Excerpt from Craig A. Lockard, Dance of Life: Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia. (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998, pages 94-105).
Warning – I have deliberately left out the many footnotes that Lockard includes to acknowledge his sources. Should you ever wish to cite material from this excerpt then you are strongly encouraged to read the original text in our library [ML 3502 A785 L6].
Rhoma Irama and the Dangdut Challenge
The major challenge to the popularity of pop Indonesia as a national form has come from dangdut, a media-generated, acculturated modern music, which appeared on the Indonesian popular music scene in the 1960s as a fusion between Malay ensemble music (orkes melayu), the Indian film music popular at that time, and Western pop. The use of the tabla (Indian drum) and flute from Hindi film music remains a notable feature of most dangdut groups in Indonesia and Malaysia. Early on, the style was associated with a rather restrained type of social dance, especially important at public dances and festivals. Most songs are sung in Bahasa Indonesia and have a strong Islamic flavor. By the 1970s the dangdut style was identified with singers like A. Rafiq, Mansyur S., Elvy Sukaesih, Titiek Sandhora, Ida Laila, Mus Mulyadi, and – most famous of all – Rhoma Irama. Dangdut emerged from the cultural melting pot of Jakarta, a city sometimes compared to the spicy Indonesian salad gado gado because of its assimilation and intermingling of peoples and ideas arriving from outside. Hence, like kroncong, dangdut resulted from the fertile cultural exchange characteristic of this vibrant city with its distinctive environment.
Rhoma Irama's Early Life Rhoma Irama was born as Oma Irama on December 11, 1947, in a small village in west Java. Because his mother had gone into labor after returning from a concert, she chose the unusual name Irama ("rhythm") for her son. His father, an army captain and hence lower middle class in status, decided to move the family to Jakarta in the early 1950s in search of more opportunities, settling in a ramshackle suburb. While his parents hoped he would grow up to be a doctor, Oma was an indifferent student more interested in rock music and rakish behavior. His father died in 1957, undermining the family's financial status, but his determined mother continued to encourage education for her son. By his early teens Oma had learned to play the guitar and had joined a series of bands formed by schoolmates. By 1963 he had organized his own band, known as the Gayhand, playing covers of songs by such popular artists as the Beatles, Paul Anka, and Tom Jones. The band achieved only limited commercial success. Meanwhile Oma finished high school but his university studies proved short-lived. He opted instead for a musical career. Later he would embellish his childhood name by adding "Rh" to Oma – for Raden Haji – borrowing a prestigious lower-aristocratic title that also suggested his growing interest in Islam. In 1975 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and officially became a haji. |
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Rhoma Irama, the creator and leading exponent of dangdut, was probably the most important pop music superstar of the 1970s and 1980s. Photo (ca. 1981) by Martin Hatch. |
Rhoma Irama, the master of the dangdut style, has been perhaps the best-known exponent of socially conscious music in Indonesia. In the early 1970s, Rhoma and his new group Soneta exploded onto the pop charts with a gradually changing, somewhat more rock-oriented, electrified, and highly danceable dangdut style. He replaced the original melayu instruments with modern ones and restructured the arrangements into modern terms. When his style began to reach maturity in 1975 it was described as "above all an energetic style that pumped the Melayu song full of a liquid, flowing rhythm and highlighted its characteristic waves of melody."
Rhoma added electric guitars, synthesizer, and a drum set to more traditional instruments in a conscious attempt to substitute a truly Indonesian music for the Western rock he had abandoned. As he explained in 1988, "We sieve what comes from the West, we don't just swallow. We take what's good and throw out the rest." He seems to consider his music much closer in spirit to the melayu than the Western tradition. Rhoma articulates his goals as follows:
It [his music] must be broadly popular, cutting across class lines and appealing to the sensibilities of Indonesians of all sorts; it must be unmistakably modern; and it must carry a message, however simple, in a language that is easily grasped by young people everywhere. Finally, this new music must neither reveal an obvious kinship with Western styles – the goal was unmistakably "Indonesian" or at least an "Eastern" sound – nor merely imitate the existing Melayu-Deli style with its Arab and Indian flourishes.
Still, it had to convey significant Western flavor to really become a national as opposed to local musical form – and hence achieve mass popularity.
