The Music20 (M20) Summit, a side event under Indonesia's G20 presidency, topped off its series on Tuesday evening with a sweet, exclusive concert at the newly renovated Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) in East Jakarta.

Held offline at TMII’s Sasono Langen Budoyo auditorium and livestreamed on the DSS Music YouTube channel, the hybrid M20 Concert featured a lineup of performers representative of Indonesia’s diverse music scene that included Slank, Iwan Fals, Kahitna, Once, Dira Sugandi and Isyana Sarasvati with Deadquad.

“We certainly had a discussion with great Indonesian musicians from across generations and genres [on] how they are fighting for change and [expressing] their concerns over certain issues through their work,” M20 cochair Candra Darusman stated in a press release.

The M20 series of events focused on music as an agent of social, environmental and economic change through talk shows from late September. One hundred delegates, comprising 30 participants from Indonesia and 70 others from countries invited to the Group of 20 forum, attended the M20 Summit on Monday to draft a communiqué to improve the music industry.

“This is not a show, but a movement,” M20 committee chair Tantowi Yahya said during a related press conference on Tuesday. He added that the M20 was a new G20 side event that Indonesia had initiated and would be passed along to India as the holder of next year’s G20 presidency.

Headliners: Highly popular Indonesian rock band Slank performs during the Music20 (M20) Concert on Tuesday at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta. (YouTube/DSS Music)

Some of the points raised during the M20 included digital transformation toward more inclusiveness in the global music industry, the welfare of musicians and creative economy workers, low-emissions and community-friendly concerts, and music as a platform to promote peace. These issues were also highlighted in the final joint statement from musicians and key industry players, from Once to Gita Gutawa, following Tuesday’s closing concert.

“Musicians have a great role [in spreading these issues], and we support them. We have to amplify their ideas because when music comes in, [the issues] become more neutral and have a wider reach toward [a bigger] audience,” M20 cochair Kadri Mohamad told the press conference.

The M20 concert was brief but impactful as each artist performed two songs onstage.

Widely acclaimed rock band Slank opened the show with sing-along hits “Terlalu Manis” and “Ku Tak Bisa”, followed immediately after by beloved pop group Kahitna with crowd favorites “Cerita Cinta” and “Cantik”. Dira Sugandi, who was the Indonesian representative to the M20 summit the previous day, performed “Make It Up As We Go” and “Back In Time”, before giving the stage over to Iwan Fals, who played “Kabar Aroma Tanah” and “Bongkar”.

“If the earth is not well, then its inhabitants are also not well,” Iwan told the audience at the start of his performance, “and we must rid it of its ailment.”

The singer Once also expressed a similar concern, belting out “Sabda Alam” and “Musisi” to the guitar accompaniment of Gugun from Gugun Blues Shelter. Isyana Sarasvati then closed the concert with a thunderous rendition of “Lexicon” and “Il Sogno” with Deadsquad.

“I believe music has the power to move people’s hearts,” Dira said during her set. “Through music, together we can create an impact toward a much better world.”