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Indonesian musicians contribute to 20-second handwashing playlist
A movement dubbed 20detikcucicorona (20 seconds to wash off corona) seeks to encourage people to wash their hands thoroughly in a creative way.
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The 70 songs on the '20detikcucicorona' playlist have been pressed onto vinyl records as tokens of appreciation for the musicians. (Shutterstock/File)
W
ashing your hands for 20 seconds is one of the mandatory practices to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Though there is the common advice of singing Happy Birthday twice while we scrub our hands, counting precisely to 20 seconds can be challenging at times.
A movement dubbed 20detikcucicorona (20 seconds to wash corona off) has run since April to encourage people to wash their hands thoroughly in a creative way. Initiated by Dhani Hargo, Larasati A., Dzulfikri “Fikri” Putra Malawi and Arya Gumilar, the movement introduced a playlist of 70 tracks with a duration of around 20 seconds to keep us entertained while we wash our hands.
Seventy people, ranging from professional musicians to teachers and civil servants, have contributed songs pro-bono to the playlist, including singer Jason Ranti, The Changcuters’ vocalist Tria, Shaggydog’s keyboardist Lilik, Navicula’s vocalist Robi, musician Lanlan Strangers and Club 80s’ guitarist Cliff.
“[At first] we only got in touch with our friends, as we never expected to gather 70 musicians. But surprisingly they responded well to the idea,” Fikri told The Jakarta Post during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. He added that most of the songs were newly written, while others submitted existing numbers. The songs were collected through WhatsApp, e-mail and Instagram's direct message.
When asked about copyrights, Fikri said they used Creative Commons – Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International, which allows the songs to be played for educational purposes. From traditional markets in Pacitan regency in East Java to a post office in Maluku and a military base in Papua, the collection of songs has made the rounds in Indonesia.
Robi of Bali-based grunge band Navicula said he found the movement relevant in the current situation. “We’d like to get involved and help, as the outbreak has hit all industries,” Robi said. “Though our livelihoods have been affected, it’s about how we can contribute to society at this challenging time.”
Arya said that they had learned a lot from the movement, including how to touch the hearts of Indonesians through music and collaboration. “[Though] we want the movement to end at this point, we want its spirit to keep going,” he said.
All songs were transferred to vinyl records as a token of appreciation and presented to Wiku Adisasmito as the spokesperson of the national COVID-19 task force, Renovan Reza as representative of Irama Nusantara archive of Indonesian music, and dangdut legend Rhoma Irama and several museums in Indonesia.
“Aside from [an expression of] appreciation, it’s also for archival purposes,” said Dhani. “Vinyl can last for a minimum of 100 years even if it’s not being taken care of properly […], so it’s the right medium to archive what’s happening at this time.” (wng)
