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Musical storytelling: Indonesia’s best narrative-driven albums
Sometimes, an album is more than just a compilation of songs; it becomes a vehicle to convey a larger idea.
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Olden days: Roekmana's Repertoire serves a montage of the internal and external tumult of life in 1965. (Tigapagi/Almer Mikhail)
Sometimes, an album is more than just a compilation of songs; it becomes a vehicle to convey a larger idea.
In many such albums, bands or musicians push the envelope of their craft, creating a work with a central narrative, building upon its world with sonic and lyrical explorations. The listener is immersed in the vision of the band or musician.
The following are some of Indonesia’s strongest narrative albums and are well worth a listen.
Balada Joni dan Susi by Melancholic Bitch (Dialectic Records/Demajors, 2009)
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The elusive masters of poetry, Melancholic Bitch crafted a heart-wrenching story of a young couple on the run in Balada Joni dan Susi (The Ballad of Joni and Susi). The album opens by introducing its central characters, 21-year-old Joni and 19-year-old Susi, who run away together in pursuit of their own bliss. They go on an imaginary honeymoon, taking a trip through the canals of Venice. Joni and Susi vow to stay together forever, in sickness or in health, in the ecstasy of young love. For them, any dwelling they share can be a palace. When they’re hungry, their imagination can feed them. Nearing the end of the album’s first half, vocalist Ugoran Prasad asks repeatedly, “Who needs imagination when we have television?”
Things take a dark turn when Susi catches a fever in the first week of their life on the streets. Perturbed and penniless, Joni starts hearing the walls whisper to him, telling him to steal food for Susi. A desperate Joni finds himself in a supermarket. A stolen apple falls from his pocket and he experiences a barrage of public judgement. Joni then appears on TV, as the press arrives faster than the ambulance. Joni, now separated from Susi, can only imagine their shared future, a future where they have lots of children and grow an apple orchard “like God”, a future where they build a tall tower far away from everything and everyone. Their getaway ends.