Rhoma remained perhaps Indonesia's premier entertainer for almost two decades, releasing over one hundred albums, of which several dozen went gold in sales. These developments energized dangdut, which accounted for nearly half of all cassette production in the 1970s and 1980s and gained a following that spanned all barriers of region and class. By the 1990s dangdut accounted for nearly 70 percent of all cassette sales in the country. Rhoma became, in historian Bill Frederick's words, "Indonesia's first true entertainment superstar." Part of his popularity derived from his electrifying and theatrical stage performances (highly innovative for Indonesia), which launched a craze for dangdut dance and dress styles in urban slums and rural villages. His magic has even worked for Malaysian audiences; a 1985 report conveys the ambience of one of his concerts there:
A fine example of synthesis ... of assimilating without being assimilated .... Rhoma brought inspiration. He managed to embody in his performance an intimation of cosmic glory and power, or a delightful energy permeating all space and giving life to all beings .... With a little help from technology... Rhoma succeeded in communicating an ecstatic sense of joy, of light, of a simple happiness untouched by deviousness and malice. The sheer radiance of the music became a message in itself: the whole audience was blissfully entranced, swaying their bodies and weaving their arms to the infectious rhythm.
These developments raise some interesting questions:
One might legitimately ask how imaginative – not to say bizarre – costuming and dancing with abandon could be related to some of the objectives Oma had set for himself and [his] Soneta Group. There is no easy answer to this question, but a key point surely is that neither Oma nor his audiences viewed the various elements being melded together as anything but complementary. Reality and fantasy carried and strengthened each other, and the impetus they built together moved dangdut beyond music in a narrow sense. Theatrics seemed, in short, to fit the dynamism of dangdut and make of it a comprehensive whole that was somehow larger than its parts.
Such a development also surely fits into the broader Indonesian (especially Javanese) cultural historical pattern of reconciling opposites and blending diverse influences. And the spectacular theatricality of Rhoma's performances have clear roots in the rich theater traditions of Indonesia, from wayang to bangsawan and ludruk. In addition to the stage shows and dozens of successful recordings, the charismatic Rhoma has starred in, and produced, a number of hugely popular – if offbeat – films with a social or religious orientation; his early films were influenced by ludruk models. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, his and other dangdut films easily topped the box office charts. Rhoma's activities and massive popularity sparked intense discussion about modern Indonesian culture as well as generating for Islam a more public identity. Frederick argues persuasively that "dangdut constitutes not only a legitimate part of contemporary Indonesian culture ... but a sensitive and useful prism through which to view Indonesian society."
Unlike most pop singers, Rhoma utilizes current street language and a more developed narrative style. Another major innovation appears in the themes of Rhoma's lyrics; his songs and films, especially since the late 1970s, offer a populist message on the problems of poverty, human rights abuses, the struggle of the underdog, and the betrayal of nationalistic promise. As one of his best-known songs put it, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Many songs deal with the ordinary lives of people but describe a wider range of behavior than in most pop Indonesia, including revenge, unemployment, jail, gambling, prostitution, and infidelity. Rhoma's social criticism has been subtle when compared to 1960s American protest rock. But these songs earned him a huge following among the kampungan, the urban slum dwellers and rural folk who see their values reflected in Rhoma's message; they also admire his rags-to-riches career. Not all of his songs offer serious messages; some merely extol the melayu tradition or exhort his audience to dance and enjoy themselves.
Rhoma's music contains a strong Islamic quality, full of moral teaching and missionary zeal. In many ways it seems reminiscent of the fuji music popular among lower-class Muslim Yoruba in Nigeria. Rhoma's dangdut is sometimes styled "dakwah (Islamic message) rock" and often includes passages from the Koran. An example of these songs is "Laillah Haillalah" from a 1977 film:
Why should you worship human beings, why do you worship material things
You shouldn't think there can be two of Him [Allah]
You shouldn't think He shares his holiness with others [Allah is unique, unlike the Christian trinity]
He created all nature and there is nothing else like Him
Laillah haillalah, there is no other God but Allah.
