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Seeking God with Kelompok Kampungan
Kelompok Kampungan got into a lot of trouble for writing lyrics about Indonesia's first president Sukarno in the song titled “Bung Karno” in the midst of the Soeharto regime.
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Kelompok Kampungan rock band performs in Yogyakarta in this undated file photo. (tirto.co.id)
R
ock music is the fruit of the minds of musicians in the West. At least that's the argument of Chuck Klosterman in the New York Times.
In Klosterman's perspective, this musical genre is a product of the inventions of post-war youth.
From the United States in the 1960s, rock traveled across the Atlantic and landed in the United Kingdom, giving birth to bands from Led Zeppelin and The Beatles to the Rolling Stones. From there, rock traveled the world and captivated young people all over the world.
Despite these “American” roots, many musicians in developing countries have been tempted to “indigenize” rock. Whatever the motivation, indigenizing rock is an attempt to bend western values to become more familiar with eastern issues. Guruh Gipsy and Kelompok Kampungan are two of the Indonesian groups who made rock native.
When we talk about classical Indonesian prog-rock music, we cannot seem to get away from Guruh Gipsy and its self-titled album that was released in 1976. Guruh Soekarno Putra, the son of Indonesia's first president, became the captain of the supergroup consisting of musicians who were no less extraordinary: Chrisye, Keenan Nasution, Oding Nasution and Oding Harahap.
Guruh Gipsy perfectly mixed and matched prog-rock music and traditional Indonesian music. Guruh Gipsy cleverly mixed a dynamic and progressive fusion of prog-rock music with traditional Indonesian musical instruments and patterns such as a full set of Balinese gamelan.
The solid match results are indeed slick. The Guruh Gipsy album sounds very grandiose. This is because of the effect of Balinese gamelan, which sounds magnificent because its actual function is not only as music entertainment but also as a tool of worship on the Island of the Gods.
