Their latest hit, “Bukan Superstar”, has stolen many hearts of toddlers to elder people. They are even funnier in real life.

When two of the six members of Indonesia’s major comedy music group Project Pop got to the empty meeting room on the second floor of The Jakarta Post’s office on Tuesday, instead of waiting to be received with the rest at the foyer, continuous jokes started.

“Welcome. Welcome,” the small-frame skinny Oddie and Gummi or Gugum, greeted the rest – Tika, O’on, Yosi and Udjo – who finally caught up and the laughing got louder.

After making their own coffee and helping themselves to pasties, the questionnaire filling session instantly turned into an impromptu act.

Tika, the only female in the group, turned herself into a primary school teacher. Pacing up and down, she said out loud,  “Read it and we will have some questions. Hey, stop chatting.” Others got the cue instantly.

Despite being funny in person and making comical songs, the group’s achievement is far from a laughing matter. Project Pop has gone through 13 years together and produced seven albums.

The group, started by seven young undergraduates from Bandung, now left with six members in their late 30s, said being a comedy singing group gave them more freedom to adopt different kinds of genre and a lot of leeway in performances.

Project Pop: (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

“We never catalog ourselves into certain kind of music. We follow the music genres that are in the trend… For example, when we made the song “Dangdut is the Music of My Country” (in 2005), the urban people were listening to Linkin Park while the majority (of rural people) to dangdut. So the song contains some rock and some dangdut,” Udjo said.

“If other groups, like Nidji, want to incorporate dangdut into their music, then people will find it strange. For us, that’s how we exist from year to year — by following the changes. There is an exception though. If next year’s  trend is instrumental, it means we will not sing at all,” Udjo jokingly said.

Their songs range from pop to dangdut, from soul to rock, from house music to rap. They said they compromised on the music but made up their own creative funny twists and idealistic themes.

“We are with a major label so there is commercial side to it… But we are idealistic with themes. We highlight trends and social problems and blend in a little satire. We still keep our creative comedy even if it’s only 10 percent,” Gugum said.

In fact they gave too little credit to themselves. A fan Aryonto described the group’s latest song “Bukan Superstar” (Not a Superstar) as “so creative, never been done before and relates to me personally.”

The personal attachment is one of the aims of Project Pop’s songs.

“In the past, we were too burdened with comedy so the theme can be anything from food to martial art fighters. But we realized that that some kinds of themes can be funny but not lasting. They are not personal so they are forgettable,” Yosi said.

“Now we do all kind of themes but the golden thread eventually is something personal to people — love,” he said.

There is also another equally serious consideration in their song writing – market purchasing trends, said the self-confessed Internet addict O’on.

“In the past, we could wait until the end to give the meaning of a song. But nowadays, by selling through ring back tones (RBT), the meaning of a song must be understood within 30 seconds,” he said.

RBT has become one of their main sources of income after physical song sales have been plummeting because of piracy.

“The comparison is Rp 40,000 (US$4) for an original to Rp 5,000 with several albums in one. In the past the target sale was 300,000 copies but now nowadays selling 75,000 copies is good enough,” they said.

“A huge chunk (of income) is lost there. Meanwhile RBT is something that cannot be pirated. Our sale is eight times more than physical sales although there are more songs in an album,” O’on said.

Their income also comes from their live performances. Their comedy side helps to secure wider kinds of jobs, especially family gatherings and birthday parties.

“Some rock bands envy us because we can perform at events that are not suitable for them.

We’ve been to the birthday parties of 1-year-olds to 60-year-olds. We wished to have teenagers as our fans, but the fact is kids love us more and they pull their family to come with them,” Udjo said.

That can be the proof that the years that have gone by seem to have matured them, not age them.

The years also cemented their ties to each other, which was good in resolving their differences and has kept them going.

“We are so comfortable with each other that we can even share one by two meter changing room with Tika now. Initially she was uncomfortable with that, but now she just has to shout ‘boys, do not look’,” he added, failing to continue his sentence as the others protested about the size of the room.

After mentally imagining the room, he eventually conceded that he was exaggerating and corrected the size to two by three meters (still very small for six people).

That ended a good-natured amusing argument, which made me understand what kept them happy.

“Am I looking happy? That’s good if you think so. I think the rule is to take things easy,” Tika said.

However, her teammates and she seemed not to take the coming election lightly.  

“We have agreed that we will not promote one particular party. We can perform at campaign events, just like how we have performed at product events, but not as their supporters,” Tika said, to the nod of others.  

“I personally have a dream of being an election promoter to ask people to take part in the election…There is not enough being done in marketing the election itself. There are a lot of advertisements by the political parties but where are the campaigns about the importance of the election itself?” Tika asked.

For Udjo, the huge number of political parties entering the election can be a turn-off.

“There are so many political parties that there is almost no way to get to know them in detail. There are also so many promises but no clear plan. Will there be any result? I think a lot of people feel apathetic towards the elections. If there is no one to vote for, how can people vote?” Udjo commented.

In an hour, Project Pop showed that they have developed more weight through their years to support their happy performances.

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