Rhoma was deeply affected by his pilgrimage to Mecca and began to wear more Arab-oriented clothing. His public persona is effective; one source claims that "his soft manner radiates a vibrant strength that must be the envy of the mosque muezzins who depend on shrill loudspeakers to draw their audience." In his concerts he splashes his dialogue with Arabic quotes from the Koran. In 1980 he released the first Islamic rock musical motion picture. The film, Perjuangan dan Do'a ("Struggle and Prayer"), offers a persistent, energetic, and highly effective Islamic message. Songs defend Islamic moral prohibitions (widely ignored in Indonesia) and blame the problems of the world on people who do not take their religion seriously. For example, "Nafsu Serakah" mixes dakwah appeals with angry social criticism. The song also suggests that his message is well within the revered spirit of the Indonesian Revolution.
| "Natsu Serakah" ("Insatiable Greed") All over this part of the world – Rhoma Irama |
Another of Rhoma's popular songs in this genre is "Al Qur'an Dan Koran" ("The Koran and Newspapers"):
Moving with the wheels of development
People are increasingly busy
So far as to ignore their [religious] duties.
Getting drunk with development
So that computers become God.
If you talk about religion
They act as if they're allergic.
Rhoma also took an increasing interest in politics as the political strength of the Islamic parties expanded, concluding that dangdut's clear ability to reach a mass audience could be a potentially powerful political tool.
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Increasingly, Rhoma and his music were identified with the Islamic revival, and Rhoma presented a more openly Islamic persona, sometimes dressing in Middle Easternstyle clothes. 1982 photo by Bill Frederick. |
Some of Rhoma's songs address more political subjects. For example, "Hak Azasi" ("Basic Human Rights"), released during the 1977-1978 election campaign, promotes human rights, a reminder perhaps that the rather authoritarian government has sometimes exercised a heavy hand in these matters and restricted some militant Islamic activities:
Respect basic human rights
That's the duty of all mankind
We are all free to choose
How we wish to live
Even God doesn't force His subjects to behave in a certain way...
Freedom of religion,
That's a basic human right
Freedom of speech
That's a basic human right
We are free to do as we wish
As long as we don't conflict
With Pancasila [five principles promoting religious tolerance and respect, and national unity].
Another well-known song from that period, "Rupiah" (the Indonesian currency), was prohibited from television and saw cassette distribution restricted by government pressure; it criticizes those who sacrificed their morals in the mad scramble for wealth. One of Rhoma's most popular movies, Begadang (1978), introduced the title song (Jakarta slang for "Stay Up All Night"), that dominated the hit parade because of its great danceability and biting social criticism about the widening gap between the few rich and many poor.
"Begadang" ("Stay Up All Night") What good is Saturday night |
Many of Rhoma's songs reveal a somewhat more subtle form of indirect protest or criticism. For example, in "Dangdut Rock," recorded in 1978, Rhoma gently commiserates with the many working poor who need to work all night in order to make a decent living. But he also seems to be urging young people not to waste their time in partying:
Don't stay up all night if there is no reason for it
But of course you can stay up all night if there's a need to do so
If you stay up too much, your face will become pale from a weakening of circulation
If you often experience the night air, all sicknesses will come easily to you
Care for your body: don't stay up every night.
Another song ponders the unfairness of the world:
Why are people not the same?
Why are the poor and rich so different?
Why does love have limits set
That say rich and poor cannot be lovers?
The vast popularity of Rhoma and dangdut generated a search for explanations. Frederick summarizes the debate:
There is a general concurrence ... that dangdut's popularity is intimately connected to its egalitarian character .... The music not only gets the majority of its fans from the majority of society – the lower classes – but evinces a sympathy with and an understanding of them that is unique. Indeed, this last characteristic has been strong enough to breed a kind of "populist chic" ... among the elite and middle class. For these reasons some have concluded that the dangdut style, by virtue of what it reflects as well as what it imposes, matches more accurately than any other yet devised the much sought-after national character or "countenance."
But many among Indonesia's political and social elite have over the years condemned dangdut in general, and Rhoma's music in particular, as loud, vulgar, déclassé, and inherently corrupting of public morals, which is why several of his songs were kept off the airwaves. One cabinet minister characterized dangdut as "caterwauling"; another detractor called it "dog crap music." These attitudes among high officials resulted in most of Rhoma's songs and films being banned from government radio and television for a decade beginning in the late 1970s; he was also prohibited from performing live shows in Jakarta. One is reminded of the earlier elite disdain for kroncong as lower class and hybrid. Other more thoughtful critics consider Rhoma and his music to be little better than shallow products of mass marketing and manipulated mass communications to create a groundswell of consumer behavior. The rather extensive coverage of Rhoma in middle-class magazines like Tempo tended to legitimize dangdut as a music and Rhoma as a superstar, while articles praised his religious message and social concerns. But the essays also stressed the contradiction between his populist messages and his wealth and extravagant lifestyle.
