Just Dance
June 8, 2012 8:51 AM   Subscribe

While Indonesians continues to protest Lady Gaga's upcoming shows, the Muslim nation has its own racy concerts

Dangdut is a style of Indonesian music that combines traditional music with Middle Eastern pop music, Western rock, house music, hip-hop music, contemporary R&B, and reggae.

Dangdut also features Drilling, a style of dance that some say is part of a culture war in the world's biggest Muslim country [PDF].

Inul Daratista is a popular Dangdut singer, and helped popularize Drilling.

Here's some YouTube videos of Inul Daratista.

Julia Perez (dubbed "sex bomb" because of her sexy performances - although she is uncomfortable with the nickname) has also achieved notoriety. Here's her humorous video Belah Duren

Here's a resource page for Dangdug singers of Indonesia [autoplay].
posted by KokuRyu (16 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's not really a double standard, and the putative contradictions make sense when you consider that these performances -- goyang ngebor and dangdut -- are easily within the realm of the heterosexual and traditional, racy though they may be. I think the complaints against Gaga were less about her explicitness and more about her queer sympathies.
posted by clockzero at 8:58 AM on June 8, 2012


If a 24 year old woman in spandex is a threat to your religion, maybe you need better beliefs?
posted by 1adam12 at 9:14 AM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


That drilling dance looks to be primarily an evasive maneuver.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:23 AM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


If a 24 year old woman in spandex is a threat to your religion, maybe you need better beliefs?

Absolutely! If history is any guide, the Indonesians should be on the look out for middle-aged men in flowing robes.
posted by Panjandrum at 9:30 AM on June 8, 2012


This Dangdut spoof by the Indonesian equivalent of Tenacious D or Flight of the Conchords always cracks me up.
posted by umbĂș at 9:46 AM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


Every time I hear these kinds of news stories the first thing that always enters my mind is the phrase YESS YESSSSSS WE MUST EAT THE YOUNG IN ORDER TO ABSORB THEIR ESSENCE

I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone else but I don't want to belabor the point by explaining. So I'll just leave it at that.
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:06 AM on June 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


I think it's a double standard that the Indonesian conservatives don't want to acknowledge.
posted by gen at 10:13 AM on June 8, 2012


Well, it's no daggering, is it?
posted by tighttrousers at 10:33 AM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


While Indonesia is majority-Muslim, it is not a "Muslim nation" any more than the US is a Christian one; limited* religious freedom is in the constitution.

*Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism
posted by endless_forms at 11:25 AM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


While Indonesians continue to protest Lady Gaga's upcoming shows...

...the *other* Indonesians continue to provide infrastructure, permits, and the massive audience required to justify a tour stop in Indonesia.

"Indonesians give Lady Gaga the same welcome she gets in Alabama" makes such a lousy hook for an article though.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:28 AM on June 8, 2012 [5 favorites]


Nevermind racy, here's some truly sensual West Javan music (jaipong) sung in a duet with Euis Komariah, Asa Tos Tepang. Another good one with just Komariah singing, Bulan Sapasi.
posted by Listener at 12:09 PM on June 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I regret (it wasn't a conscious decision) using the word "Muslim" (twice!) in this post. I ought have changed it to "conservatives" or "the establishment" or "angry people" or something.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:00 PM on June 8, 2012


I think the complaints against Gaga were less about her explicitness and more about her queer sympathies.

In the land of the waria?
posted by bonefish at 2:56 PM on June 8, 2012


I regret (it wasn't a conscious decision) using the word "Muslim" (twice!) in this post.

To be fair, you were quoting the links in question.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:43 PM on June 8, 2012


There's some sort of argument or observation here about cultural globalization and Julia Perez vs. McWorld, but I'm too tired to suss it out.
posted by Apocryphon at 11:13 PM on June 8, 2012


Here's another gorgeous, wilder, passionate jaipong song, Mahoni, sung by Idjah Hadidjah.
posted by Listener at 7:01 PM on June 9, 2012


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