Comments on: Dangdut is the music of my country

Dangdut is the music of my country

umbú — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:55:04 -0800

Introducing Project Pop (Formerly Indonesia's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-suling metal-dangdut-comedy folk sextet). Their hit "Dangdut is the music of my country" [youtube link--music starts at 0:58] code-switches between pop metal and dangdut, affectionately mocking the cheesy pop of their parents' generation. Here is a great play-by-play translation of the details of the video.

Many of their songs, however, need no translation, like this battle of the metalheads vs. the techno kids.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:37:29 -0800

Massive bizarre (personal) coincidence for me. I know this song very well though I had no idea where it came from; there's a set of very cool collections from Sublime Frequencies, a label that has all sorts of radio hits from foreign places. A propos of a completely unrelated set of coincidences I literally have the Sublime Frequencies page, the dangdut video, and my Indonesian grammar all sitting out at the same time, for totally unrelated reasons - and no other web pages up (I usually have a dozen). It's like a little dangdut moment just for me and I'm happy to see I can more or less follow the language.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:44:06 -0800

Well, reading the translation my hit rate wasn't as good as I thought :-D but it was still very educational.

By: umbú

umbú — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:44:27 -0800

That's crazy that you were just looking at the dangdut video! I really like how seamlessly the two parts of the song fit together, and their timing is spot-on. The chorus is such an earworm. Also, what's up with the guy with James Brown hair that pops up from that oil drum to tell everyone to get along? And the baby at the end? It just keeps getting more random.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:53:32 -0800

DOUBLE PLATINOOOOOM!!! I like the guy with the stringy goatee in the barrel. This is funny and charming and catchy. Nice find, umbú.

By: umbú

umbú — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:54:05 -0800

Here are some examples of the earlier dangdut that inspired Project Pop: Rhoma Irama (The King of dangdut) Elvy Sukaesih (The Queen of dangdut)

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:56:41 -0800

Ha! I was about to go digging for some Elvy to post in this thread (she's great!) but you beat me to it, umbú.

By: echo target

echo target — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:35:33 -0800

Oh wow, this is kickass. Anyone know what "konser damai = asix!" means? It's at the end of the metal vs. techno one, and that graphic would make a great T-shirt.

By: snofoam

snofoam — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:07:04 -0800

2nd flapjax, that was a great moment. the song, also cool, i love music from other countries. it is also great to be american because whether true or not, pop culture from other places at least seems like a bizarro parody of US pop culture.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:57:02 -0800

"konser damai" means "peace concert". There's no "x" in Indonesian, but asyik is a root word meaning "passionate". (However, asix and asyik aren't too similar in Indonesian...)

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:10:04 -0800

I should add that one of the things I really lament is the demise of the catchy pop song in the West... I'm glad it still exists somewhere.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:24:27 -0800

the demise of the catchy pop song in the West.. True. There are shockingly few really memorable melodic hooks, and essentially no catchy lyrics: all in all, a really depressing lack of catchiness! These days it's pretty much all about production values and nothing else, when it even bothers to be about that...

By: umbú

umbú — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:15:28 -0800

In the Project Pop video, one of the 'gang members' has a tattoo on his arm in solidarity with Inul Daratista. She got a lot of press a few years ago for pushing the boundaries of hip-shaking for an Indonesian Muslim woman. Particularly iffy in the eyes of religious conservatives is her dance move known as 'drilling.' Rhoma Irama is especially anti-drilling. This video of hers is Shakira meets Bollywood with a touch of rock guitarmony thrown in. [no nudity but perhaps mildly NSFW]