Hence, there have been suggestions that he exploits religion for his own success (he became a millionaire). Rhoma rejects these charges, as in a 1985 interview: "It is written in the Koran that it is the duty of every Muslim to preach and I am just doing my duty in the way I know best – through music .... How do you preach to people who don't go to the mosque? How do you propagate Islam to the masses who like to party or disco?" Some observers unfavorably contrast the kampungan-oriented, mass culture music of Rhoma with the more middle-class and sophisticated pop berat of singers like Guruh Soekarno. Certainly dangdut's market base comes from its identification with class rather than ethnicity. It is far more likely to be heard on public transport cassette players and radios than in automobiles. By 1995 some official attitudes toward Rhoma and dangdut were changing. Rhoma and the Soneta Group were prominent in massive dangdut and musical shows sponsored by government agencies to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Indonesian Republic; the shows were televised on government television. And some officials praised dangdut as "part of our developing culture" and "the lawful owner of the republic." This suggests a certain co-optation, but also a realization that dangdut would not wither away; it had become a longterm, increasingly sophisticated part of Indonesian life.
Whether Rhoma and his colleagues have substantially affected political attitudes – or even facilitated meaningful socioeconomic change – remains less clear. Frederick argued that his populist songs and movies as well as his ascending personal career seem to have perhaps unwittingly conveyed the message to his audience that social mobility is more common or possible than is certainly the case, hence perpetuating unrealistic fantasies. Deep societal beliefs in Horatio Alger-type myths can inhibit social mobilization for change; but they can also deepen resentments about relative deprivation. Most of Rhoma's songs and films do not cut to the heart of what really ails the country because they concentrate on superficialities and largely ignore the structural causes of poverty. Moral homilies do not redistribute income and power. The songs and their messages reflect the inevitable contradictions of a mass-oriented medium dominated by a corporate entertainment industry.
Rhoma's Islamic messages also dovetailed nicely with the Islamic revival that became pronounced beginning in the 1970s, with many Indonesians seeking a more Islamic identity. Rhoma did not spark that revival but perhaps played a modest role in accelerating it through his access to mass-mediated forums and consequent popularization of revivalist themes. Indeed, journalist Paul Handley, writing in the mid-1980s, called Rhoma the "most powerful Muslim leader the country has." This surely overstated the case, but it does suggest his influence. Finally, Rhoma must be credited with helping to perpetuate issues of socioeconomic inequality as part of the popular culture dialogue. Musicians like Rhoma and Guruh Soekarno apparently mastered the art of assimilating and synthesizing without becoming merely imitative.
Rhoma and several other pop (especially dangdut) singers have also been politically active in favor of certain causes and political parties. Both major Indonesian groupings utilized dangdut singers in their 1982 campaigns. The ruling GOLKAR group used Rhoma's former protégé, the immensely popular Elvy Sukaesih; her sensuous performances allegedly set off riots. The governing coalition also adapted regional folk music into their campaigns; for example, in the Minangkabau region of west Sumatra, folk songs were rewritten to praise pancasila or extol government policies such as the birth control campaign. In the 1977 and 1982 campaigns, Rhoma appeared at many rallies for the opposition Islamic coalition (PPP), helping to attract large crowds. Although he claimed that his "field is music, not politics," he urged his fans to vote for the PPP and publicly decried the widening gap between rich and poor which, he argued, the Muslim parties would rectify.
