Rock bands turn God-loving during Ramadhan

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 10/22/2006 10:48 AM | Life

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If, to paraphrase a 1970s hair metal band, God gives rock 'n' roll for 11 months each year, any rock 'n' roll band has one month to worship God through their music -- and hit pay dirt in return.

Yes, every year approaching the Ramadhan fasting month, any market-oriented band (rock 'n' roll or not) takes a turn at putting out God-loving, sermon-tinged and Holy book-inspired records that sells quickly like hot ... donuts.

Take rock band Gigi for instance. In the past three years, with no release of a proper rock album in sight, the band have released three religious-inspired albums.

The first of the three, Raihlah Kemenangan (Reach out for victory), which was released approaching Idul Fitri in 2004, was a fluke.

It was repackaged for a 2005 release and was a massive success. The hit single of the album Perdamaian (Peace), a nuclear era song first sung by all-female group Nasida Ria, was a radio staple until recently.

In fact, none of the tracks on the album was composed by the band. Instead, the tunes were bland inspirationalism popularized by the 1970s band Bimbo or God-loving poetry written by poet Taufik Ismail.

By dint of Perdamaian, Gigi, with endorsement from a major cigarette company, launched numerous concert dates that were designed to entertain youth who were spending their wasted time waiting for breaking the fast.

This year, Gigi repeated their secret of success by releasing another sermonizing album with the Dylan-esque title Pintu Sorga (Gate to Heaven).

Now Gigi's success story with religious songs has inspired other bands to do the same.

Radja, a Bogor-based rock band whose rise to fame has baffled both fans and self-respecting critics alike, recently released an album called Malam 1000 Bulan (Night of 1,000 months).

So eager was Radja on praising the Lord during the holy month that they rushed to the studio shortly before Ramadhan commenced, taking a break from their national tour, and recorded Malam in only one week.

""With this Islam-tinged album, we want to prove that we can produce a religious album. It may be late because we prepared this just when Ramadhan started, but this is our statement,"" Radja lead singer Ian Kasela said of the album.

EMI Indonesia said that only 75,000 copies of Malam were made and were available only during Ramadhan.

If Radja thought that a religion-themed album was a mission statement, soft rockers Ungu believed in the power of devotion.

Ungu, which scored success with their sophomore effort Melayang (Flying) earlier this year, believed that their EP Surgamu (Your Heaven) was part of their submission to God, as guitarist Enda has said.

Devotion to God, however, was not easy to practice for Ungu.

""We planned to write 10 songs for Surgamu, but we ended up with only five songs, as we were too busy touring,"" Enda was quoted by Antara as saying.

In spite of its hurried nature, Surgamu sold 150,000 copies in the first 10 days of its release.

And with it, Ungu has joined Gigi, Opick and Hadad Alwi in scoring success with religious songs.

So aside from those TV preachers, jilbab-wearing female singers and sinetron actresses, and ads on breaking-the-fast meals that saturate the airwaves during Ramadhan, we have to be content with these familiar rock tunes -- only this time with a more Godly twist.

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