader of Krakatau jazz group was able to impress the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and had the opportunity to represent the Indonesian government for promoting tourism abroad. This is a huge project indeed, since the government wants to draw revenue from the tourism industry. In addition, Dwiki also has access to the upper middle class Muslim community in Jakarta that seems to be growing substantially. As Islamic music and culture has regained its popularity since the late New Order period, this access has provided him with both great musical opportunities and economic resources. Together, these two connections have brought him significant private musical facilities. With this possibility at hand, Dwiki has begun to produce larger and more challenging Islamic musical endeavors and CDs of experimental music, activities that I could not have even imagined back when the economy was booming in the 1990s.

3 Raden 163 Another thing that I found striking in this post-suharto era is the advancement of contemporary Islamic culture itself. Since the Bali bombing, Indonesia has been associated with the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Visually and linguistically, Indonesia as urban panorama has also been covered with more Arabic cultural ingredients. This phenomenon has left many foreigners abroad with the impression that Indonesia has changed into a conservative Muslim country. However, the case of Inul Daratista has brought a new understanding about the circumstances. Inul is a female dangdut singer from a small village origin who introduced a highly erotic style of singing and dancing, similar to hip-hop music. In a very short period, she has gained popularity nationwide. This popularity finally brought her negative attention from Rhoma Irama, known as the King of Dangdut. He ordered a religious decree (fatwa) to ban her public performance. This fatwa finally raised a strong reaction nationwide and globally. A coalition of many Muslim female artists, intellectuals, the media, high ranking government officers such as the Governor of Jakarta, and even the first lady Mrs. Abdurrahman Wahid, have come out against this decree pointing instead to the progressiveness of urban Muslim culture. Another interesting issue is the on-going support by the media industry for experimental music activities. The support of the Gramedia and Tempo Groups are the two most prominent examples. Through the hand of its main stockholder, Goenawan Mohamad, Tempo group has given significant support to the contemporary music world by founding an alternative cultural center in Jakarta called TUK (Teater Utan Kayu). One composer who has received substantial support from Goenawan and TUK is Tony Probowo. At present, Tony is working on a highly prestigious musical project in Jakarta involving The Julliard Ensemble from New York City (Prabowo, 2006). This would not have happening during the economic boom of the New Order era. In 2005, Gramedia group, which owns Kompas newspaper and TV 7 station, presented one of the most gigantic contemporary musical events in Indonesian history on the

4 164 Dynamics of Contemporary Music occasion of its 40 th anniversary. The musician assigned for this project was Rizaldi Siagian, a composer-ethnomusicologist graduate of UCLA. Based on his educational background, Rizaldi came up with an idea to present Indonesian musical expressions from the megalithic period up to the present in an experimental pop form. The concert is entitled Megalitikum-Kuantum. His concept was to explore the possible fusion of traditional and contemporary musical practices. Hence he teamed up traditional and contemporary musicians to create hybrid musical pieces together. This idea happened to be a formula of Indonesian national culture developed by Ki Hadjar Dewantara through his musical composition called Kinanthi Sandoong precisely nine decades ago in In 1945, one of Ki Hadjar s ideas about national culture was legally affirmed in an article in the 1945 State Constitution (UUD 45), an important national symbol of power (Kahin 1952: 138). The article goes as follows: national culture consists of the peaks of regional cultures (budaya nasional adalah puncak-puncak dari kebudayaan daerah). At the second national cultural congress held in Bandung in 1951, Bahder Djohan, then the Minister of Education and Culture, converted this idea into a musical context and stated national music is the fusion of regional musical peaks (musik nasional adalah gabungan puncak-puncak musik daerah) (Notosudirdjo 2001: 243). During the late New Order era, there were intellectuals and artists who rejected this idea, especially those who subscribed to a postmodern cultural theory (see Awuy 2000). Yet the endeavor toward materializing this very idea in the contemporary musical scene, either with the awareness of UUD 45 s article or not, may be consistently discerned. In the era of the New Order, experimental composers have engaged this idea in their work since the period of 1970s. However, only in the hand of Rizaldi did this nationalistic endeavor in contemporary music receive huge private, public, and government support. Indeed, it is interesting to note that Ki Hadjar s idea reached it maximum support and capacity not at the time when the state and economic situation in Indonesia was stable, but instead now when they are in bad shape. After attending the concert of Megalitikum-

5 Raden 165 Kuantum, SBY, the president, requested Rizaldi to perform the piece again for the 61 st Anniversary of Indonesian Independence in Denpasar, Bali (Siagiaan, 2006). This time the performance was much larger than its world premier. This request signified the new regime s approval for choosing an experimental music genre as representative of Indonesian national music. At this point, Ki Hadjar s concept of national culture can be said to be a politically correct working concept since the idea of combining indigenous and foreign musical elements seemed to be in Indonesian composers subconscious already. In conclusion, based on the findings in my recent fieldwork, I would like to argue that the progress of Indonesian contemporary music does not heavily rely on the economic situation of the country. It is evident that despite the economic crisis that caused hyperinflation there is still room for the entertainment industry to develop. As part of this industry, cultural life in the urban environment has never ceased to make progress. This progress has managed to produce visionary contemporary musicians such as Dwiki Dharmawan, Rizaldi Siagian, and Tony Prabowo. These are musicians who are not only clever and creative in their musical endeavors, but who also have good endurance. Living in a third world country such as Indonesia, it seems the economic and political situation can change in one night. For this very reason, such characteristics are extremely important to possess. By the same token, my findings also indicate a high degree of cultural dynamics of the new era. Based on these dynamics, it might be possible for us to have a better understanding of Indonesian society in its relationship to issues such as politics, economics, the state, and religion.

6 166 Dynamics of Contemporary Music References Awuy, Tommy F Dekonstruksi Kebudayaan Nasional. Kompas, February 28. Kahin, George McTurnan Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. Notosudirdjo, Franki S Music, Politics, and the Problems of National Identity in Indonesia. Ph.D. dissertation. Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prabowo, Tony Personal Communication. Siagian, Rizaldi Personal Communication.