Islam and a Rhoma Irama Concert "The audience, who filled the main Senayan Stadium in Jakarta, trembled. The stage was dark. And suddenly, all the lights lit up. Rhoma Irama stood handsomely, reciting prayers. The thundering of the masses broke in as a disturbance. But not for long. All of a sudden the superstar raised both his hands, and the stadium was silent. The performance began, while quoting verses from the Koran in a short introduction. Rhoma's strength above the others is that he only sings songs of love and the dreams of the common people. He shares their desires or aspirations. Even Rhoma Irama's political outlook, his campaign for the PPP seems to be a realization of his complete conception of a 'resurgence from below,' or a way of representing that class. Therefore, the factor of religion in his music is not so unusual. There is advice on morals, suggestions on piety, religious advice on a just outlook, also on social understanding – all of which later become clearer as religious teaching with the reading of the Koran in the introduction, or singing of verses. Rhoma did not start this tradition. Islamic oral poetry is generally freely composed. Rhoma's strong point is that he has strengthened an indistinct tradition into a new 'autonomous' form. – Tempo |
When the PPP, which once offered him a leadership position, temporarily fell apart in 1983-1984, Rhoma apparently despaired of party politics. Indeed, he faced several police investigations in the 1980s after the Tanjung Priok riots involving Islamic militants with whom he was believed to sympathize. He was reportedly detained for weeks. But as one respected Muslim politician states, "they could not hold him long because they knew how this would turn the masses against the government." In the wake of these events his music became less controversial. Like the reggae artists in Jamaica after the 1980 death of Bob Marley, he seems to be seeking political harmony. Hence, his 1986 song "Stop":
Stop debating, stop arguing
Stop hostility, stop conflict
Let's love each other.
Later Rhoma rather enigmatically joined the ruling party and played for some of their rallies, perplexing those who viewed GOLKAR as antithetical to Islamic resurgence. Even then he was still required to obtain police permission before a public concert. In confirmation of the persistent power and appeal of dangdut, all three political groupings (GOLKAR, the Islamic PPP, and the nationalist-populist PDI) used dangdut singers in their 1992 campaigns, with entertainment rather than issues seemingly the dominant force in politics. Rhoma is not the only politically active musician. By 1987 Guruh Soekarno was campaigning for the PDI (and the reassessment of his father's legacy). By 1992 he was considered a potential showcase PDI presidential candidate, although the PDI ultimately backed away from challenging Suharto. Nonetheless he had a strong influence on many voters in east and central Java.
Rhoma's lavish lifestyle, populist underdog persona, controversial music, political agitation, and occasional skirmishes with an authoritarian government are reminiscent of Nigeria's radical pop music superstar Fela, who was frequently incarcerated and persecuted for his overt criticism of and challenges to political leaders. It was also not hard to identify many parallels between dangdut and reggae, including their déclassé origins, steady beat, folk base, religious orientation, and social criticism. No wonder some dangdut musicians began performing dangdut versions of reggae songs. Indeed, dangdut continued to evolve. By 1989 some dangdut singers began taking an antimaterialist stance; a hit by Itje Trisnawati attacks the fake material pleasures of the urban elite and extols simple village pleasures.
But the music also became increasingly commodified, as commonly heard in downtown discos as in village celebrations, its major performers wealthy entertainers with fast cars. Dangdut gradually lost some of its kampungan reputation, developing a middle-class audience. The music even gained some credibility through its popularity in countries like Japan and Malaysia, as well as by the incorporation of dangdut melodies into gamelan and wayang kulit performances. By the 1990s many dangdut songs addressed erotic and sexual topics, a fact that troubled Rhoma as moral guardian. Indeed, it may well be for this reason that female singers and dancers in the highly popular live dangdut shows have enjoyed material gains and popularity. But their often erotic – even vulgar – performances, some observers believe, have done little to improve the status of women, promoting the female body as spectacle. Even top female artists like Elvy Sukaesih earn much less than their male counterparts. In recent years a highly danceable disco-style dangdut had also emerged. Nonetheless, Rhoma preaches tolerance toward the changes as implicit in a naturally evolving musical form.
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Rhoma's increasingly flamboyant, charismatic public persona and lavish lifestyle brought him a vast audience but also elicited criticism from Islamic purists and entrenched powerholders as well as those who believed his success dimmed his populist message. 1983 photo by Bill Frederick. |
Few Indonesian singers have explored the fringes of tolerated dissent as assiduously as Rhoma did between the mid-1970s and late 1980s. However, in West Irian, where many peoples resent what they see as Indonesian "colonialism" and resist policies of cultural assimilation, a tradition of oppositional music developed. One nationally known pop group from West Irian, the Black Brothers, went into voluntary exile in 1979 to protest Indonesian policies on their home island; they lived and worked in Vanuatu before moving to Papua New Guinea. Later the folk-based group Mambesak (formed in 1978) would articulate West Irian concerns, including opposition to environmentally destructive forestry and mining operations. Their activist leader, Arnold C. Ap, was assassinated by the army in 1984. Mambesak stimulated the formation of other West Irian bands with similar interests. But otherwise, Rhoma clearly remained the most visible example of political music in Indonesia until the rise of Iwan Fals.