W

ith the mainstream music industry saturated by cookie-cutter pop bands crooning love ballads and tunes of heartbreak, Jakarta-based independent bands such as The White Shoes, The Couples Company, Efek Rumah Kaca and The Upstairs have long been favorites for those looking for left-of-the-dial entertainment.

Over the past few years, however, these indie bands have been pushed to the sidelines by the onslaught of live music on television, which features the kitsch and camp of Malay-inflected tunes.

To make matters worse, the indie scene in Jakarta has also been plagued by a myriad of problems due to a lack of venues to showcase new talents, hassles involved with securing permits even for small gigs and the fact that the industry now appears leaderless. The conditions have prevented the indie scene from a second renaissance; the first being in the early 2000s.

Efek Rumah Kaca front man Cholil Mahmud attributed the current slump to the fact that there were no longer any influential figure heads capable of successfully organizing gigs.

“Everyone wants to form a band, but only a few, if any, want to organize the gigs. If there is no gig, how can these bands thrive?” he told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

The absence of knowledgeable music producers also meant that indie bands lacked people to help them hone their craft, Cholil said.

“A skilled producer can help indie bands find their true voice and bring out the best within them. We need more people like David Tarigan,” he said, referring to founder of indie label Aksara Records and one of the major figures in the Jakarta indie scene.

Rolling Stone Indonesia journalist Soleh Solihun said that the absence of established venues contributed to the setback in the capital’s indie scene.

“We used to have places like BB’s Bar [in Menteng, Central Jakarta] and Parc [in Blok M, South Jakarta]. These venues were a go-to place for indie bands and fans. We used to have Aksara Records spearheading the movement,” he said.

Aksara Records folded in December 2009, some said because of financial problems.

Soleh said that without such venues and underlying institutional base, bands and fans could no longer commune and form their bond.

Randy Rachmadi, leader of Common Music Community (KMB), an indie music community based on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta, said the declining number of high school-initiated music festivals, locally known as pentas seni or pensi, had also contributed to the decline of the Jakarta indie music scene.

“After an indie music festival in Senayan ended in a riot a few years ago, many schools have been unable to obtain permits from the Jakarta Police to hold music events,” Randy said, referring to a music festival organized by a high school at the Bung Karno Stadium in January 2007 that ended in a chaos. Scores of police officers and visitors were injured and stage property and sound systems were destroyed. Losses from the incident reached Rp 1 billion (US$113,000).

Randy said the small number of gigs have held back the growth of indie bands.

“We in the community no longer have the most effective manner of promoting our music,” he said.

The Jakarta indie music scene, however, is not without a future.

Soleh said that new venues such as Rossi Music on Jl. Fatmawati, South Jakarta and Lumbung Padi café in Jeruk Purut, also in South Jakarta, have huge potential for contributing to the scene. “However, they still have a long way to go to reach the levels of BB’s Bar and Parc,” he said.

He said that there was still hope for the Jakarta indie scene. “History has shown that indie bands can bloom even without others’ helping hands. If there is will and passion, there’s a way,” he added. (mim)