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Brave or irresponsible?: Illegal concerts defy pandemic restrictions
During the pandemic, some musicians and organizers have put on secret shows with audiences numbering in the hundreds. ‘The Jakarta Post’ finds out why.
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People dance at a show by Jogja Every Core held in February. It reportedly attracted more than 200 attendees. (JP/Courtesy of Jogja Every Core)
I
t all began with a sense of injustice. Bagas Putra had postponed all his ambitious plans for the year. Jogja Every Core, the hardcore punk collective he leads, had lain dormant for several months as his home city of Yogyakarta struggled with the pandemic. But then he saw and heard things that pushed him over the edge.
“The government told us all crowds were banned, yet every day you saw crowds of people gathering in Jogja’s tourist hotspots. Nobody gave a damn, and nobody came to disperse them,” the 22-year-old observed. “Why were they left in peace when all kinds of concerts were banned?”
It was November 2020, and his concerns were stoked by promising news from elsewhere. Fellow concert organizers across Central Java had contacted him, saying they had managed to arrange concerts and even full-on tours while skirting pandemic rules. These were true underground events with invitations distributed by hand and the venue kept secret until the very last minute.
“Some events even announced that they had to cancel a few hours before the show, just so the police would think the concert was off,” Bagas said. “Of course, that was just a ruse. If you actually went there, the concert still happened anyway.”
The chance was there, and he took it. In November and December 2020, Jogja Every Core organized two consecutive concerts. The second one, in celebration of the launch of a local punk band’s new single, drew a crowd of more than 200 people.
Bagas is one of many. Despite supposedly tight health protocols and the government officially banning all cultural events (including concerts), Indonesia’s music scene insists on carrying on underground. Tight-knit punk collectives, local concert organizers and even stars with nationwide recognition have joined in on this dubious network, exchanging information about “safe” venues and sharing tips on organizing concerts during the pandemic.
Talk to them, though, and you won’t find COVID-19 truthers who insist on living free and dying hard. Instead, you will find a community of people who say that they, like many other Indonesians, have been driven into desperation by the uncertainty surrounding the government’s inept handling of the pandemic. As fear of pandemic gave way to fear of economic ruin, many decided staying home and hunkering down simply wasn’t worth it anymore.
